The Hamilton Huskies Jr Blues advanced to the second round of the playoffs after knocking off the Niagara Riverhawks.

The Riverhawks won the first two games then the Blues woke up and won four straight to take the series 4 games to 2.  The first four games were all one goal games with Niagara winning the first two 3-2 and 2-1. Game three was 5-4 for the Blues then game four was 3-2.  Game five and six the Blues started to figure out the Riverhawks goalie putting 6 by him each game for scores of 6-2 and 6-4.  Blues goaltender Jake Fleming was solid in net for the Blues and was definitely the player of the series.

The Blues now move on to round two against the Glanbrook Rangers who finished the season in first place. The schedule for the best of 7 series is as follows:

Wed. Feb. 20th Blues @ Glanbrook 7:30pm
Thurs. Feb. 21st Glanbrook @ Olympic 8:20pm
Sat. Feb. 23rd Glanbrook @ Olympic 7:30pm
Sun. Feb. 24th Blues @ Glanbrook 7pm

if necessary 

Wed. Feb. 27th Blues @ Glanbrook 7:30pm
Thurs. Feb. 28th Glanbrook @ Olympic 8:20pm 
Sun. Mar. 3rd Blues @ Glanbrook 7pm

Come out and cheer on the Blues, your local junior hockey team!

Round 1 Play Off Schedule vs. Niagara Riverhawks 

Thurs. Feb. 7th Niagara @ Olympic 8:20pm
Sat. Feb. 9th Hamilton Huskies Blues @ Niagara 8:00pm
Sun. Feb. 10th Niagara @ Olympic 6:30pm
Tues. Feb. 12th Hamilton Huskies Blues @ Niagara 7:30pm
Thurs. Feb. 14th Niagara @ Olympic 8:20pm
Sat. Feb. 16th Hamilton Huskies Blues @ Niagara 8:00pm
Sun. Feb. 17th Niagara @ Olympic 6:30pm

Come out and cheer on your local junior team!

Blues finished off the regular season schedule with 2 wins and a tie in the final week giving them 4th place.  They will now get home ice advantage against 5th place Niagara Riverhawks.  The Blues and Riverhawks played each other six times during the regular schedule with each team winning three games, it’s sure to be a good series.  The series starts this Thursday at Olympic Arena in Dundas, game time is 8:20pm.

Tentative Round 1 Play Off Schedule vs. Niagara Riverhawks 

Feb. 7th Niagara @ Olympic 8:20pm
Feb. 9th Hamilton Huskies Blues @ Niagara 8:00pm
Feb. 10th Niagara @ Olympic 7:30pm
Feb. 12th Hamilton Huskies Blues @ Niagara 7:30pm
Feb. 14th Niagara @ Olympic 8:20pm
Feb. 16th Hamilton Huskies Blues @ Niagara 8:00pm
Feb. 17th Niagara @ Olympic 7:30pm

Grightmire Arena reno exceeded budget by $171,000 in September

City report provides budget information from four months ago

NEWS 06:00 PM by Craig Campbell  Dundas Star News

J.L. Grightmire Arena on Monday, January 14, 2019. - Craig Campbell/Metroland 

J.L. Grightmire Arena’s ongoing renovation costs had already exceeded the project budget by more than $171,000 by the end of September 2018, according to a city report.

City staff did not provide updated information on how far over budget the project has gone over the past four months. The September arena budget information was included among more than 500 projects in a 45-page capital projects status report that went to the city’s Capital Projects Works-In-Progress Sub-Committee on Monday, Feb. 4.

The report noted Grightmire Arena’s $7-million total budget had a negative balance of $171,247 as of Sept. 30, 2018.

The future is now for the McCoys and President and General Manager Don Robertson knows it. Friday night, in the first of two weekend meetings with the Whitby Dunlops, The McCoys fell 2 - 1 to the Dunlops before rebounding for a 6 - 3 victory in the Whitby Sports Complex. "We played well in both games. Mike Mole was our best player over the weekend, and deserved to win both games, but if you only score one goal you can't win in this league." said Robertson.

"We have made a couple of additions, both on defence". Al Rourke played Friday night and will be solid once he gets a couple more games under his belt. Andrew Hutchinson may play one game before the playoffs because of work and travel commitments." Robertson added. "Both have played in the NHL and Europe; Hutchinson also played in the Kontinental Hockey League. We will have four cards left and we are busy trying to fill them with depth and quality."

Rourke previously played for the Carolina Hurricanes, New York Islanders, and the Edmonton Oilers before finishing his career in Europe. This is Rourke's second time with the McCoys. He preiously played for them in 2010-11.

Hutchinson played for the Nashville Predators, Carolina Hurricanes, Tampa Bay Lightning, Dallas Stars and the Pittsburgh Penguins. He won the Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes in 2005-06. Hutchinson finished his professional career in the KHL.

Saturday night after losing a close game to the Dunlops in the Harry Howell Arena, the McCoys stormed back to beat the Dunlops 6 - 3 in the Iroquois Sports Complex to earn their fifth victory of the season. Whitby outshot Dundas 40 - 23; however, even with their short bench the McCoys would not be defeated.. Phil Brewer and Dan Lapointe scored twice eachand set up another goal each for the McCoys. Brad Bonello aded two more goals.

The previous night, the McCoys played hard with a full lineup, but could not solve 30 year old netminder Engelage in the Howell Arena. Whitby scored once each in the first and third periods as Whitby goalie Andrew Engelage held off the McCoys. The next action for the McCoys is Friday (February 1st) when they travel to Hamilton';s Dave Andreychuk Mountain Arena to play the Hamilton Steelhawks at 7:30pm.

The Blues earned two of a possible four points this past week.
At home against the Hespeler Shamrocks on Thursday night it took the Blues into the last minute of overtime to beat the Shamrocks 3-2.  Connor Noonan scored with 24 seconds left in OT for the win with Jamison Buck and Brandon Waterhouse earning assists.
On Saturday night the Blues went to Niagara to face the Riverhawks. The Blues looked liked they showed up to play and went up 1-0 early in the game, but that was it. Lots of selfish penalties cost the Blues allowing the Riverhawks ten power plays on which they scored six times and handed the Blues an 8-3 loss.
The way the Blues played in Niagara you would never have known they were fighting for a third place finish going into the playoffs.  Right now Hagersville sits in third place with 44 points with 3 games left in which two are against the Blues who have 42 points with 3 games left. Niagara sits in fifth with 41 points and four games left so it’s going to go right down to the wire to decide from 3rd to 5th place.  The top four teams get home ice advantage in the first round.
With the situation of the ice being scarce in Dundas the Blues are hoping for a 3rd or 4th place finish.
Blues last home game is this Thursday at 8:20pm when they host the Hagersville Hawks.  Come on out and support your local junior team as they prepare for the playoffs.

Hamilton city council will consider excluding Century Group Inc., contractors on the delayed J.L. Grightmire Arena addition, from any future bids and contracts.

Councillors on the audit, finance and administration committee passed for the second time three confidential staff recommendations on ending a commercial relationship with the company following an in camera discussion closed to the public on Thursday, Jan. 17.

The committee previously passed the same recommendations — which remain secret until approved by full city council — in a December meeting but held off on finalizing them at city council last month to give Century Group vice-president Eric Zvaniga an opportunity to speak to the committee.