Friends and family of the Cape Breton West Islanders have been loud and proud during the 2017 Telus Cup in Prince George.
They tacked on the Air Miles for the national championship with some travelling over 5,500 kilometers to get here.
Nancy MacDonald says it’s been a great experience so far.
“I think we all enjoyed seeing the Rockies when we were flying in. It’s been fantastic for the boys to see this part of the country to, the hospitality has been wonderful the volunteers of Telus Cup are number one. They’re great.”
Their vp is from Antigonish!! #wethewest pic.twitter.com/mYRRCnLJV2
— CB West Islanders (@CBWestIslanders) April 28, 2017
MacDonald adds even some of the local fans have jumped on the bandwagon.
“We as a fan base stand behind these kids win or lose throughout the entire season and we seem to keep gaining momentum in our support, I think we have a lot of wanna-be Nova Scotians that keep adding to our section of the arena each game.”
Another member of the group is Maureen Gillis, who says their home region has rallied around the hockey club before embarking to Prince George.
“Since we won Atlantic’s just over three weeks ago in Miramichi, we have had unbelievable support from our communities as our team is made from Cheticamp to outside of Antigonish so if you were to drive that distance it would be about four hours in between. This has been a wonderful experience and we’re just so proud of our boys.”
The Islanders have iced one of their best teams in franchise history and the stars just fell into place according to Gillis.
“A lot of this is almost a case of a perfect storm, this year we had several players come back from Quebec major junior camps and Junior A camps and they just sort of came together and said boys let’s do this.”
Cape Breton West got off to a fast start during the round robin going 2-0, and was the first team from Atlantic Canada to accomplish that since the Antigonish Novas back in 1981.
The Islanders finished the round robin at 2-3 play and are in action against the Regina Pat-Canadians on Friday.
No matter where the finish, the Telus Cup is a better tournament with them involved.