The Liverpool Privateers hockey team announced on June 29 that they would be leaving Liverpool. A week later staff at the Lunenburg County Lifestyle Centre posted to social media that Jim Bottomley is bringing Junior B hockey to the Lunenburg County Lifestyle Centre (LCLC) in Bridgewater.

Owner Jim Bottomley says travel time for the coaches and players and the opportunity to increase the fanbase were the main reasons for moving the team from their home at Queens Place in Liverpool.

Bottomley encourages his hockey players to be student athletes, which means that most of the team lives in and around Halifax to be close to their universities. He says relocating to Bridgewater will make a big difference in the amount of time the players need to spend on the road, especially during the winter months.

For the past ten years the Liverpool Privateers have built a competitive team and a devoted fanbase and Bottomley hopes that support will follow the team a half an hour up Highway 103.

“That’s our biggest loss is the fans were so supportive down there and since they announced the move, I've heard from a number of fans that said you can still count on us coming up [to Bridgewater] so I'm looking forward to that,” said Bottomley. “But we had the best fans in the junior, Nova Scotia junior Hockey League over the last number of years and we're just hoping that it will continue right there in Bridgewater. It's going to be a South Shore team so hopefully everybody along the shore there will come and support us.”

Head coach Ryan Faulkenham and the rest of his staff will be staying on.

Bottomley says a few players from Bridgewater have suited up for the Privateers. He plans to expand those ranks by making his players and staff available to minor hockey organizations across the South Shore.

“If they want the players or coaches to come out anytime to work with their teams we’ll be there. We want to be involved in the community; we want the players out around the community.,” said Bottomley. “We want to basically a community team that's well representative throughout the whole South Shore, not just right in Bridgewater.”

One of the things that will remain constant in the move from Liverpool to Bridgewater is Bottomley’s desire to win.

“I think what Bridgewater lost in the last number of years was a quality hockey team that was competitive. You know I'm not in the business just to put a hockey team on the ice. I want to win every year I love winning and we're going to try as the year goes on, we’ll continue to build our team,” said Bottomley.

The name of the new Bridgewater team is being kept under wraps until the official kick-off event at the LCLC on Thursday July 13 at 6:00pm.

Bottomley says there’s a great deal to organize and many plans to make before the hockey season opens September 15.

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