CORNER BROOK — As long as his players work hard and have fun, Ron Dobbin could care less about wins and losses.
Dobbin is the general manager of the Stephenville Junior Jets, who hold down last spot in the Home Hardware Central/West Junior Hockey League, heading into the stretch drive to the playoffs.
The Stephenville franchise has only managed to win one out of 10 games before the Christmas break and trail the Corner Brook Junior Royals (2-8-1) by three points.
The defending champions Central Cataracts have reeled off 10 straight wins for a perfect record and sole possession of first place, while the Port aux Basques Junior Mariners — host for the 2011 Veitch Memorial junior hockey championship — sit in second spot with a record of 7-3.
Dobbin said the focus of the league has always been centred around providing an avenue for minor hockey graduates to ply their trade in a fun environment and he doesn’t see that changing anytime soon. By no means does he believe success in the junior circuit is measured by win/loss records.
“Pretty close to 100 kids get a chance to play junior hockey,” he said of what the league is really all about.
He believes his team can compete with the Mariners and Royals, but readily admits the Cataracts are the class of the league and a tough opponent on any given night.
“Grand Falls are going to be hard to beat. They’re going to be hard to knock off,” Dobbin said Sunday. “They lost a few players, but some of the kids they picked up are better than what they had last year.”
Dobbin was pleased with how his Jets fared against the Cats before the break, losing 16-2 in a blowout on Saturday night before coming up with a gutsy effort in a 4-3 loss the following day at the Joe Byrne Memorial Stadium in Grand Falls-Windsor.
While he has concerns about the Cats being a powerhouse, he credited the organization for doing its homework and putting a nice team together.
“As far as I’m concerned, if they continue to put a winning hockey team on the ice every year more power to them,” he said. “I mean everybody is talking about having a draft and doing different things and that’s fine ... maybe that will even up the other three teams, but when you’re coming out of central and you have all of central to pull from I think it’s going to be very hard to knock them off.
Some of the kids they picked up this year are from Gander and they’re good hockey players. They’re young and they’re going to be around for a while.”
Stephenville will host Port aux Basques for a two-game set at the Stephenville Dome this weekend. The two teams clash 8 p.m. Saturday night and 1:30 p.m. at the Stephenville Dome.
The Corner Brook Junior Royals and Central Cataracts will be back in action the following weekend.
