May 1 musings
A little bit of this and a little bit of that. That is how we will head into May and the continuation of a hockey season that never really ends.
TRYOUTS, TRYOUTS
They are picking teams now. They are picking teams next month. Picking players for teams for the 2017-2018 season.
What ever happened to all players making the team in August or September?
Well, most teams in high-end midget and junior leagues do leave an open competition for a position or two or more at their main training camp.
Still, in some instances — the Great North Midget Hockey League as an example — at least one team will have its roster set when main camp opens preparatory to the start of the ’17-18 season.
Then there are the Kapuskasing Flyers and Timmins Majors of the Great North. While both teams have already signed more than a dozen players apiece, both are leaving a few positions open to compete for at pre-season main camp.
BEHIND THE BENCH
I am hearing a lot and what I am hearing is good about three coaches who will head up three northeastern Ontario teams in ’17-18.
In the Great North midget loop, all talk is good talk about two incoming coaches — Glen Denney of Kapuskasing and Brandon Perry of Timmins. (Denney is actually returning as the bench boss in Kap after a couple of years away because of family commitments.)
And over in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League, all that is being said about new Timmins Rock coach Ryan Woodward is good.
Woodward was recently the associate coach/assistant general manager of the Wellington Dukes of the Ontario Jr. Hockey League. And Wellington coach/general manager Marty Abrams — who is simply one of the best operators in the entire Canadian Jr. Hockey League — can’t say enough good about Woodward.
TIMPANO V. MANCINCA
A pair of veteran goalies who are without National Hockey League draft status will be in the spotlight when the Erie Otters and Mississauga Steelheads face off for the Ontario Hockey League championship.
1997 birth-year goalie Troy Timpano of Erie and 1996 birth-year (overage) tender Matthew Mancina of Mississauga will attempt to lead their teams into the Memorial Cup tournament, which is slated for later this month in Windsor.
Both were acquired in trades by their respective teams this season with Erie getting Timpano from the Sudbury Wolves and Mississauga acquiring Mancina from the Peterborough Petes.
Erie and Mississauga are both high-scoring, free-wheeling teams capable of multiple-goal explosions. But at the end of the day, it will likely be either Timpano or Mancina who ultimately decide the series.
NET TRADE WORTH
Soo Greyhounds are in a position of net worth with two capable, returning goalies on their roster.
Fresh from an outstanding playoff run, Joseph Raaymakers stands to be the no. 1 goalie heading into his fourth OHL season in 2017-2018. As a bonus, the Hounds also have Matthew Villalta, who had superb rookie season in 2016-2017, returning between the pipes.
Both will want to be a no. 1 goalie when first pucks drop on the ’17-18 season. And I doubt it that either will be happy or content in a backup role in the Soo.
There are, to be sure, OHL teams who have question marks in goal as they look ahead to the ’17-18 campaign.
Flint Firebirds, Guelph Storm and North Bay Battalion are three teams that could well be in the market for a goalie the caliber of Raaymakers and Villalta.
Raaymakers has a 1998 birth date while Villalta was born in 1999.