OHL playoff perspectives


By
March 17, 2024

Post season play in the Ontario Hockey League is looming. And writers and broadcasters and super fans are busy listing who they think is going to come out on top and join the host Saginaw Spirit as the two OHL teams at this year’s Memorial Cup tournament.

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Hounds set up for playoff run


By
March 15, 2024

Fear The North. That is the slogan that the Soo Greyhounds have taken on and are boosting ahead of the looming Ontario Hockey League playoffs.

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Flint clicks playoff ticket


By
March 14, 2024

They have clinched the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League. And with five games to play in the regular season, the Flint Firebirds could still finish as high as fifth place.

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Flint on verge of playoff spot


By
March 11, 2024

Playing at the .500 level over their past 10 games has the Flint Firebirds in compressed control of the eighth and final playoff position in the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League. 

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Sounds of the OHL Hounds


By
March 10, 2024

This has a good feel. The feel of a good team that is positioned for post season progress and potential prosperity. With the regular season in the Ontario Hockey League clicking towards a March 24 closing date, Soo Greyhounds enter play this week in third place in a dog-eat-dog Western Conference.

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Spitfires set for future flight


By
March 8, 2024

Their ascent to the top of the Western Conference standings over the past two seasons is in descent. Windsor Spitfires may be in a tailspin that will result in them missing the Ontario Hockey League playoffs this season but they are in position to be airborne effective next season.

…[read more]

Firm hold for Flint Firebirds


By
March 4, 2024

Tick, tick, tick. As the restless hands of time click away on the regular season schedule of the Ontario Hockey League, the Flint Firebirds have opened a six point lead on the Sarnia Sting and a 13 point margin on the Windsor Spitfires for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

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20 goals for Tyson Doucette


By
February 29, 2024

It is a milestone attainment for a player who was never drafted into the Ontario Hockey League only to in due course make it as an improbable long shot by way of a free agent tryout.

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Spitfires of Sault Ste. Marie


By
February 27, 2024

Should the Windsor Spitfires opt to take a player from Sault Ste. Marie at the upcoming April 12-13 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft it would lengthen a long lasting alliance with kids from the Soo.

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Hounds handle the top teams


By
February 26, 2024

It has been stated that if a team aspires to be the best then it has to beat the best. That utterance certainly has basis relevant to the Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League.

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Flint, Windsor home & home


By
February 26, 2024

As they seek to try to preserve the eighth and final playoff position in the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League the Flint Firebirds will face off against the Windsor Spitfires twice this week.

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Coach, GM a good fit in Flint


By
February 25, 2024

Rookie head coach Paul Flache and first year general manager Dave McParlan have been rewarded by the Flint Firebirds of the Ontario Hockey League with multi-year contract extensions.

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Bulldogs and Alexanders


By
February 24, 2024

After an absence of close to 20 years, the Ontario Hockey League returned to Brantford ahead of the 2023-2024 season in the form of the relocated Hamilton Bulldogs. Due to impending renovations and long term closure of the FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton, the Bulldogs officially moved to Brantford and the upgraded Civic Centre on a three year lease commencing with the current ’23-24 campaign.

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NOJHL boss was an OHL star


By
February 22, 2024

These days, Rob Mazzuca is well known as the long serving commissioner of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. With deep northern Ontario roots, Mazzuca has been the league’s commander in chief since 2011. And during his playing days, Mazzuca was no slouch as a standout defenseman who was a first round pick (11th overall) of the Sudbury Wolves at the 1979 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft.

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Two games for Knight fighter


By
February 21, 2024

What was initially an indefinite suspension has turned into a mere two game ban for London Knights enforcer Sawyer Boulton.

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Ex Hounds fired up in Flint


By
February 20, 2024

Alex Kostov and Connor Clattenburg are putting up the points for the Flint Firebirds as they pursue a playoff position in the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League. Kostov and Clattenburg were obtained by Flint from the Soo Greyhounds in a block buster transaction at the January 10 OHL trade deadline.

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Rock star of the Firebirds


By
February 18, 2024

Rookie goalie Jacob Brown, formerly of the Timmins Rock of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League, backstopped the Flint Firebirds to a clutch Ontario Hockey League victory on Saturday.

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To the OHL via the NOJHL


By
February 17, 2024

Those in the game who don’t take the time or make the effort to get to know the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League would thus be unmindful to the number of players that it develops for teams in the Ontario Hockey League.

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Knight assailant suspended


By
February 17, 2024

LONDON — The Ontario Hockey League has issued an indefinite suspension to London Knights forward Sawyer Boulton. Boulton was given an instigator penalty relative to a fight with Soo Greyhounds defenseman Matthew Virgilio during the final five minutes of Friday’s loss by the Knights.

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Hounds light up the Knights


By
February 16, 2024

LONDON — Soo Greyhounds turned out the lights on the unbeaten heights of the London Knights before more than 9,000 fans here tonight at Budweiser Gardens.

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Hounds on the Knight shift


By
February 16, 2024

LONDON — Soo Greyhounds will be out to try to halt a fast moving Knight train this evening when they face off against the London Knights in a 7:00 p.m. start here at Budweiser Gardens.

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Western wear of the OHL


By
February 14, 2024

Let us venture here and there in a Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League that features preferable story lines and much more punch and potency than the weak side Eastern Conference.

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Scouting the Great North


By
February 9, 2024

Welcome to our initial scouting report of the 2023-2024 Great North Under 18 Hockey League season ahead of the 2024 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft which is slated for April 12 and 13.

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Sault boys as top OHL picks


By
February 8, 2024

Two players from Sault Ste. Marie who headed to Pittsburgh this season to play in the Jr. Penguins AAA elite program are being projected as possible first or second round picks at the April 12-13 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft.

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Sleeper of the Spitfires?


By
February 6, 2024

Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League have two defensemen rated on the current rankings ahead of the 2024 National Hockey League draft. But more than one individual who is connected to an NHL team has relayed to Hockey News North that they are of the notion that it is an un-rated Spitfire who is the best pro prospect of any Windsor defenseman.

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Frantic race for eighth place


By
February 5, 2024

Sarnia Sting, Flint Firebirds and Windsor Spitfires are in a three way race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League. And with the regular season in the final third of the schedule, the three teams are gearing up for a frantic push at a playoff position.

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Fellinger a find for Firebirds


By
February 4, 2024

Of the 11 players from the Great North Under 18 Hockey League who were picked at the 2023 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft, Rylan Fellinger is an anomaly. Not only is the big defenseman the only one of the 11 to become a full time performer in the OHL this season as a 2007 birth year player but he made the Flint Firebirds as a 13th round draft pick.

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OHL drafted goalies in Timmins


By
February 3, 2024

For the second successive season a 16-year old goalie who was drafted into the Ontario Hockey League is developing with the Timmins Rock of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. Last season it was Jacob Brown, now with the Flint Firebirds of the OHL. This season it is Erie Otters draft pick Dryden Riley.

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OHL shutout for NOJHL grad


By
February 2, 2024

A season of development with the Blind River Beavers of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League has led to 2006 birth year goalie Charlie Burns taking advantage of a good opportunity to tend twine for the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League.

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Spits down two forwards


By
February 1, 2024

From 13 forwards to 11. Chasing the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League, the Windsor Spitfires will be minus two veteran forwards for the balance of the season.

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OHL ice chips and dips


By
January 30, 2024

Here and there in the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League with about one third of the 2023-2024 regular season schedule still on the slate:

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Spitfires are young on the D


By
January 28, 2024

Rebuilding as a team after back to back Western Conference crowns, the Windsor Spitfires have one of the youngest defensive corps in the Ontario Hockey League.

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Glory days of Gavin Hayes


By
January 25, 2024

Soo Greyhounds head coach John Dean is of the notion that prize Ontario Hockey League trade deadline acquisition Gavin Hayes is even better than what was expected.

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Spitfires d-man is a big deal


By
January 24, 2024

WINDSOR — It has been said — as it has been written — that any scout of ordinary repute can identify and rate a blue chip hockey player of plain to see, pronounced skill. Then there are the acute, astute scouts and talent judgers who can zero in on a player who is not on the radar or lighthouse. One such far fetched prospect is Tanner Winegard, a hulking defenseman with the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League.

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Western ways of the OHL


By
January 17, 2024

Okay, so the Sudbury Wolves are currently in first place in the Eastern Conference of the Ontario Hockey League with 47 points. But if the Wolves were in the Western Conference of the OHL, those 47 points would have them in sixth place. Yes, sixth place. Such is the balance of power difference between the Western world and the Eastern block.

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George is the top OHL goalie


By
January 13, 2024

Five goalies from the Ontario Hockey League have made the mid season rankings list of the National Hockey League’s Central Scouting Bureau ahead of the June 28-29 NHL Entry Draft. And at the top of the chart is Carter George of the Owen Sound Attack, a Thunder Bay product who has Sault Ste. Marie roots from his mother’s side.

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NHL scouts like three Hounds


By
January 13, 2024

Three members of the Soo Greyhounds are among 53 players from the Ontario Hockey League who have made the mid season rankings list of the National Hockey League’s Central Scouting Bureau.

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NHL scouts eyeing Spitfires


By
January 12, 2024

Windsor Spitfires are frantically chasing a playoff spot in the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League in what is a rebuilding season. But while the Spitfires may be near the bottom of the OHL standings, a number of their players are being eyed by National Hockey League scouts.

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Hear, hear, Oliver Peer!


By
January 11, 2024

Flint Firebirds are in control of their playoff destiny in the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League. And a veteran player who Flint paid big to get at the OHL trade deadline with hopes of advancing to this spring’s playoffs is overage forward Oliver Peer.

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Sudbury Cubs add firepower


By
January 11, 2024

Two forwards with Ontario Hockey League experience have joined the pace setting Sudbury Cubs of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.

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OHL trade deadline recap


By
January 10, 2024

It was an Ontario Hockey League frenzied flurry for the books as close to 40 separate transactions were completed in the days leading up to the January 10 trade deadline. And Western Conference teams such as the contending Soo Greyhounds and Saginaw Spirit along with the playoff chasing Flint Firebirds and Windsor Spitfires all made multiple moves that included major exchanges of veteran players and future draft picks.

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RIP, Paul Theriault


By
January 9, 2024

This is a tough one to write. A really sad one. Paul Theriault, the smart, ahead of his time, former Ontario Hockey League coach with the Soo Greyhounds, Oshawa Generals and Erie Otters as well as the Soo Eagles of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League, passed away recently at the age of 73.

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Spitfires boost net worth


By
January 9, 2024

On a day in which they made multiple transactions ahead of this week’s Ontario Hockey League trade deadline the Windsor Spitfires upgraded their goalie position.

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Firebirds deal with Spitfires


By
January 8, 2024

Flint Firebirds have flipped their own script. After dealing away some high-end veteran talent in recent days for future draft picks, the Firebirds have obtained overage defenseman Roberto Mancini from their Ontario Hockey League Western Conference rival Windsor Spitfires for future second and third round draft picks.

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Hounds add Team USA champ


By
January 8, 2024

Soo Greyhounds are clearly all in as they chase an Ontario Hockey League championship. The Greyhounds have traded for 19-year old forward Gavin Hayes, acquiring the Team USA World Junior Hockey gold medal champion from the Flint Firebirds for two players and a house full of draft picks.

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Flint flips overage forward


By
January 6, 2024

Flint Firebirds have parted ways with one of their top players ahead of the looming Ontario Hockey League trade deadline. The Firebirds have dealt overage forward Braeden Kressler and two draft picks to the Ottawa 67’s for five draft picks.

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Spitfires via Paper Kings


By
January 2, 2024

Espanola Paper Kings of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League played a season long role in the development of hulking defenseman Conor Walton of the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League.

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Spitfires chasing Firebirds


By
January 1, 2024

It is the midway point of the 2023-2024 Ontario Hockey League regular season. And five head to head matches between the Flint Firebirds and Windsor Spitfires could be major factors in deciding the eighth and final playoff spot in the OHL’s Western Conference.

…[read more]

Trade deadline is looming


By
December 31, 2023

D-Day is approaching in both the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League and the Ontario Hockey League. As in January 10 being the trade deadline in both the NOJHL and the OHL.

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Hounds, Spitfires stay hot


By
December 29, 2023

Soo Greyhounds and Windsor Spitfires both returned from the Ontario Hockey League’s Christmas holiday recess on Thursday and picked up where they left off with impressive road victories.

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Assistance for the Spitfires


By
December 25, 2023

Twenty years after graduating from the Ontario Hockey League as a high scoring forward with the Sarnia Sting, Kris Newbury is back in the OHL as a newly hired assistant coach of the Windsor Spitfires.

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Test of the OHL West


By
December 24, 2023

Hounds. Spirit. Firebirds. Sting. Spitfires. There is bark and there is a motivating force and there is combustion and there is buzz and there is a fiery temperament that lies within the West Division of the Ontario Hockey League.

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Overcoming the odds


By
December 20, 2023

Seattle Kraken scout Mike Dawson has a plain, simple and uncomplicated message for aspiring young players who were late round draft picks to the Ontario Hockey League or who were not drafted at all. “Keep working. Every one has setbacks. It’s how you deal with adversity,” Dawson relayed while home visiting family in Sault Ste. Marie and stopping by to make a guest appearance on a recent edition of the Hockey North Show podcast.

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Best and rest of OHL West


By
December 18, 2023

Soo Greyhounds are in first place in the West Division — and just three points back of the Kitchener Rangers for first overall in the Western Conference — with the Ontario Hockey League on the Christmas break. And while the Windsor Spitfires are at the bottom of the Western stage, they are within clear range of the eighth and final playoff spot.

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Gage on the GOJHL stage


By
December 18, 2023

WINDSOR — Sault Ste. Marie product Gage Evans is officially among the elite young players in the Greater Ontario Jr. Hockey League while patrolling the blue line here for the Windsor LaSalle Vipers.

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Sault boys in OHL West


By
December 12, 2023

Four of the five teams in the West Division of the Ontario Hockey League have Sault Ste. Marie products on their respective rosters. Ironically, it is the Soo Greyhounds who do not have a single local lad on their team.

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Firebirds and Spitfires


By
December 11, 2023

They are scheduled to face off against one another no less than five times in the 2024 segment of this Ontario Hockey League regular season. And those five matchups could go a long way towards deciding playoff spots for the Flint Firebirds and Windsor Spitfires.

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Torres and the Spitfires


By
December 10, 2023

Windsor Spitfires are still at the bottom of the standings among the 10 teams of the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League. But the Spitfires have now won more games with interim head coach Casey Torres at the helm than they did under his fired predecessor Jerrod Smith.

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Hudson and Hudson


By
December 9, 2023

They are the two youngest players — impact ones at that — for the Sudbury Cubs of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. Both are 2023 Ontario Hockey League draft picks of the Sudbury Wolves. And both have connections to not only the Wolves but to Sault Ste. Marie.

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Spitfires continue ascent


By
December 8, 2023

The recharged Windsor Spitfires are becoming a pretty good story in the making. After starting the 2023-2024 Ontario Hockey League season with a 4-16-1 record that led to the firing of first year head coach Jerrod Smith, the Spitfires have since gone 4-2-0 under interim bench boss Casey Torres.

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Local lad in Windsor LaSalle


By
December 7, 2023

Sault Ste. Marie product Gage Evans is continuing his development with the Windsor LaSalle Vipers of the Greater Ontario Jr. Hockey League.

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Spitfires are taking flight


By
December 4, 2023

A change in head coaches has thus far led to a well timed turnaround for the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League.

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Ways of the Wild West


By
November 27, 2023

Soo Greyhounds have maintained first place despite a record-setting win streak by the Saginaw Spirit. Flint Firebirds are holding serve in the middle of the court while fourth seed Sarnia Sting is on a skid and the last place Windsor Spitfires have responded well to a coaching change.

…[read more]

Spitfires alter flight plan


By
November 24, 2023

WINDSOR — There has been some topsy turvy turbulence that has grounded the Windsor Spitfires this season following back to back first place regular season finishes atop the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League.

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Spitfires fire head coach


By
November 20, 2023

Long-time assistant coach Jerrod Smith has lasted just 21 games as the head coach of the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League.

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Fearsome OHL fighters


By
November 19, 2023

Like it or not, fighting has a secure place in hockey history. There are fighters who were as popular — maybe more popular — than many of the star players. These days, fighting is virtually non existent in the game. But that does not change the fact that some of the most fearsome fighters in the history of — in this case — the Ontario Hockey League are still held in reverence by many with a nostalgic attachment to the game.

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Lambert has come full circle


By
November 16, 2023

Denny Lambert skated in the Ontario Hockey League for three seasons before eventually making it to the National Hockey League where he toughed it out for more than 500 games as a battling left winger. But the 53-year old Lambert, who recently stepped in to take over as head coach of the AAA Under 18 Soo Jr. Greyhounds, says it was his time with the program as a player in the Great North Under 18 Hockey League that went a long way to shape him for what was ahead.

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Spitfires are sputtering


By
November 14, 2023

Windsor Spitfires are in a nosedive that requires imminent attention. Since scoring a big victory over the Western Conference-leading Kitchener Rangers, the Spitfires have dropped five straight games and are now in last place among the 20 teams of the Ontario Hockey League with a record of 4-13-1.

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Retentions of Windsor Arena


By
November 6, 2023

Sault Ste. Marie is home. Windsor is my acquired home, initially through Croatian family on my mother’s side. As a journalist who has been writing about hockey for a living since 1975, my main passion is now with the various minor and junior teams of northern Ontario. But the Windsor Spitfiires of the Ontario Hockey League and its Windsor Arena home of 1975 to 2008 remain high on my chosen and close to one’s heart list of all time fondness and partiality.

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Sault Ste. Marie Spitfires


By
November 2, 2023

Recently acquired defenseman Connor Toms has become the latest in a long line of players from Sault Ste. Marie who have suited up for the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League over the years. Indeed, the number of Sault boys who have become Spitfires is rather notable.

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Spitfires are high on Toms


By
October 31, 2023

WINDSOR — Connor Toms has a good opportunity to go from being a fringe defenseman with the Soo Greyhounds to a stabilizing presence with the Windsor Spitfires. The 19-year old Sault Ste. Marie product is now a seasoned member of a rookie laden Spitfires blue line brigade after being obtained from the Greyhounds for a 12th round pick at the 2025 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft.

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Red Wings radio legend


By
October 20, 2023

Paul Woods was certainly no slouch as a hockey player. He captained the Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League and once scored 119 points in a season. And before Steve Yzerman came along, Woods was the youngest captain in the National Hockey League history of the storied Detroit Red Wings. But it is as a Red Wings radio broadcaster that Woods has become an unlikely legend.

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Prime prospect Chitaroni


By
October 3, 2023

He has moved up from the Soo Jr. Greyhounds of the Great North Under 18 Hockey League to the Sudbury Cubs of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. And he is doing so as a coveted prospect of the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League.

…[read more]

Soo boys make their points


By
September 30, 2023

First pucks have dropped on the 2023-2024 Ontario Hockey League regular season. And several skaters with a link to Sault Ste. Marie picked up points in their respective team’s season opening games.

…[read more]