Baber, Porco among the best
A pair of Sault Ste. Marie products with 2001 birth dates who are top prospects for the 2017 Ontario Hockey League under-16 draft are among the recipients who have received minor midget player-of-the-year awards for the 2016-2017 season.
The two from the Soo are forwards Camaryn Baber and Nicholas Porco.
Baber spent the ’16-17 season with the Soo Greyhounds of the Northern Ontario Hockey Association’s Great North Midget League while Porco skated for the Vaughan Kings of the Greater Toronto Hockey League.
The hard-nosed, hard-skating Baber finished fifth in the Great North loop with regular-season totals that included 32 goals, 30 assists, 62 points and 99 penalty minutes in 32 games while starring for coach Kevin Panco’s Greyhound midgets.
The smooth-skating Porco was the leading scorer for Vaughan during the ’16-17 regular season, putting up 22 goals, 19 assists, 41 points in 33 games. Vaughan is coached by North Bay, Ont. native Beau Moyer, who also scouts for the Kingston Frontenacs of the OHL.
The other minor midget players of the year came from those skating in leagues representing the Ontario Hockey Federation, Ontario Minor Hockey Association, Hockey Eastern Ontario and Hockey Northwestern Ontario.
The OHL supports the minor hockey awards and its director of recruitment, Daniel Broussard, offered the normal congratulations.
“The Ontario Hockey League is proud to support minor midget hockey and help recognize the achievements of great players from across the province,” Broussard began. “Congratulations to all award winners and to their families, coaches, and teammates for a tremendous hockey season, and best of luck to all players as they prepare for the next step in their hockey and academic careers.”
The awards, presented at the OHL Cup Showcase tournament banquet for the seventh straight year, recognize the achievements of the top minor midget- aged players from across Ontario. They are extended to the minor midget players who, in the words of the OHL, “best exemplify outstanding ability and the qualities of sportsmanship and leadership as voted by the minor hockey coaches, managers and organizations of each respective league.”
Baber becomes the fourth forward to have played his minor midget-aged season in Sault Ste. Marie to win NOHA player-of-the-year since 2012.
Zack Dorval, now of the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s, won it in 2014.
Blake Speers, now of the OHL’s Soo Greyhounds, won it in 2013.
And Michael Amadio, who is in his first season as a pro within the National Hockey League system of the Los Angeles Kings after a splendid four-year OHL career with the North Bay Battalion, won it in 2012.
Porco, meanwhile, in winning GTHL player-of-the-year, follows 2016 award winner Ryan Merkley, a standout defenseman from the Toronto Jr. Canadiens who went on to become the no. 1 overall pick of the Guelph Storm at last year’s OHL draft.
Of further note, current NHL star forward Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers and formerly of the OHL’s Erie Otters, won the GTHL award back in 2012 while skating for the Toronto Marlboros.
PHOTO: Ontario minor midget-aged players of the year for 2016-2017 include Sault Ste. Marie products Nicholas Porco (far left) and Camaryn Baber (far right.)
Congratulations to Nick & Camaryn on there achievement.
Congrats Cam!!