Eagle eyes are on first place
Soo Eagles co-coach/general manager Bruno Bragagnolo has set a lofty goal for the 2016-2017 Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League season.
“As far as the regular season, we’re going to try and finish first in our division. That’s our goal,” said Bragagnolo, who is about to enter his seventh season as the Eagles hockey boss.
This will mark the Eagles second season in their second stint in the NOJHL after three years in the North American Hockey League.
The Eagles won the NOJHL title in 2010-2011 in what was Bragagnolo’s first season with the team. A year later, after the 2011-2012 campaign, the Eagles left the NOJHL for the NAHL — only to return in 2015-2016.
And after a fourth-place finish from a 22-30-2 record in the West Division of the NOJHL in ’15-16, Bragagnolo has eyes on a return to contender status for the upcoming ’16-17 season.
As the lone American-based club in the 12-member NOJHL, the Eagles led the league in attendance in ’15-16 with a per-game average of 622 fans flocking to venerable Pullar Stadium in the Michigan Soo.
Well-backed and well-supported by their fans and supporters, Bragagnolo said the Eagles off-season mission was to recruit skilled players with character.
“Most of the boys we recruited over the summer were at our main camp so we’re happy about that and we were able to sign them,” Bragagnolo began. “There are still a couple of question marks but overall you know when you consider we lost five players to college and six more to the NAHL from last year’s team that were eligible returnees, it’s been pretty good.
“We recruited hard all summer attending 20 or so different showcases and camps and we tried to recruit not only talented kids but character kids as well. We think we’ve accomplished that but we’ll find that out once we start playing,” Bragagnolo added.
Bragagnolo mentioned four returning players — three forwards and a goalie — who he thinks can make an impact this season.
“We have Landon Hubbard, I think he’s going to come back and have a good year. Jake Palmerio, a Canadian boy from Soo, Canada and Jake Saxton as well. I think they are all going to have a good year for us. We look to them to step up to the plate big for us. One of our goalies, Jack Deines, I think he could have a good year for us too. They are all solid players and bring good leadership to the table for us,” opined Bragagnolo.
Bragagnolo said he likes the look of the Eagles incoming defensemen.
“We’ve been impressed with all of our D. We have all new D right now. We average about four inches bigger and about 20 pounds heavier from last year’s group overall. We wanted to increase that size on the back end and our mobility and I think we’ve done that,” he noted.
Of the defenders, a few have really stood out, said Bragagnolo.
“One of the newcomers I’ve been impressed with has been Matt Meininger. He played one year of junior in Canada and played last year in the NAHL,” Bragagnolo began. “He’ll do a really good job for us on the back end.
“Then there’s Carmen Scarfone, a boy from Soo, Canada. I’ve been impressed with him and I think he’ll do a good job for us as well,” Bragagnolo continued. “We’re not sure about Nolan Makkonen as he has a tryout with the Guelph Storm of the Ontario Hockey League. If he makes the Storm, God bless him, great. If he doesn’t, I think he’ll be playing for us. He’s another good young player with a lot of potential. There are a couple of other boys we’ve seen on our D. I’m pretty excited about our entire D-corps.”
As for the NOJHL itself, Bragagnolo said the Eagles are happy to again be a part of it.
“It’s a great league,” he said evenly. “The league has done a great job of developing players. I think we’ve done a great job of developing players ourselves by advancing 11 boys from last year’s group. We’ve reloaded here and hopefully we’re not only successful but we will give our boys an opportunity to play college or at a higher level. Basically that’s our goal here. We’re looking forward to the season.”