First star, Noah Zeppa
It was a shutout show for Sault Ste. Marie native Noah Zeppa in his first Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League outing with the Hearst Lumberjacks.
The 17-year old goalie stopped all 26 shots that he faced as the reigning NOJHL champions from Hearst blanked the visiting Cochrane Crunch by a 4-0 margin tonight.
Zeppa earned first-star honours for his debut performance with Hearst.
Of note, Zeppa was the most valuable player in the Great North Midget Hockey League in 2018-2019 while playing for the Soo Thunderbirds (now known as the Soo Jr. Greyhounds.)
He was subsequently selected by the Soo Greyhounds in the second round of the 2019 Ontario Hockey League under-18 draft.
Zeppa began this 2019-2020 season with the Chatham Maroons of the Greater Ontario Jr. Hockey League. He posted a 1-3-0 record with a .897 save percentage and 4.10 goals against average with Chatham before being sidelined with a concussion.
The 5-foot-10, 170-pound goalie recently requested — and received — his release from Chatham through advisor Kevin Cain of Cain Hockey Management.
Zeppa was then signed as a free agent by Hearst coach-general manager Marc Lafleur last week.
Calm, cool, and collected in his debut with the Jacks…..oozes confidence.
Was very impressed with the way he played the puck helping his D Guys, very
cool, good acquisition Coach/Manager Lafleur.