Katchouk v. Culina
Two members of the 2014-2015 Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League and Dudley Hewitt Cup champion Soo Thunderbirds will be on opposite sides of the Ontario Hockey League, Western Conference title series.
1998 birth year forward Boris Katchouk and 1997 birth-year goalie Mario Culina were teammates on the Thunderbirds championship team of 2014-2015.
Katchouk is now in his third full OHL season as a star performer with the Soo Greyhounds and a second-round National Hockey League draft pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Culina, meanwhile, is having a breakthrough OHL season with the Kitchener Rangers after two years as a backup goalie with the Windsor Spitfires. The Sault Ste. Marie native has won 21 games — including eight in the playoffs — since being acquired by Kitchener from the Sudbury Wolves at the January 9 OHL trade deadline.
The Greyhounds and Rangers begin their best-of-seven, Western Conference championship series on Friday night in the Soo.