NOJHL rallies with rebound


By
February 24, 2021

Let the record show that junior hockey returned to northeastern Ontario on February 23 after two months on the sidelines.

The Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League — which got in an impressive 41 games between November 13 and December 22 of 2020 before Christmas holidays and then a province wide shutdown relative to COVID-19 led to the two month stoppage in play — is back on the ice with a safe schedule of games for the 2021 portion of the season.

For now, the NOJHL and its seven active members will play a cohort schedule with teams not traveling outside any of their public health unit districts.

Thus, it will be the Espanola Express, French River Rapids and Rayside Balfour Canadians in one cohort, Blind River Beavers and Soo Thunderbirds in another, and Cochrane Crunch and Timmins Rock making up the third set.

It was French River that played host to Espanola in the NOJHL’s first game of 2021 and there was no lack of on ice drama as the Rapids pulled out an improbable 6-5 shootout victory over the Express.

Trailing 5-2 with just over two minutes to play in the third period, French River scored three goals in the span of 40 seconds — at 17:48, 18:11 and 18:28 — to tie the game at 5-5 before Cooper Bowman finalized the frantic finish for the Rapids with the shootout winner.

Cooper Bowman

As happy as Bowman was for the stunning win in the first game of the league’s return to play in 2021, he feels just as fortunate to be back on the ice.

“We are very fortunate. We are lucky to be up here, because we’re in the north and the (COVID-19) cases are low, so it is definitely a positive thing, because this is our life, hockey, so we are very fortunate,” Bowman told Postmedia.

Bowman, a 2001 birth year forward who is in his third NOJHL season with French River, hails from Courtice, Ontario. Courtice is about 35 miles east of Toronto, adjacent to Oshawa, and west of Bowmanville.

Meanwhile, those seeking to solve their junior hockey fix — be it supporters and/or members of the media — can do so by watching all NOJHL games via Hockey TV.

Up next on the NOJHL slate are two games for tonight — Espanola is home to French River in a 6:00 match and Blind River is in the Soo for a 7:00 tilt.


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