Team NOHA selection process
Esteemed minor hockey bench boss Peter Michelutti Jr. and Great North Under 18 Hockey League commissioner Albert Corradini will ultimately have the final say as to which 2007 birth year players will represent Team NOHA at the annual OHL Cup Showcase Tournament.
The 43-year old Michelutti Jr. has impressive credentials. He followed a Division 1, National Collegiate Athletic Association playing career with the Northern Michigan Wildcats and a professional run in Italy with a 12-year stint as coach of the Sudbury U18 Nickel Capitals. He led the Nickel Capitals to a Telus Cup national title in 2008 and served as head coach for Team NOHA in 2009. Michelutti has also been an NOHA clinic facilitator for many years and is known for having a true passion for the growth and development of players in northeastern Ontario.
At any rate, this year’s edition of Team NOHA will be part of the annual OHL Cup event which is slated to be held from March 28 to April 3 in Toronto. It will serve as a showcase haven for general managers and scouts to evaluate players from across the province and into the United States who are eligible for the 2023 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft.
Meantime, a total of 42 select players with 2007 birth dates from teams in the GNU18HL have been picked to attend a Northern Ontario Hockey Association camp ahead of the OHL Cup.
The players have been invited to assemble in North Bay this weekend for a Team NOHA evaluation camp. The list of invitees includes five goalies, 14 defensemen and 23 forwards. The Team NOHA roster will subsequently be finalized just after the GNU18HL wraps up the 2022-2023 season with its playoff tournament in the latter half of March.
The initial list of 42 participants for the Team NOHA camp is as follows.
Goalies: The five are Nathan Maguire of the Soo Jr. Greyhounds, Nick Marson of the Sudbury U16 Nickel Capitals, Alex Hall of the Timmins Majors, Jackson Curran of the North Bay U16 Trappers and Vincent Popkie of the New Liskeard Cubs.
Defensemen: Five members of the Sudbury U16 Capitals lead the way. They are Carter Carriere, Carter Makasoff, Tyler Navarro, Cole Prpic and Alexandre Valade. Soo Jr. Greyhounds will be represented by four, including Rylan Fellinger, Declan Gallivan, Tyler Neveau and Candon O’Neill. Then it’s Jackson Culin and Mason Rotondo from the North Bay U16 Trappers, Alexis Fournier from the Kapuskasing Flyers, Cole Ellis from the Timmins Majors and Cameron Olsen from the New Liskeard Cubs.
Forwards: Leading the way are seven members of the Soo Jr. Greyhounds and seven more from the Sudbury U16 Nickel Capitals. From the Jr. Greyhounds are Griffin Albert, Hudson Chitaroni, Brendan Cooke, Lucas DiBerardino, Nathan Guizzetti, Carter Huckson and Deven Jones McDonald. From the U16 Nickel Capitals are Coulson Bell, Anthony Bertrand, Max Campbell, Cole Dubowsky, Corey Lacroix, Nick Labreque and Cameron Vehkala. North Bay U16 Trappers have four forwards selected including Tyler Brunet, Hudson Prisco-Duquet, Brant Romaniuk and Bryden Shank. Then there are Jordan McLeod, Ian Lachance and Tyson Scott from the Timmins Majors, Ryan Miller from the New Liskeard Cubs and Danik Dube of the Kapuskasing Flyers.
Sweet Seven: In particular, there are seven 2007 skaters from the GNU18HL who the various OHL general managers and scouts apparently have rated higher than the rest at this stage of the game. They include forwards Hudson Chitaroni and Brendan Cooke and defensemen Candon O’Neill and Declan Gallivan of the Soo Jr. Greyhounds and defenseman Alexandre Valade and forwards Cole Dubowsky and Max Campbell of the Sudbury U16 Nickel Capitals.