MID WEEK NOTEBOOK
A regular, rhythmic write-up covering the exploits of various players, teams and leagues at the rep, junior and collegiate hockey levels.
COACH LIKES COUGARS: Head coach Tanner Burton certainly likes what he has seen of his Sault College Cougars a dozen games into the ’24-25 Division 2, American Collegiate Hockey Association season.
Burton, appearing on a recent edition of the Hockey North Show podcast, noted that the Sault College men have impressed him as a unit, from goalies to defensemen to forwards.
The Cougars will take a record of 10-2-0 into a two game home series on the November 22-23 weekend and Burton, while singling out some individuals for their high performance efforts thus far this season, made sure to mention the “total team effort” of the Sault College men.
“We like the makeup of our team … it is a good group,” said the young head coach, who played collegiately at Marian University in Wisconsin following a three year career as a dependable defenseman with the Blind River Beavers of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
Ethan Esposito leads the Sault College men in scoring with 11 goals, 10 assists, 21 points. Then it is Brock Santa Maria with five goals, 12 assists, 17 points, Nick Jameus with 3-14-17 totals, Jake Kovacs with 5-7-12 numbers, Dylan Winsor with 7-4-11 statistics and defenseman Michael Starzomski with 10 points, including four goals.
Goalie Gavin Disano has played in eight of Sauit College’s 12 games and has a record of 7-1-0 to go with a 3.05 goals against average and .896 save percentage.
Notably, Santa Maria (Soo Thunderbirds), Jameus (Elliot Lake Vikings and Blind River Beavers), Kovacs (Thunderbirds and Beavers), Starzomski (Soo Eagles) and Disano (Blind River) all played in the NOJHL prior to going to Sault College. And not only that, they are all Sault Ste. Marie products playing for their hometown college.
ONE FOR ROMANIUK: Former NOJHL and Timmins Rock scoring sensation Brant Romaniuk has his first goal as a member of Gatineau Olympiques of the Quebec Maritimes Jr. Hockey League. The young forward has one goal, two assists, three points in his first 10 games at the major junior level.
A local Timmins lad, the 2007 birth year forward had nine goals, five assists, 14 points in nine games for the Rock to start the ’24-25 NOJHL season. The 5 foot 9, 170 pound Romaniuk was an impact player for Timmins as a 16-year old rookie in ’23-24. He had 23 goals, 34 assists, 57 points in 57 regular season games before adding eight goals, five assists, 13 points in 11 playoff outings.
WESTERN SANDWICH: Six of the 10 teams in the Western Conference are above the .500 mark and two more are within close range of that level as the Ontario Hockey League is between the one quarter and one third mark of the ’24-25 regular season.
Kitchener Rangers, Windsor Spitfires, London Knights, Erie Otters, Saginaw Spirit and Soo Greyhounds are among the top six with the Sarnia Sting and Flint Firebirds in pursuit. At the bottom and currently out of the playoff picture are the Owen Sound Attack and Guelph Storm.
Impact players from the Western side at this point of the season include goalies Joey Costanzo (Windsor), Charlie Schenkel (Soo), Jackson Parsons (Kitchener), Nathan Day (Flint) and import Noah Erliden (Erie); defensemen Sam Dickinson (London), Oliver Bonk (London), Matthew Schaefer (Erie), Anthony Cristoforo (Windsor) and Cameron Reid (Kitchener); forwards Michael Misa (Saginaw), Liam Greentree (Windsor), Luca Romano (Kitchener), Marco Mignosa (Soo), Easton Cowan (London), Ilya Protas (Windsor) and Calem Mangone (Saginaw.)
Mangone, a Sault Ste. Marie product, has taken advantage of the new rule that makes major junior players eligible for the Division 1, National Collegiate Athletic Association ranks. He is ticketed for the Lake Superior State University Lakers for next season.
WIN, WIN FOR WINDBIEL: Windsor Spitfires goalie prospect Jake Windbiel is showing significant progress through his first 10 games with the OHL team’s junior B affiliate in nearby LaSalle.
The 6 foot 4, 190 pound puck stopper with a 2008 birth date has a record of 7-3-0 with a 2.62 goals against average and .920 save percentage with the LaSalle Vipers of the Greater Ontario Jr. Hockey League. His statistics are even more noteworthy considering that the GOJHL is a league that features a high number of older players born in 2004, 2005 and 2006.
Windsor took Windbiel in the seventh round of the 2024 OHL priority selections draft from the Chicago Mission AAA program and he subsequently signed a card with the Spitfires.
Bill Dark, who is the director of goaltending in charge of scouting and development for the OHL Spitfires, is high on Windbiel and his development to date.
“He is really progressing well in junior B,” Dark relayed to Sault This Week. “It is a tough league for a 16 year goalie. He is also getting on the ice at practice with the Spitfires and has (goalie coach) Stan (Matiwijiw) working on his game. The kid has a big upside.”