Evan Roach with Soo Indians
Having just recently recovered from a nagging injury, Soo Greyhounds draft pick Evan Roach is set to restart his development with the Soo Indians of the Michigan Amateur Hockey Association’s Under 18 Tier 1 AAA League.
A 6-foot-1, 175 defenseman who just turned 16 years of age, Roach was picked by the Hounds in the 15th round of the 2022 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft from the Soo Jr. Greyhounds of the Great North Under 18 Hockey League. In 29 games, regular season and playoffs included for the Great North champion Jr. Greyhounds in 2021-2022, Roach tallied three goals, five assists, eight points from his blue line post. He opted to sign with the cross-border Indians for this 2022-2023 season.
Roach is rounding into game shape with the Indians after suffering a quad injury in early August that caused him to miss what would have been his first OHL camp with the Greyhounds. The injury also sidelined Roach for the first nine matches of what is slated to be a 48-game regular season for the Indians.
The Indians, who are coached by veterans John Ferroni and Rick Corbiere and managed by program mainstay Mike (Zeke) Kaunisto, are part of a highly competitive MAHA U18 league that includes Detroit area teams such as Little Caesars, Belle Tire, Compuware, Victory Honda and the Oakland Grizzlies, among others.
As for what caused Roach to be selected by the Greyhounds at the 2022 OHL draft, general manager Kyle Raftis noted that the 16-year old is “a good defender with a good stick who thinks the game well. He moves relatively well and he is a player who is getting continuously better.”
Hailing from Batchewana First Nation, Roach is the son of Gary Roach, who was a high-end defenseman with the OHL Greyhounds during their 1993 Memorial Cup championship glory year.