Sunday’s best
Points to peruse and opinions to offer on a sunny, spring-like Sunday:
..Lost in the mass hysteria to condemn Flint Firebirds owner Rolf Nilsen in the wake of his decision to fire head coach John Gruden is a rather-telling stat. In the 30 games before Gruden was fired, the Ontario Hockey League Firebirds lost 26 of those contests. Going by that abysmal record, Nilsen was justified in firing Gruden.
…If OHL commissioner David Branch is successful on any power-play attempt to get rid of Nilsen in Flint, he will have to deal with the fact that the billionaire owner also owns the Dort Federal Credit Union Event Centre, which is where the Firebirds play.
…A coaching change in Saginaw is paying early dividends for the OHL Spirit. Under interim coach Moe Mantha, who left the French River Rapids of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League to take the job in Saginaw, the Spirit has won two of three games with both victories being over division leaders — the Sarnia Sting and Erie Otters. Saginaw’s only setback with Mantha at the helm was to the Soo Greyhounds.
…If I am voting for general manager of the year in the NOJHL I have a tough decision in deciding from among Ryan Leonard of the Cochrane Crunch, Chris Dawson of the Powassan Voodoos, Todd Stencill of the Elliot Lake Wildcats and Jamie Henderson of the Soo Thunderbirds.
…My choices for coach of the year in the NOJHL would be Scott Wray of Powassan, Nathan Hewitt of Elliot Lake, Jordan Smith of the T-Birds and Tom McCarthy of the expansion Espanola Express.
Lenny has money that gets already developed 20 year olds, Scott does not have my respect as he calls opposing team players fat, and useless, Jordan is good but also has a heathy pool to pick from. As far as brining up players, out of you picks Randy I’m going with Tom, with Nathan a close second, he had returning players to work with, yes Espo is getting it together, but it’s not over yet
We like Dawson in this neck of the woods.
I don’t think any one expected Powassan to be as good as they are right now at the end of last season.
Yes to Chris Dawson!
Obviously biased because my son played for Nathan last year, with nothing but positive to say, but my vote would go the Stencill-Hewitt tandem. Great results for a built-from-the-ground up 2nd year team, and competitive from the outset. Also engendered super community support. All of the above are worthy selections however.