All posts by Randy Russon
Three goalies in Eagles net
Soo Eagles are set in net ahead of the looming ’26-27 Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League season. President and general manager Bruno Bragagnolo has confirmed to Hockey News North that the Eagles have three goalies signed, including a pair of local area lads.
…[read more]Soo Eagles sign local goalie
Goalie Daryn Szabo is staying home in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan to play junior hockey. A 5 foot 10, 170 pound puck stopper with a 2009 birth date, Szabo has signed with the Michigan-based Soo Eagles of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League ahead of the ’26-27 season.
…[read more]EL Vikings ink Sudbury lad
Elliot Lake Vikings of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League have confirmed the signing of Sudbury product Landen Lake-Rego ahead of the looming ’26-27 season.
…[read more]Trio in Soo net … Taylor has Spirit
Soo Greyhounds will head to training camp with three goalies under Ontario Hockey League contract. Meanwhile, former Hounds assistant coach Brendan Taylor has been hired by the Saginaw Spirit as its new bench boss.
…[read more]NOJHL also advances coaches
It has a sustained track record of developing draft picks for the Ontario Hockey League as well as moving players to college and university programs throughout Canada and into the United States. And in the span of mere weeks during this off season, the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League has seen three members of its head coach fraternity move up to higher levels of the game.
…[read more]Brandon Perry to Queen’s U
Homegrown head coach Brandon Perry is leaving the Timmins Rock of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League to coach in his adopted home town of Kingston. The 37 year old Perry has been named as the new bench boss of the Queen University Golden Gaels.
…[read more]Paper Kings net a goalie
Espanola Paper Kings have completed a trade with their nearby rival Blind River Beavers for an established Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League goalie.
…[read more]French River signs young star
Given his hockey resume, Dacey Dupuis had no shortage of suitors looking to sign him ahead of the looming ’26-27 season. And it is the French River Rapids of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League who the electrifying 2010 birth year forward chose to sign with.
…[read more]More Hound coaching news
Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League have now filled two assistant coach positions under recently hired bench boss Drew Bannister. They are Steve O’Rourke and Patrick Jarrett. Meanwhile, Bannister has been named a Team Canada assistant coach for the ’26-27 World Junior Hockey Championships.
…[read more]Greyhound coaching news
Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League have filled one of the assistant coach positions under recently hired bench boss Drew Bannister. Meanwhile, Bannister has been named a Team Canada assistant coach for the ’26-27 World Junior Hockey Championships.
…[read more]NOJHL “will move forward”
It is now a certainty that big market Sudbury will not have a presence in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League for the ’26-27 season. The recent announcement by owners Mark Burgess and son Connor Burgess that the three time reigning champion Cubs have voluntarily turned their franchise over to the NOJHL sent shockwaves throughout the junior hockey world. Having said that, the departure of Sudbury still leaves the NOJHL with 11 teams and as commissioner Rob Mazzuca relayed to Hockey News North, “we will move forward.”
…[read more]No summer rest in OHL West
A look ahead to the looming ’26-27 Ontario Hockey League regular season — it starts on September 17 — suggests that parity might be an operative word when zooming in on the five teams of the West Division.
…[read more]New coach in Powassan
Tyler Pracek is off to his third head coach gig in as many seasons in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. The 33 year old Pracek has been hired as the new bench boss of the Powassan Voodoos after previous stints with both the Iroquois Falls Storm and Kirkland Lake Gold Miners.
…[read more]Jordan Smith to the NHL
Sault Ste. Marie native Jordan Smith is headed to the Show. The 40 year old Smith has been hired as an assistant coach by the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League.
…[read more]Peter Goulet to the OHL
A lengthy apprenticeship spanning a few decades has finally resulted in an Ontario Hockey League assistant coach position for the highly regarded Peter Goulet. Most recently with the Powassan Voodoos of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League as a two time coach of the year, the 56-year old Goulet will join the OHL staff of new Brantford Bulldogs head coach Michael Babcock.
…[read more]The rise of Kenny Belanger
He has gone from a player who as a youngster was unceremoniously cut from a AAA program in his hometown of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. to become a productive performer at the junior A and Ontario university levels.
…[read more]Changing ways of the OHL
The game has unquestionably undergone major forms of change since I began covering the Ontario Hockey League back in 1975. I was just out of community college — and still wet behind the ears — when I first sat in the main press box, which was within inches of the rickety rafters of venerable Memorial Gardens in Sault Ste. Marie.
…[read more]Soo Eagles + Soo Indians
This is setting up to further establish a pipeline between the under 18 and junior levels of the game. That is, the Soo Eagles of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League are now officially overseeing the operations of the U18 Soo Indians of the Michigan Amateur Hockey Association’s Tier 1 Elite League.
…[read more]Seattle pick has a Sault side
Towering defenseman Finn Kearns became property of the Seattle Kraken at the recent 2026 National Hockey League Draft. And the 6 foot 3, 210 pound defender who played most of the past two seasons with St. Andrew’s College of Aurora before finishing the ’25-26 campaign with the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League, has Sault Ste. Marie roots through his dad, Martin.
…[read more]Upstate NY via Espanola
Graduated Espanola Paper Kings forward Jason Galante has committed to attend Morrisville State University ahead of the ’26-27 season. Located in upstate New York, Morrisville is a Division 3 National Collegiate Athletic Association school.
…[read more]OHL shines at NHL Draft
So much for the critics saying that the talent pool in the Ontario Hockey League is getting shallow. Rather, 47 OHL players were selected through the seven rounds of the recent 2026 National Hockey League Draft. To be sure, the 47 OHL players picked is just one less than the league’s modern-era record of 48, which was established in 2012 and equalled in 2016.
…[read more]Hounds head coach a winner
The Greyhounds have gone from a mid grade head coach to a high grade one. It will be a hockey homecoming for Drew Bannister as he takes over from the ousted John Dean as the bench boss of the Red and White of Sault Ste. Marie.
…[read more]Was not keen on John Dean
As Drew Bannister will be returning to the Soo Greyhounds for a second go around as their head coach, let it be firmly stated here that the incoming bench boss is a clear cut, significant upgrade over the departed John Dean.
…[read more]NOJHL grads off to school
Teams in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League have long been suppliers of players to the Division 3 level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. And some of the more recent NCAA commitments ahead of the ’26-27 season are as follows.
…[read more]No more Sault This Week
Well, that’s all we wrote for the good, old weekly. First established in 1967 as Shopper News, the Sault This Week will cease publication following its June 25 edition.
…[read more]Erie feeling for Sault boys
A pair of high performance forwards who were born in Sault Ste. Marie are primed to play a prominent part in the resurgence of the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League. They are character kids Evan Headrick and Colin Kennedy.
…[read more]A few OHL draft notes
Results for the 2026 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft — which was held in Kingston — are officially in the books. A total of 301 players were taken by the 20 teams of the OHL as the league returned to an in person format for the first time since the year 2000. (For that, we say, better late than never.) At any rate, following is a small sample of one writer’s focal points from this year’s draft.
…[read more]Sault Major gets shut out
It was not a good showing for the Northern Ontario Hockey Association — or in particular the Sault Major Hockey Association — at the annual Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft.
…[read more]Bertrand is back up North
Greater Sudbury product Anthony Bertrand is returning to the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League from the Central Canada Hockey League.
…[read more]Cole Guizzetti to Flint
He is a 5 foot 6 spark plug with skill and strength who can score and skate with the best of them. And Sault Ste. Marie product Cole Guizzetti was today picked by the Flint Firebirds in the third round of the 2026 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft.
…[read more]OHL draft 1st round recap
We have a nod to the north. That is, the top three picks in the first round of the 2026 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft all have a strong northeastern Ontario side to them.
…[read more]Colin Kennedy … 2nd overall
Wow! Sault Ste. Marie product Colin Kennedy has become a first round pick in the 2026 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft. A hard working, productive forward with good speed, Kennedy was taken with the second pick of the first round by the Erie Otters.
…[read more]Southwind in Elliot Lake
Elliot Lake Vikings of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League have signed local product Gerald Southwind ahead of the ’26-27 season.
…[read more]Hounds ink American duo
They are headed this way. Soo Greyhounds have gone south of the border to sign a pair of American born skaters ahead of the ’26-27 Ontario Hockey League season.
…[read more]Espanola to Cleveland, Ohio
Espanola Paper Kings of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League have confirmed the commitment of forward Callum Millar to Hiram College of Cleveland effective the ’26-27 season. Hiram is a Division 3, National Collegiate Athletic Association school.
…[read more]BR goalie off to D3 school
Graduated Blind River Beavers goalie Justin Sullivan has committed to Southern New Hampshire University for the ’26-27 season. SNHU is a Division 3, National Collegiate Athletic Association school.
…[read more]Kennedy, Guizzetti et al
A dandy duo of 2010 birth year forwards who departed the ranks of the Sault Major Hockey Association two years ago to play elsewhere have earned prime projections ahead of the upcoming June 12-13 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft.
…[read more]School is in for Soo Eagles
Soo Eagles of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League are without peer when it comes to advancing players to the American college ranks. Indeed, in the 16 years that the venerable Bruno Bragagnolo has led the program as president, general manager and in various coaching roles, the Eagles have sent in the neighbourhood of 150 players to college hockey programs.
…[read more]What a Hall of Fame night!
It was a jam packed gathering that featured numerous “salt of the earth” hockey people and members of their respective families. The newly formed Hockey North Hall of Fame recently held its inaugural induction ceremony in the Steamfitters Lounge of the Machine Shop venue in Sault Ste. Marie’s west end.
…[read more]U18 Soo Indians via Ohio
Forward Jack Hovanetz will be venturing from the Ohio based Under 16 AAA level Gilmour Academy to play for the Under 18 Soo Indians of the Michigan Amateur Hockey Association’s Tier 1 Elite League. Hockey News North has confirmed that the late November, 2009 birth year skater has signed with the new look Indians ahead of the ’26-27 season.
…[read more]Mazzuca in positions of power
The boss is still the boss. Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League commissioner Rob Mazzuca will continue to have considerable say and authority as the chair of the board for the Canadian Jr. Hockey League.
…[read more]Player agent thumbs-up
Being in the hockey business as a writer for more than 50 years often leads to me being asked by parents, relatives and friends of young players for recommendations when it comes to choosing a player agent aka family advisor.
…[read more]Soo Indians sign local lad
Soo Indians of the Under 18 Tier 1 Elite level of the Michigan Amateur Hockey Association have signed a rookie skater with ties to both sides of the International Bridge at Sault Ste. Marie ahead of the ’26-27 season. He is Andrew Aikens, a 6 foot 2, 190 pound defenseman with a 2009 birth date.
…[read more]Flint has building blocks
They took a shot and made a good run of it. While it is naturally disappointing when a championship goal is not achieved, the Flint Firebirds attained plenty over the course of the ’25-26 Ontario Hockey League season. And now, with so many key players having graduated, the Firebirds are in a retool stage ahead of the ’26-27 season.
…[read more]What’s next for the Hounds?
Greyhound fans are starved for a winner. Not since 2018 — when the Greyhounds, led by their head coach at the time, Drew Bannister, lost in the finals to the Hamilton (now Brantford) Bulldogs — has the Red and White truly contended for an Ontario Hockey League championship.
…[read more]Dean out as Hounds coach
The long serving head coach in the Ontario Hockey League history of the Soo Greyhounds will not be returning for the ’26-27 season. The Greyhounds confirmed that “the organization and head coach John Dean have mutually agreed to part ways.”
…[read more]U16 AAA Hounds roster
Coached by Jeff Toms, the Under 16 level Soo Jr. Greyhounds of the AAA Great North Hockey League have confirmed their staff and player roster ahead of the ’26-27 season.
…[read more]Martone a rising sensation
He has a family link to Sault Ste. Marie and has become a clear cut playing sensation — and both a fan and media favourite — beginning late in the ’25-26 National Hockey League regular season and now into the playoffs. He is 19-year old Porter Martone and he has burst onto the NHL scene like few others in a long time.
…[read more]