All posts by Randy Russon
Paper Kings roll in a goalie
Espanola Paper Kings — formerly the Espanola Express — have stayed in the neighbourhood to acquire an experienced goalie ahead of the 2022-2023 Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League season.
…[read more]Net of the Eagles nest
The graduation to the college ranks of 20-year old goalies Gabe Rosek and Ryan Gilmore has left the Soo Eagles of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League with a combination of fledgling puck stoppers.
…[read more]Soo Eagles v. Kam River
It looms as an inter league prelude to the 2022-2023 regular season. As in, Soo Eagles of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League and Kam River Fighting Walleye of the Superior International Jr. Hockey League are slated to face off in a three game set on Labour Day weekend.
…[read more]Smith moves up a rung
Sault Ste. Marie product Jordan Smith will carry on with his ascent up the hockey coaching ladder at the next par of the game. The 36-year old Smith, who has advanced from head coach in the Superior International Jr. Hockey League and the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League to associate coach in the Ontario Hockey League, is inching one step closer to the National Hockey League.
…[read more]Rock lands another Miner
Timmins Rock of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League has traded for yet another high performance skater from the reigning Superior International Jr. Hockey League champion Red Lake Miners, Hockey News North has confirmed.
…[read more]New GM in Espanola
As the Espanola Express has become the Espanola Paper Kings, the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League team also has a new general manager.
…[read more]New moniker in Espanola
Out with the Express. In with the Paper Kings. Espanola’s Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League team has a new name.
…[read more]Sault Ste. Marie to Sudbury
Two players from the 2021-2022 Northern Ontario Hockey Association Under 16 AA champion Soo Jr. Greyhounds have signed with the Sudbury Nickel Capitals of the Great North Under 18 Hockey League for the 2022-2023 season.
…[read more]To the fore of a looming season
Symmetry was somewhat suggestive among the top four teams in the Superior International Jr. Hockey League over the course of the 2021-2022 regular season. Kam River Fighting Walleye, Red Lake Miners, Dryden Ice Dogs and Thunder Bay North Stars all finished above the .500 mark with respective winning percentages of .818, .797, .622 and .561. Projections for the looming 2022-2023 season are not as clearly expressed.
…[read more]Cubs get a Wolves draft pick
North Bay product Marshall McCharles will continue his hockey development close to home. A 6-foot-1, 180 pound forward and 2022 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft pick of the Sudbury Wolves, McCharles has signed with the Sudbury Cubs of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
…[read more]Player to coach in Dryden
Few are those in the junior A hockey world who get to head half way across Canada from their home to help coach the team that they once played for. But that is the extraordinary adventure that awaits Jake Gushue as the new assistant coach of the Dryden Ice Dogs of the Superior International Jr. Hockey League.
…[read more]Building up the Express
A second half swoon cost the Espanola Express a playoff position in 2021-2022. Espanola finished six points back of the Elliot Lake Red Wings for the fifth playoff spot in the West Division of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
…[read more]North winds of junior hockey
There are a mingle of 19 teams that compete within the ranks of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League and the Superior International Jr. Hockey League. In true north form, 11 are based in northeastern Ontario, six are situated in northwestern Ontario towns, one operates in northern Michigan and another is stationed in the north region of Wisconsin. All are working towards the looming 2022-2023 season with ranging measures of outlook and probability.
…[read more]Miners to the Rock
This can be classified as a blockbuster deal. Timmins Rock of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League has acquired a high performance duo of 2002 birth year forwards from the reigning Superior International Jr. Hockey League champion Red Lake Miners in a cash exchange, Hockey News North has confirmed.
…[read more]Red Lake to Sweden
Geoff Walker is headed to Sweden to take over as head coach of Vannas HC, which is a Division 1 program. The 34-year old Walker becomes a pro coach after piloting the Red Lake Miners of the Superior International Jr. Hockey League to the 2022 playoff championship.
…[read more]Soo T-Birds to Soo Eagles
Call it a cross-border transaction. Soo Thunderbirds and Soo Eagles of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League have made a player exchange.
…[read more]Here are the U18 Jr. Hounds
Soo Jr. Greyhounds have confirmed the names of 18 players who have been offered positions on the 2022-2023 edition of the reigning Great North Under 18 Hockey League regular season and playoff champions.
…[read more]Dryden to Cochrane
Hulking defenseman Tie Jacobs is back in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League after part of a season in the Superior International Jr. Hockey League.
…[read more]Rock on at the Cottage Cup
Timmins Rock of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League has been invited to be a part of a pre season tournament involving teams from the Ontario Jr. Hockey League and Central Canada Hockey League.
…[read more]Brothers of the Walleye
There will be another Vanska playing for the Kam River Fighting Walleye of the Superior International Jr. Hockey League come the 2022-2023 season.
…[read more]Raftis has managed well
Sam McMaster and Sherry Bassin are the only general managers in the 50-year Ontario Hockey League history of the Soo Greyhounds to win a championship. And even though he has yet to manage the Greyhounds to an OHL crown, current GM Kyle Raftis has overseen his share of winning as the Soo’s hockey boss.
…[read more]Newfoundland to Cochrane
Cochrane Crunch of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League has reached out all the way to Canada’s east coast to sign a high scoring skater.
…[read more]Kam River to Kirkland Lake
Dealing from strength at both the blue line position and potential overage players, the Kam River Fighting Walleye of the Superior International Jr. Hockey League has traded a 2002 birth year defenseman to the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
…[read more]Simmering story lines
Once the 2022 calendar flips to September it will only be eight days into the month before the first puck is played and the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League regular season is underway. And a glance ahead has a choice number of readable story lines looming.
…[read more]Back in the Walleye net
Kam River Fighting Walleye had as good a goalie tandem as there was in the Superior International Jr. Hockey League en route to a first place finish in the 2021-2022 regular season.
…[read more]Dunbar gets NHL look
Sault Ste. Marie product Ty Dunbar received a look-see at the recent National Hockey League summer development camp of the Colorado Avalanche.
…[read more]Porco off to Italy
Sault Ste. Marie product Nick Porco, who played four full seasons in the Ontario Hockey League as a speedy winger, has signed with Asiago HC of the International Central European Hockey League.
…[read more]Birds nest at Sault College
Yet another Soo Thunderbirds grad will be a part of the men’s hockey program at Sault College when the Cougars take to the ice for the 2022-2023 season.
…[read more]Kings to the Walleye
Kam River Fighting Walleye of the Superior International Jr. Hockey League has snagged a plum homegrown defenseman from the Thunder Bay Kings AAA Under 18 elite program.
…[read more]Seven up for the SIJHL
In with the Sioux Lookout Bombers. Out with the Thief River Falls Norskies. Seven teams will make up the Superior International Jr. Hockey League for the 2022-2023 season.
…[read more]Wisconsin to the Soo
Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League have added experienced depth to their forward lines with the acquisition of Ryan Blackburn from the Wisconsin Lumberjacks of the Superior International Jr. Hockey League.
…[read more]Adding punch to the Crunch
What he may lack in size he makes up for with grit and grind and heart and hustle and the dogged determination of a relentless pest.
…[read more]OHL still a league of choice
Considering that the annual National Hockey League draft has become a global affair with players from all over the world among the select 225 who are chosen on a given year, the Ontario Hockey League again did quite well at the 2022 event.
…[read more]Indigenous education fund
Forward Keaton Mercredi is off to play for the Maryville University Saints of the Division 1, American Collegiate Hockey Association in the fall. Notably, Mercredi has become the first recipient of a $1,000 scholarship from a post secondary education fund initiated by the Kam River Fighting Walleye of the Superior International Jr. Hockey League and Warrior Supplies.
…[read more]Cougar men of the den
It is the middle of the summer season. The actual playing of ice hockey matches are still a few months away. And the summer side of life aside, fall and winter are what the Sault College Cougars are planning for as they continue to commit to returning and incoming players ahead of the 2022-2023 men’s hockey season.
…[read more]NOJHL to QMJHL
A pair of 2004 birth year stalwarts are moving up from teams in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan of the Quebec Major Jr. Hockey League.
…[read more]Cougars bolster blue line
Sault College Cougars have signed a young defenseman to their American Collegiate Hockey Association men’s team assembly ahead of the 2022-2023 season. He is Austin Griffin, a 2004 birth year defender who heads to Sault College after a full season of junior hockey in 2021-2022.
…[read more]Powassan to Flint
Hulking forward Alex Bradshaw has signed with the Flint Firebirds of the Ontario Hockey League following a productive season with the Powassan Voodoos of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
…[read more]Soo boys off to UNB
One of the very best Canadian university programs has finalized the recruitment of a pair of high end Sault Ste. Marie products who are also Ontario Hockey League graduates and young men of exceptional character.
…[read more]Dmytruk and the Express
He has played the game at the junior A, major junior, Canadian university, minor pro and European pro levels and also has ample coaching experience. And now, Rob Dmytruk is offering his considerable knowledge to the Espanola Express of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
…[read more]Off season movement
There has been measurable, observable activity since the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League officially re-opened for business on June 1 ahead of the 2022-2023 season.
…[read more]Returnees to Kam River
A trio of 2002 birth year performers — a goalie, a defenseman and a forward — have opted to return to the Kam River Fighting Walleye of the Superior International Jr. Hockey League for the 2022-2023 season, Hockey News North has confirmed.
…[read more]Marc Lafleur to the Q
Championship coach Marc Lafleur is moving up from the Powassan Voodoos of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan of the Quebec Major Jr. Hockey League.
…[read more]Lang on the Kam River gang
High scoring forward Ethan Lang has opted to return to the Kam River Fighting Walleye of the Superior International Jr. Hockey League for his final season of eligibility, Hockey News North has confirmed.
…[read more]Nolan Newton of the North
Sudbury Cubs of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League have stayed in their own back yard to sign the 2021-2022 Northern Ontario Hockey Association player of the year. He is 2006 birth year forward Nolan Newton, who was a fifth round pick of the Barrie Colts at the 2022 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft from the Sudbury Nickel Capitals of the Great North Under 18 Hockey League.
…[read more]Express to Sioux Lookout
The newest team in the Superior International Jr. Hockey League has added a seasoned defenseman with prior experience in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
…[read more]More roar for the Cougars
It may be summer. But fall and winter are what the Sault College Cougars have eyes on as they continue to commit to returning and incoming players ahead of the 2022-2023 men’s hockey season.
…[read more]Attack on the Voodoos
Powassan Voodoos of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League have signed a prospect of the Owen Sound Attack of the Ontario Hockey League by way of the North Bay AAA Trappers of the Great North Under 18 Hockey League.
…[read more]Big d-man heads to Hearst
An inter-league cash transaction has landed the Hearst Lumberjacks of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League a good size defenseman.
…[read more]Eagles sign two Ontario boys
A pair of highly touted Ontario born skaters have been swooped up by the Michigan-based Soo Eagles of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League, Hockey News North has confirmed.
…[read more]