All posts by Randy Russon
Doucette derails the Express
Jacob Doucette is known more for being a defensive defenseman.
But the 19-year old defender got downright offensive on Thursday by netting a pair of goals and adding an assist as the Soo Thunderbirds scored a 5-2 home ice victory over the Espanola Express.
In 63 previous Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League games over parts of two seasons while playing for, ironically, Espanola, Doucette managed just one goal, nine assists, 10 points.
…[read more]T-Birds v. Express takeaways
Soo Thunderbirds were, to be sure, full marks for a resounding 8-1 romp over the visiting Espanola Express in the first of four meetings between the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League foes.
The Thunderbirds out-shot and out-played the Express over the final 30 minutes of the match to turn a narrow 1-0 lead into a decisive 8-1 decision.
…[read more]Birds dispatch the Express
It was a close game through more than half of it.
But the Soo Thunderbirds eventually broke through to dispatch the visiting Espanola Express 8-1 in Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League play from tonight.
…[read more]T-Birds home to Express
Soo Thunderbirds and Espanola Express will begin a four-games-in-six-days series tonight when the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League cohort rivals meet in a 7 p.m. match at John Rhodes Community Center.
…[read more]Nine OHL picks in Espanola
A small market team in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League, the Espanola Express has become a major location for Ontario Hockey League draft picks to develop.
Notably, no less than nine players who are currently in the Espanola lineup are priority selection draft picks of seven different OHL teams.
…[read more]Birds flapping their wings
They are the young Birds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
To be sure, of the 22 players — 13 forwards, seven defensemen and two goalies — that dot the roster of the Soo Thunderbirds, no less than 17 of them will still have junior hockey eligibility remaining after this season.
…[read more]NOJHL pre-Christmas action
Eighteen games are on the slate between tomorrow (Dec. 15) and Dec. 23 as the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League has confirmed its second session of cohort opponents ahead of a Christmas break.
…[read more]Trio in tune for Jr. Hounds
Veteran Calem Mangone and rookie line-mates Lincoln Moore and Cooper Foster teamed up for seven goals and 12 points as the Soo Jr. Greyhounds put the finishing touches on the Sudbury Nickel Capital Wolves in Great North Under 18 Hockey League activity from Saturday.
Mangone netted three goals and two assists, Moore had the hat trick and a helper while Foster scored once and set up two others in a 7-2 Soo romp over Sudbury.
…[read more]Express on the right track
It is still early in the 2020-2021 regular season.
But with a record of 3-1-2 through its first six games, the Espanola Express seems to be on the right track from what has been somewhat of a train wreck through its first five seasons as members of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
…[read more]Christmas and the Canadiens
It was 1958, when I was six years old — and still believed in Santa Claus — that I have my first memory of Christmas and hockey.
I had asked Santa Claus for a Montreal Canadiens jersey for Christmas and I remember my Dad and Mom telling me that they would try to make sure that I got one.
Puzzled, I said to my Dad that I thought it was up to Santa Claus whether I got the Canadiens jersey or not.
…[read more]Soo crew hops the Express
It will be an early trip home before Christmas for two Sault Ste. Marie lads when the Espanola Express visits the Soo Thunderbirds for a pair of Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League games next week.
The Tuesday, December 15 and Thursday, December 17 games will be part of the second cohort segment of the season for both teams.
Of note, as part of its Sault Ste. Marie connection, Espanola has a pair of 2001 birth year skaters aboard the Express in forward Cole Delarosbil and defenseman Jordan Ritchie.
…[read more]Cohort competitors confirmed
The next round of regular season play within its West Division has been scheduled by the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
In new, head to head, cohort matches that will take them to a Christmas break, Espanola Express and Soo Thunderbirds will face off against each other four times and the Blind River Beavers and Rayside Balfour Canadians are slated to do the same.
…[read more]RIP, Andy Mantha
A true gentleman and a hockey legend from his playing days of many years ago with the Soo Greyhounds, Andy Mantha has passed away at age 94.
After retirement from the game, Andy would become a long-time fixture on Greyhound hockey broadcasts as a commentator alongside legendary CKCY Radio play by play man Harry Wolfe.
…[read more]Good old days of Jr. B hockey
There were rabid rivalries with games that were high scoring and penalty filled as part of a rough and tumble junior B league with teams in towns that highlighted local and area hockey players.
Games were played in cold rinks where fans braved the chills of winter to hoot and root for the home team and boo and hiss the visitors.
Before there was the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League, there was the International Jr. B Hockey League with teams such as the Blind River Beavers, Chapleau Huskies, Elliot Lake Vikings, Marquette Americans, Soo Indians, Soo Thunderbirds, Thessalon Flyers and Wawa Travellers.
…[read more]Great North gets it going
Soo Jr. Greyhounds took two wins and a tie from the visiting Sudbury Nickel Capital Wolves as regular season play finally got underway in the Great North Under 18 Hockey League.
In modified form, the rules were much different from the norm as the teams played four games with their respective 22-player rosters divided into groups of 11, featuring 10 skaters and one goalie per squad.
…[read more]Major returnees in Timmins
Fourth year head coach Brandon Perry and his staff of assistants will look to the experience of a smattering of seasoned performers as the Timmins Majors skate into the 2020-2021 Great North Under 18 Hockey League season.
The 31-year old Perry, a hometown hombre who progressed to play four seasons of Canadian university hockey with the Queen’s Golden Gaels and a term at the minor pro level before returning to Timmins for work and to help raise what is now a growing young family, has a peerless, peppery passion as the coach of the Majors.
…[read more]Denny digs the NOJHL gig
He has played the game at its highest level, suiting up for more than 500 National Hockey League games in what was an inspiring, improbable rise to the top.
He was later an assistant and head coach of eight seasons in the Ontario Hockey League for the same team that he played for, the Soo Greyhounds.
And now, 50-year old Denny Lambert is combining a career as a police officer with being the first year head coach of the Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
…[read more]Cross-river return for Szabo
After skating for several seasons on the Ontario side of the St. Mary’s River at Sault Ste. Marie — including the past two in the Great North Under 18 Hockey League — Dylan Szabo has returned home to play for the AAA Soo Indians of the Michigan Amateur Hockey Association.
A 2003 birth year forward who is well known for his hustle and work ethic, the 5-foot-11, 175 pound Szabo developed his game over the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 terms playing for coach Jamie Henderson and the Soo Jr. Greyhounds.
…[read more]No lack of story lines
Junior hockey is being played throughout northern Ontario, albeit in modified form, with no deliberate contact, restrictions on team to team travel, and few fans allowed in the rinks.
And unlike the Ontario Hockey League, which is planning on an early February start date to its regular season, the 2020-2021 campaign is already several weeks underway in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
To that end, there are good story lines galore relative to the NOJHL, including sports writers who previously ignored the league only to all of a sudden be on the bandwagon with plenty of printed words.
…[read more]Catch the ace for SMHA
Mike Creedon, who is the first year president of the Sault Major Hockey Association, hopes to make the game more affordable to more players, especially at the elite level.
…[read more]Keaston ‘n Kobe in Cochrane
They both hail from the resilient northeastern Ontario town of Iroquois Falls.
Having both been born in the latter months of 2002, they played minor hockey together in their hometown and surrounding area as childhood friends.
Graduates of different programs from the Great North Under 18 Hockey League, they are now teammates again with the Cochrane Crunch of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
Separated for a couple of seasons, defenseman Keaston Blais and forward Kobe Barrette took different roads to get to the NOJHL in Cochrane, which is located about 30 miles from Iroquois Falls along rugged Highway 11.
…[read more]Wild ways in NOJHL West
Good winds of the north are steady and sweeping through a regional junior hockey league.
Yes, it is only three weekends into the 2020-2021 Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League regular season.
But four cohort counterparts from the league’s West Division have become formidable foes with three games that have already been decided by shootout.
…[read more]Here are the Timmins Majors
Head coach Brandon Perry and his staff have selected the 22-player roster that will represent the Timmins Majors of the Great North Under 18 Hockey League for the 2020-2021 season.
By position, the Majors lineup, with players birth year in brackets, is as follows.
…[read more]Savignac sparks the Express
There is little doubt about the ability and skill level of Devon Savignac.
And what the 2003 birth year forward and Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft pick of the North Bay Battalion is capable of was on full display for the Espanola Express of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League in a rousing victory over the French River Rapids.
…[read more]Walleye shoots past the Stars
Trenton Morriseau hit for the hat trick and Talon Thomas tallied twice as the expansion Kam River Fighting Walleye made its official debut on Friday with a 6-2 win over the defending champion Thunder Bay North Stars.
The game marked the start of the 2020-2021 regular season in the Superior International Jr. Hockey League.
…[read more]Hendo is high on his Hounds
An effervescent Jamie Henderson could barely contain his excitement as he talked rapidly into the microphone during a recent guest appearance on local radio station Eagle 95.1 and its Hockey North Show.
The chatty head coach of the Soo Jr. Greyhounds of the Great North Under 18 AAA Hockey League was pumped up big time as he talked about his team and the slated return to play after eight months of game activity shutdown relative to the coronavirus health crisis.
…[read more]SIJHL season set to start
Four of the five northwestern Ontario based teams from the Superior International Jr. Hockey League will begin regular season play this weekend.
Kam River Fighting Walleye and Thunder Bay North Stars will play a home and home set as will the Dryden Ice Dogs and Red Lake Miners.
…[read more]RBC banks first win
It was a night of firsts in Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League action from Thursday night.
Playing at home, Rayside Balfour Canadians scored their first win of the 2020-2021 regular season with a 7-4 victory over the Timmins Rock.
As RBC improved its record to 1-3-1 on the season, Timmins lost for the first time and now has a 4-1-0 mark.
…[read more]Train tracks of the north
To say that the Espanola Express has a liking for players from northeastern Ontario would rank as an understatement.
That is because of the 22 players who are currently on the roster of the small market Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League team, no less than nine of them are lads from the north — six reside in the Greater Sudbury Area, two are from Sault Ste. Marie, and one calls Iroquois Falls home.
…[read more]These are the U-18 Hounds
Soo Jr. Greyhounds of the Great North Under 18 AAA Hockey League have finalized their roster for the 2020-2021 regular season, which is slated to begin play on the first weekend of December.
…[read more]Doucet delivers for Hearst
Homegrown product Sebastien Doucet has been piling up the points for the Hearst Lumberjacks through five games of the 2020-2021 Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League regular season.
Which is a nice bonus for the Lumberjacks in that the 5-foot-9, 170 pound forward with a 2000 birth date wasn’t exactly a scoring threat during his first two seasons in the NOJHL.
…[read more]Flint to Leamington
Top prospect goalie Chazz Nixon has been assigned by the Flint Firebirds of the Ontario Hockey League to the Leamington Flyers of the Greater Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
The GOJHL has been cleared by the Ontario Hockey Federation to begin regular season play in January while the OHL has targeted February as its planned start date.
…[read more]Rock on with Masternak
He is the shutout sensation of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
With a 2000 birth date, goalie Tyler Masternak is into his final season of NOJHL play as the whitewash wizard who tends the twine for the Timmins Rock.
Dating back to the 2017-2018 season when he was the backup goalie in Timmins as an NOJHL rookie, Masternak now has 17 — yes, 17 — shutouts.
…[read more]Sault crew in the NOJHL
It is a town that has long carried a reputation as a hockey hotbed.
And when it comes to the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League, no less than 22 players with a connection to minor hockey in Sault Ste. Marie are all over the map this season — and not just via the hometown Soo Thunderbirds.
As in, not only do the Thunderbirds boast 13 local lads in their lineup but there are five Sault boys playing for the Blind River Beavers, two more who are with the Espanola Express, one who skates for the Rayside Balfour Canadians, and another who is on the roster of the Powassan Voodoos.
…[read more]Such a good, good man
He defined kindness and generosity with a trademark, friendly smile and the warmest of hearts.
A much respected, benevolent gentleman who was well known and well liked, he shunned the limelight even though he was so active in the community as a businessman, volunteer and philanthropist.
He had a love for dogs and a soft heart for the less fortunate and he gave so much in so many ways and asked for nothing in return.
…[read more]Nice balance on the Express
Goals, assists and points are being tallied all through the lineup of the Espanola Express of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
A mere four games into the 2020-2021 regular season, no less than 15 of the 20 skaters who have seen the ice for the Express have at least one point thus far.
…[read more]Beavers sweep the Birds
Make it two straight wins for the upstart Blind River Beavers over the Soo Thunderbirds.
Blind River completed a two game, home and home, weekend sweep of the Soo tonight with a 6-3, home ice victory.
The Beavers had upended the Thunderbirds 4-2 on Friday in the 2020-2021, Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League regular season opener for both teams.
…[read more]Beavers win on the Rhodes
Blind River Beavers have drawn first blood on the Soo Thunderbirds with the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League regular season underway for the Highway 17 foes.
And it was Sault Ste. Marie product Nick Jameus, a second year forward, who sparked Blind River to a 4-2 victory in a Friday match at John Rhodes Community Center in the Soo.
The two teams will face off again tonight in a 7 p.m. match at the Community Center in Blind River.
…[read more]Express takes the Rapids
It was yet another narrow margin of victory.
For the third straight outing to begin the 2020-2021 regular season, a game between the Espanola Express and French River Rapids was decided by one goal.
But for the first time in the early going of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League slate, the Express was able to take down the Rapids.
…[read more]So far, so good in NOJHL
Parity has been evident in the early going of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League schedule.
The NOJHL is six games into the 2020-2021 regular season and four of the contests have been decided in the shootout.
Not only that, the league has been free from any positive cases relative to COVID-19.
…[read more]Return to play is for Birds
The game has changed, at least for the time being.
In modified form — as in no intentional physical contact — the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League is into its second week of regular season play after a short test drive of exhibition action.
Restrictions aside, the general manager of the Soo Thunderbirds has no real issues with the NOJHL’s new normal, while also liking the makeup of his own team.
…[read more]Happy for hockey hoopla
Covid-19 is a crisis, a change in the way we live our lives that can’t be under-stated.
How we cope with the pandemic and the so-called new normal of every day existence is a reality that we are facing and, hopefully, adapting and adjusting to in these uncertain times.
And while we do not know if the return to play of, for example, the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League can be sustained over the course of the 2020-2021 regular season, it is at least a start.
…[read more]Beavers, Birds back on ice
Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League commissioner Rob Mazzuca has confirmed that the Blind River Beavers and Soo Thunderbirds have both been cleared to resume team activities and return to the ice.
The temporary shutdown of the Beavers and Birds happened last week after a trio of Blind River players displayed a number of Covid 19-related symptoms and underwent testing. While awaiting the results, this past weekend’s scheduled games between the two teams were put on hold.
Beavers test negative
Three players with the Blind River Beavers of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League have tested negative for Covid-19. Hockey News North has received the following statement from the Beavers board of director relative to the negative results.
…[read more]Three additions to RBC
Rayside Balfour Canadians of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League have added to their player depth chart, complete with experience at this level.
Hockey News North has confirmed that the NOJHL rights of seasoned goalie Joel Rainville and defensemen Robert Brisson and Carter Geoffroy have been transferred to the Canadians.
…[read more]Rapids shoot down Express
It was two nights, two shootout, opening weekend wins for the rallying French River Rapids.
The revved up Rapids rolled to two straight extra time triumphs over their cohort rival Espanola Express to begin the 2020-2021 Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League regular season.
Following a 6-5 win in the NOJHL season starter, the Rapids flowed to a 5-4 takeaway over the Express in Game 2 of the young season.
…[read more]Rapids nip Express in opener
Regular season competition returned to the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League on Friday for the first time since play was shut down in mid March because of the Covid-19 crisis.
And there was no shortage of excitement as the visiting French River Rapids fashioned a frantic finish to edge the Espanola Express 6-5 on a goal by Cooper Bowman in the sixth round of the shootout.
…[read more]Two from Soo on the Express
Sault Ste. Marie will be duly represented by a pair of local minor hockey graduates as the Espanola Express, from down the highway, begins regular season play in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League this weekend.
…[read more]