All posts by Randy Russon
Modest movement in Flint
Barring a miracle on ice, Flint Firebirds are going to miss the Ontario Hockey League playoffs for a second successive season. But the last-place team in the Western Conference is showing steady signs of improvement.
…[read more]Hurrah to novice Hounds
Soo Jr. Greyhounds have skated home with the novice AA division championship from the prestigious International Silver Stick Hockey Tournament that wrapped up in Pelham on the weekend.
…[read more]Soo boy to Sudbury midgets
2002 birth year forward Nick Jameus of Sault Ste. Marie is joining the Sudbury Nickel Capital Wolves of the Great North Midget Hockey League for the balance of the 2018-2019 season.
…[read more]GMHL all-star day
Next Tuesday in Ville-Marie, Quebec will mark the 13th annual all-star day for the Greater Metro Hockey League.
…[read more]Laprade all in on NOJHL
He has been a player and a coach — and been on national championship teams as both — at the Division 1, National Collegiate Athletic Association level. Suffice to say that Doug Laprade, who is in his first season as head coach of the Soo Eagles of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League, knows a good level of the game when he sees it.
…[read more]Fearsome foursome
London Knights, Soo Greyhounds, Saginaw Spirit and Guelph Storm are set up for what should be a furious fight for supremacy in the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League.
…[read more]North Bay to Hamilton
Northern Ontario product Payton Vescio is headed south to the Hamilton Bulldogs. North Bay Battalion dealt the 2001 birth year defenseman to the reigning Ontario Hockey League champions at today’s trade deadline.
…[read more]Wolves add another vet
Making his second trade of the week, Sudbury Wolves general manager Rob Papineau has added another 1999 birth year skater.
…[read more]Spirit rising under Lazary
A coaching change appears to be working for the Saginaw Spirit. The latest win for Saginaw, a 3-1 victory over the reigning Ontario Hockey League champion Hamilton Bulldogs tonight, has the Spirit rising under new bench boss Chris Lazary.
Read moreNet gains in Hearst
It has been quite a difference in goalie play for the Hearst Lumberjacks from the 2017-2018 season to the 2018-2019 campaign. …[read more]
Divine intervention
The owner, general manager and coach of the French River Rapids of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League told Hockey News North that he saw his life flash before his eyes when the team bus recently barrelled off the highway and went down an eight-foot embankment and almost tipped over. “All I could think of is that we were going to die,” said Paul Frustaglio in the aftermath of the Saturday morning accident that occurred when French River was returning home from a Friday night game in Kirkland Lake against the Gold Miners.
…[read more]Retro night in Hamilton
Reigning Ontario Hockey League champion Hamilton Bulldogs held a retro night on Saturday. And as part of the attraction for the game against the visiting Sarnia Sting, the Bulldogs invited members of the 1976 OHL and Memorial Cup champion Hamilton Fincups to be part of the festivities. …[read more]
Ready for a run in Saginaw
Saginaw Spirit seems serious about taking a shot at Ontario Hockey League supremacy. The addition of Team Canada right winger Owen Tippett in a swap with the Mississauga Steelheads has solidified Saginaw as it sets sights on the stretch run of the 2018-2019 season. …[read more]
Top story: Hamilton over Soo
To be sure, it was an upset of epic proportions. Thus, it gets the nod from Hockey News North as our top story from the year 2018. …[read more]
A first for Austin Holmes
It took Timmins, Ontario product Austin Holmes only a few days into 2019 to score his first goal as a member of the Kanata Lasers of the Central Canada Hockey League. …[read more]
Saginaw snags Ryan McLeod
Saginaw Spirit, with a record of 11-2-2 in its last 15 outings, has further strengthened itself with the acquisition of high-end forward Ryan McLeod via Ontario Hockey League trade with the Mississauga Steelheads. …[read more]
Two assists for Cam Baber
Speedy Saginaw Spirit center Camaryn Baber had a helping hand in an Ontario Hockey League win over the Flint Firebirds tonight. The Sault Ste. Marie product assisted on two goals as Saginaw breezed past Flint with a resounding 9-1 triumph. …[read more]
West, East in the NOJHL
The 12 member teams of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League are slated to return to game activity within the next few days following an extended Christmas holiday hiatus. …[read more]
New Firebird has high IQ
Potential prime-time pivot Cody Morgan is getting another shot at putting his supreme skill set to use after being acquired by the Flint Firebirds from the Windsor Spitfires in a New Year’s Day deal. …[read more]
Wheeling, dealing in Flint
Flint Firebirds general manager Barclay Branch has ushered in 2019 by completing a pair of Ontario Hockey League trades. …[read more]
Lakers win their first GLI
Lake Superior State Lakers rang in the New Year in Detroit as first-time champions of the 54th annual Great Lakes Invitational college hockey tournament. …[read more]
Soo has overage trade chips
Should Soo Greyhounds general manager Kyle Raftis opt to recover some of the many high draft picks that he has dealt over the past few years he could use any of the team’s three overage skaters as valuable trade chips. …[read more]
Surging Spirit sweeps into 3rd
Riding the crest of a three-game weekend sweep and with a record of 7-0-1 in its last eight outings, the Saginaw Spirit has surged into third place in the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League. …[read more]
Kingston via French River
Marshall Frappier is getting another shot at playing in the Ontario Hockey League. The 2000 birth year goalie, who had been tending twine for the French River Rapids of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League this season, has had his OHL rights transferred from the Sudbury Wolves to the Kingston Frontenacs, as Hockey News North was first to report. …[read more]
Spirit lurks in win over Soo
Saginaw Spirit skulked out of Sault Ste. Marie tonight with a steal. Despite being out-skated and out-chanced for a good part of the match, Saginaw out-scored the Soo Greyhounds en route to a 4-2 victory as Ontario Hockey League play resumed following the Christmas holiday break. …[read more]
A flurry of OHL trades
No sooner was the trade freeze in the Ontario Hockey League lifted today that three separate transactions were finalized, Hockey News North has confirmed. …[read more]
OHL champs on the market
Ontario Hockey League teams in search of title glory could be in position to acquire players who have a championship background with the Hamilton Bulldogs. …[read more]
Is there more to the Spirit?
How will the Saginaw Spirit set its roster for the second half of the 2018-2019 Ontario Hockey League season? The only person who probably knows the answer to that question is Saginaw general manager Dave Drinkill. …[read more]
Merry Christmas …
An outdoor hockey game on Christmas Eve. That is just one way that members of my family and I are celebrating the holiday season. …[read more]
Looking at Noah Zeppa
Having just turned 16 years of age earlier this month, Noah Zeppa is one of the youngest major midget goalies in Ontario. And despite being bypassed at the 2018 priority selections draft, Zeppa has had the practice experience of facing Ontario Hockey League shooters this season. …[read more]
Major T-Birds work extra
Soo Major Thunderbirds of the Great North Midget Hockey League have ended the 2018 portion of the season in a winning way. …[read more]
Timmins Majors at the break
A 4-3 home ice victory over the Soo Major Thunderbirds on Saturday has the Timmins Majors going into a one-week Christmas holiday break on a winning note. …[read more]
Division 1 deal for Sault girl
She is only 14 years of age. But it speaks to the hockey and academic abilities of Ariella Merlino that the Sault Ste. Marie girl has already secured a Division 1, National Collegiate Athletic Association scholarship effective the 2022-2023 season. …[read more]
Improbable NOJHL champs
It was a dozen years ago at this time that the erstwhile Soo Indians of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League made a surprising coaching change. …[read more]
Hearst not far from first
There is a logjam in the East Division of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League that has the fifth-seeded Hearst Lumberjacks within range of the first-place, co-occupant, Timmins Rock and Cochrane Crunch. …[read more]
Top to bottom in the OHL
Officially, the Ontario Hockey League is closed for business until December 28. That is when the regular season schedule resumes and the Christmas freeze on trades is lifted. …[read more]
Minor T-Birds at .500
The surging Soo Minor Thunderbirds of the Great North Midget Hockey League will take a record of 7-7-4 into the new year when play resumes in the 2019 portion of the schedule. …[read more]
Sault College keeps winning
Put another win in the books for the Sault College Cougars. Sault College completed a weekend sweep of its American Collegiate Hockey Association rival Saginaw Valley State University Cardinals on Saturday with a 7-6 victory at GFL Memorial Gardens. …[read more]
No break for OHL managers
Even when there are no games scheduled, there are games being played behind the scenes. For example, I doubt if there is a general manager in the Ontario Hockey League who is not plotting ahead of the looming January 10 trade deadline. …[read more]
Cougars cuff Cardinals
Sault College Cougars scored six first period goals and roared to a 13-3 take down of the visiting Saginaw Valley State University Cardinals in American Collegiate Hockey Association action from Friday. …[read more]
Sault College moving up
With success comes a promotion. Hockey News North has confirmed that the American Collegiate Hockey Association has granted a request of the Sault College Cougars to move up a level from Division 3 to Division 2 effective the 2019-2020 season. …[read more]
OHL net shuffle
Sarnia Sting and Saginaw Spirit of the Ontario Hockey League have both moved on from bigger, highly-touted goalies who were former early-round draft picks. …[read more]
Mission to RPI Engineers
Highly-regarded, 2002 birth year forward Max Itagaki has made an early commitment to play Division 1 hockey at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. …[read more]
Minor Birds 3, Major Birds 2
An inner-city Great North Midget Hockey League match tonight pitted the Soo Minor Thunderbirds up against the Soo Major Thunderbirds. …[read more]
Friendly foes: Beavers, Eagles
The setting was a recent edition of the Hockey North Show that airs weekly on Sault Ste. Marie radio station ESPN 1400. At the same table, making guest appearances on the show were Blind River Beavers assistant coach/assistant general manager Craig MacDonald and Soo Eagles president/general manager Bruno Bragagnolo. …[read more]
Sault College at the Gardens
GFL Memorial Gardens in downtown Sault Ste. Marie is the slated site for a pair of weekend games involving the Sault College Cougars men’s hockey team. …[read more]
Wolves showing their teeth
Don’t look now but the Sudbury Wolves are a contender. Yes, the same Wolves who missed the Ontario Hockey League playoffs three times in the past four years including the 2017-2018 season in which they finished in last place in the 20-team loop. …[read more]
Monday night in Milltown
It will be a rare Monday night match in Blind River this evening when the Beavers play host to the Soo Eagles in a 7:00 start. …[read more]