All posts by Randy Russon
Miller time for Soo T-Birds
A Twin Soo junior hockey rivalry was revisited on the weekend. Soo Thunderbirds and Soo Eagles met up in a home-and-home series featuring the cross-border, Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League rivals. …[read more]
Spirit adds seasoned d-man
Saginaw Spirit has made a move to solidify its injury-riddled blue line brigade by acquiring overage defenseman Justin Murray from the Barrie Colts in an Ontario Hockey League trade confirmed this morning. …[read more]
Eagles clip visiting T-Birds
Soo Eagles skated to their first victory of the season over the cross-border Soo Thunderbirds on Friday. Before just over 600 fans at Pullar Stadium in the Michigan Soo, the Eagles clipped the visiting Thunderbirds by a 3-2 margin. …[read more]
Border battle bandwagon
Pace-setting Soo Thunderbirds will face off against the cross-border Soo Eagles in a home-and-home weekend series that begins tonight at 7:30 at Pullar Stadium in the Michigan Soo. …[read more]
NOJHL boosts Sault College
Three of the top point producers on the high scoring Sault College Cougars of the American Collegiate Hockey Association are recent graduates of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. …[read more]
Michael DiPietro to Ottawa
The first-place team in the Ontario Hockey League has served notice that it is going all out on a championship bid. Ottawa 67s have acquired 2017 Memorial Cup championship goalie Michael DiPietro from the Windsor Spitfires in a blockbuster trade. …[read more]
NOJHL at the gate, on the ice
Timmins Rock continues to top the attendance chart in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League followed closely by the Hearst Lumberjacks and Michigan Soo Eagles. And while the Soo Thunderbirds have the best record in the 12-team NOJHL, they are a distant last in attendance. …[read more]
Sault College draws a crowd
As much as he was impressed with the play of his team, Sault College Cougars head coach Mike Hall was wowed with the overwhelming fan support on the weekend. …[read more]
Major Birds sweep Sudbury
Forwards Brock Santa Maria and Nick Jameus and goalie Noah Zeppa sparked the Soo Major Thunderbirds to a Great North Midget Hockey League weekend sweep of the visiting Sudbury Nickel Capital Wolves. …[read more]
Points for Timmins Majors
Despite being minus a good chunk of their team due to suspensions and Team NOHA commitments, Timmins Majors came away with three points from a Great North Midget Hockey League home and home weekend with the New Liskeard Cubs. …[read more]
Cougars finish off Grizzlies
Sault College Cougars completed a weekend sweep of the visiting Oakland University Grizzlies in Division 3, American Collegiate Hockey Association action from today. …[read more]
Cougars cuff visiting Grizzlies
Sault College Cougars roared past the visiting Oakland University Grizzlies by a resounding 10-2 margin in American Collegiate Hockey Association action from Friday. …[read more]
NOJHL returns to Manitoulin
Courtesy a neutral site game between the Cochrane Crunch and the Espanola Express, the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League will make a return to Manitoulin Island tonight. …[read more]
Russian robber strikes again
Ivan Prosvetov stole another game for the Saginaw Spirit on Thursday night. The Russian-born goalie stopped 39 of 40 shots to lead surging Saginaw to a 2-1 home-ice victory over the Sarnia Sting. …[read more]
Minor Birds a work in progress
Soo Minor Thunderbirds of the Great North Midget Hockey League can be termed a reflection of their head coach. As Jamie Henderson is a focused, disciplined, hard-driven, hard-working individual, so too are the cast of players who make up the 2018-2019 edition of the Minor Thunderbirds. …[read more]
Spirit rises to fourth place
Sporting a 2-0-1 record under new head coach Chris Lazary, Saginaw Spirit has moved into fourth place in the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League ahead of a pair of home games this week. …[read more]
EL Wildcats have money issues
Elliot Lake Wildcats of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League remain more than $50,000 in debt to the City of Elliot Lake on an interest-free loan that was slated to be paid in full by the end of this year. …[read more]
Roads of northeastern Ontario
There are a number of certainties pertaining to the winter months in northeastern Ontario. One is that towns such as Sault Ste. Marie, Blind River, Espanola, Sudbury, North Bay, Timmins, Iroquois Falls, Kirkland Lake, Cochrane and Hearst will get their share of snow. …[read more]
Close quarters in the NOJHL
Both the divisional standings and the overall scoring race are rather close within the 12-team Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. …[read more]
Soo teams take Timmins
Soo Major Thunderbirds and Soo Minor Thunderbirds both scored victories over the visiting Timmins Majors in Great North Midget Hockey League action from this weekend. …[read more]
Major hockey mommas
As noted via an earlier item and photo on Hockey News North, it was a weekend road trip to Sault Ste. Marie for many of the moms of the players who perform for the Timmins Majors of the Great North Midget Hockey League. …[read more]
Feeling the Chill
Coulee Region Chill of the North American 3 Hockey League is not only off to a solid start to the 2018-2019 season but its top two scorers have future Division 3, National Collegiate Athletic Association commitments. …[read more]
Change in Elliot Lake
Veteran Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League bench boss Corey Bricknell has resigned as coach and general manager of the Elliot Lake Wildcats. Elliot Lake has lost five straight games and has a record of 9-16-2 through 27 games of the 2018-2019 season. …[read more]
Late round Hound sound
This is a story that has a good sound to it. Not only has Cullen McLean defied the odds by making the Soo Greyhounds after being a 15th round pick at the 2017 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft, the 2001 birth year center is on the Central Scouting players to watch list ahead of the 2019 National Hockey League draft. …[read more]
Young NOJHL talent
There is a plethora of rookie talent in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League among younger players with 2002, 2001 and 2000 birth dates. …[read more]
Great North numbers
Checking in on the Great North Midget Hockey League as the 2018-2019 regular season progresses into the third week of November: …[read more]
Shakeup in Saginaw
Those who know Dave Drinkill are most likely of the notion that the Saginaw Spirit general manager is a serious, thoughtful individual who is not known for making rash decisions. …[read more]
Pack of Wolves on track
They have 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-member loop. But at about the one-third mark of the 2018-2019 season, Sudbury Wolves are on track to more than double the 17 wins they managed over the course of the entire 2017-2018 campaign. …[read more]
OHL has 47 players to watch
Four skaters from the reigning Western Conference champion Soo Greyhounds are among 47 players from the Ontario Hockey League who have been mentioned on the latest National Hockey League Central Scouting players to watch list ahead of the 2019 draft. …[read more]
10 goals for Nick Porco
Second-year Saginaw Spirit winger Nick Porco has already doubled his goal-scoring total from his rookie season in the Ontario Hockey League. …[read more]
Don’t love it? Don’t play it
I get it that at the professional level, playing hockey is more about earning a living than it is for the love of the game. But at the grassroots level and up to and including junior hockey, methinks the game should always be played for the love and the passion of it. …[read more]
Wolves of the NOJHL net
A pair of 2000 birth year puck-stoppers who have seen action with the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League are now standing tall with separate teams in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League this season. …[read more]
Another night at the rink
It was just another Saturday night at Community First Soo Pee Wee Arena. Then again, it is one of my favourite ways to spend a Saturday evening during hockey season in Sault Ste. Marie. …[read more]
Soo boy Hungary for success
He was a top defenseman in the Great North Midget Hockey League, the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League and the Ontario Jr. Hockey League who went on to become a team captain at the National Collegiate Athletic Association level. Now 28 years old, Sault Ste. Marie product Bronson Kovacs continues to play the game with professional passion overseas in Hungary. …[read more]
Flint fends off feared foes
It would have been easy to talk trash about the Flint Firebirds through a win-less start to the 2018-2019 Ontario Hockey League season. Through 17 games, Flint flopped and fumbled with a single point from a record of 0-16-1. …[read more]
Best of the Birds
Soo Thunderbirds are perched atop the West Division of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League heading into a home and home set with the Blind River Beavers later this week. …[read more]
Fired up again in Flint
Another day, another victory. After beginning the 2018-2019 Ontario Hockey League season by failing to win in their first 17 outings, Flint Firebirds won their second straight game tonight. …[read more]
Hounds add a goalie
Soo Greyhounds have traded for journeyman goalie Mario Peccia, acquiring the 1999 birth year puck-stopper from the Oshawa Generals for a 12th round pick at the 2021 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft. …[read more]
Great North log jam
Soo Major Thunderbirds can escape the basement of the Great North Midget Hockey League this weekend as the New Liskeard Cubs come to town. And it won’t be an easy travel trek for New Liskeard, which has a home game before it hits the road to the Soo. …[read more]
Hope for the small goalie
Cedrick Andree of the Ottawa 67s of the Ontario Hockey League is emerging as a shining example of a goalie who does not have to be big to play big. …[read more]
Good morning, Flint
Flint Firebirds finally have their first victory of the 2018-2019 Ontario Hockey League season. In their second annual School Day Game promotion, the Firebirds skated past the visiting Sarnia Sting 7-4 in a match that began at 11:00 this morning. …[read more]
Jr. team in Iroquois Falls?
Separate factions are exploring the possibility of bringing a junior hockey franchise back to the northeastern Ontario town of Iroquois Falls, Hockey News North has confirmed. …[read more]
OHL Notes: Hustling Hounds
Nineteen games into the 2018-2019 season and it is the Soo Greyhounds with 28 points from a record of 12-3-4 who have been a big surprise among Ontario Hockey League teams. …[read more]
NOJHL Notes: Rolling Rapids
A pair of weekend triumphs by the French River Rapids boosted their season win total from three to five. We go there and elsewhere around the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. …[read more]
Culina wins pro debut
Sault Ste. Marie native Mario Culina made his pro hockey debut a successful one on the weekend as he backstopped the expansion Newfoundland Growlers to a 5-2 win over the Worcester Railers. …[read more]
Major T-Birds snap skid
Soo Major Thunderbirds managed to halt a 13-game losing streak today with a 4-1 win over the North Bay Minor Trappers. …[read more]
Rapids coach on leave
Rookie head coach Shawn Frappier has taken a leave of absence from his position with the French River Rapids of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League, Hockey News North has confirmed. …[read more]
Storm hits the Soo
The top two teams in the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League will face off tonight when the Soo Greyhounds play host to the Guelph Storm at GFL Memorial Gardens. …[read more]