All posts by Randy Russon
Major weekend at home
Timmins Majors get to stay home this weekend. After playing five of their first six games of the 2018-2019 Great North Midget Hockey League season on the road, Timmins is home for games on Saturday night and Sunday morning. …[read more]
Eagles win home opener
After beginning the 2018-2019 season with five road games, Soo Eagles skated to a 7-3 home-ice victory over the Blind River Beavers before more than 700 fans at Pullar Stadium. …[read more]
Talking up the OHL north
I have never been reticent about trying to boost — when and where it is opportune and worthy — hockey in northern Ontario. And I had the occasion of doing that on television earlier this week during a guest segment on CTV News Northern Ontario. …[read more]
Setting it up in Sudbury
It is an iconic Ontario Hockey League franchise that has been more than 45 years in the making. But since entering the OHL along with their since-more-successful, northern neighbour Soo Greyhounds in 1972, the Sudbury Wolves have never won a league championship and have never participated in the Memorial Cup tournament. …[read more]
Major home match
Having started the 2018-2019 Great North Midget Hockey League regular season with three road games, the Timmins Majors will play their home opener on Friday night. …[read more]
Coach in Cruise control
The first year head coach of the Soo Major Midget Thunderbirds is encouraged by the commitment that is being shown by his players in the early stages of the 2018-2019 Great North Midget Hockey League season. …[read more]
Beavers dam good so far
Winners of four of five games to begin the 2018-2019 season, Blind River Beavers are the top team in the West Division of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. …[read more]
Seen on the Soo scene
The rinks in the area surrounding Sault Ste. Marie are full of action. Regular season schedules got underway in both the Great North Midget Hockey League and the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League a couple of weekends ago. And the bright lights of the Ontario Hockey League will shine on the Soo Greyhounds and 19 others teams beginning this week. …[read more]
Up north in the OHL
At first blush, it would appear that the Soo Greyhounds, Sudbury Wolves and North Bay Battalion are all poised to at least make the Ontario Hockey League playoffs in 2018-2019. …[read more]
Into the Spirit of things
Now this is what can be called a promotion. Beginning with its regular season opener against the Soo Greyhounds on Wednesday, Saginaw Spirit of the Ontario Hockey League will introduce a 90 minute food and drink special that will be held before every home game at The Dow Event Center. …[read more]
Goals by Baber and Porco
Sault Ste. Marie products Camaryn Baber and Nick Porco combined to score the tieing and winning goals as the Saginaw Spirit upended the Flint Firebirds 6-4 in Ontario Hockey League exhibition play from Friday. …[read more]
Campbell piling up points
Rookie David Campbell continued his frantic scoring pace on Friday as the Powassan Voodoos won their third straight game to begin the 2018-2019 Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League season. …[read more]
Mackenzie Ableson signs up
Soo Major Midget Thunderbirds of the Great North Midget Hockey League have added yet another player to their growing roster, Hockey News North has confirmed. …[read more]
Enrolled at Sault College
It reads as a display of commitment and depth. With a 26 player roster that includes 14 forwards, eight defensemen and four goalies, the Sault College Cougars are poised for their first full season as members of the Michigan Collegiate Hockey Conference. …[read more]
Soo major midget add-ons
Two more players have been added to the roster of the Soo Major Midget Thunderbirds of the Great North Midget Hockey League, Hockey News North has confirmed. …[read more]
Okay start in Great North
Take into account that they still have room on the roster for three more players and it was a decent start to the 2018-2019 regular season for the Soo Major Midget Thunderbirds. …[read more]
Early shines in the NOJHL
A pair of 16-year old draft picks from the 2018 Ontario Hockey League priority selections process are off to good starts as Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League rookies. …[read more]
Hamilton hires Pat Jarrett
Reigning Ontario Hockey League champion Hamilton Bulldogs have rounded out their coaching staff for the 2018-2019 season with the hiring of Sault Ste. Marie native Patrick Jarrett, Hockey News North has confirmed. …[read more]
Soo major midgets win one
A pair of empty net goals iced a Great North Midget Hockey League season-opening victory for the Soo Major Midget Thunderbirds over the Timmins Majors. …[read more]
Great North season begins
A pair of doubleheaders tops the slate of activity as the 2018-2019 Great North Midget Hockey League season gets going this weekend. …[read more]
Soo major midgets add two
Soo Major Midget Thunderbirds of the Great North Midget Hockey League have added two players to their roster, Hockey News North has confirmed. …[read more]
NOJHL watchtower views
A writer’s selection of storyline material as it relates to the tidy, well-maintained, Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. …[read more]
OHL watchtower views
A writer’s selection of storyline material ahead of the approaching 2018-2019 Ontario Hockey League regular season. …[read more]
Soo major midgets so far
Mike Creedon, who is the general manager of the Soo Major Midget Thunderbirds, has confirmed the commitment of two goalies, four defensemen and nine forwards to Hockey News North ahead of the 2018-2019 Great North Midget Hockey League season. …[read more]
Majors open at the Soo
September is here and so is the official start to hockey season. And as they are slated to begin the 2018-2019 Great North Midget Hockey League campaign at Sault Ste. Marie, the Timmins Majors used a Labour Day weekend tournament for a tuneup. …[read more]
Wins for Flint, Saginaw
Interstate 75 rivals Flint Firebirds and Saginaw Spirit both posted victories on Friday as the Ontario Hockey League exhibition season got underway. …[read more]
Good news from SMHA
After some rather anxious moments, the Sault Major Hockey Association will indeed operate AAA teams at the major midget, minor midget, major bantam and minor bantam levels for the 2018-2019 season, Hockey News North has confirmed. …[read more]
King of the Bulldogs
Hulking defenseman D.J. King has signed on with the reigning Ontario Hockey League champion Hamilton Bulldogs. …[read more]
Smith is for the Birds
High scoring forward Nick Smith is returning to the Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League for the 2018-2019 season, Hockey News North has confirmed. …[read more]
Birds add big defender
Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League have stayed local to sign 2001 birth year defenceman Jonathan Mackin, Hockey News North has confirmed. …[read more]
Me, a Maple Leafs fan?
I doubt that my two favourite National Hockey League teams, the Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens, will be Stanley Cup contenders come the 2018-2019 season. Ergo, it might be time to hop on the Toronto Maple Leafs bandwagon. …[read more]
Working out in Flint
Training camps are underway throughout the Ontario Hockey League preparatory to the 2018-2019 season. For example, the Flint Firebirds are hard at work with a goal of returning to the Western Conference playoffs after missing out in 2017-2018. Below are a few photos from the Flint training camp. …[read more]
MM Wolves win three
Sudbury Minor Midget Wolves of the Great North Midget Hockey League returned from a season-opening tournament in Markham by winning three of four games. …[read more]
Snapshots and snippets
Twelve teams and two divisions define the makeup of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. First pucks will soon drop on the 2018-2019 NOJHL regular season and with that noted, here are a few snapshots and snippets to peruse, by division and by team, in alphabetical order. …[read more]
Young pups of the Soo
Call it a rebuild. Call it a youth movement. Whatever the words or phrase may be, the 2018-2019 version of the Soo Greyhounds will be decidedly different from the 2017-2018 edition. …[read more]
Saginaw shows strength
The fact that the Saginaw Spirit has opted to allow three veteran skaters the opportunity to seek Ontario Hockey League employment elsewhere reads as a sign of strength for the looming Western Conference contenders. …[read more]
Package on the Express
A pair of veteran players have boarded the Espanola Express just ahead of the 2018-2019 Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League season. …[read more]
Love those Lumberjacks
Hearst Lumberjacks are building on to their fan platform as they prepare for their second season as members of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. …[read more]
Mauro opts for Blind River
Midget-aged forward Justin Mauro of Sault Ste. Marie has signed with the Blind River Beavers of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League, Hockey News North has confirmed. …[read more]
Hockey talk and patio bars
Even when it isn’t hockey season, it is. If you play hockey, are a hockey parent, a hockey coach, or if you write about hockey, it becomes a year-round focus, if not a fascination. …[read more]
Changes in Rayside Balfour
There are new personnel in place at the helm of the Rayside Balfour Canadians of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. …[read more]
Saginaw goes Wilde
Call it a walk on the Wilde side. Two years after choosing Bode Wilde in the second round of the 2016 Ontario Hockey League draft, the Saginaw Spirit has signed the 2000 birth-year defenseman. …[read more]
Major news from Timmins
Four more for the core. Timmins Majors of the Great North Midget Hockey League have signed three forwards and a defenseman from their weekend training camp. …[read more]
Express via Brockville
Espanola Express of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League has inked 1999 birth year forward Zack Matyasik from the Brockville Tikis of the Central Canada Tier 2 Hockey League. …[read more]
Soo team gets into Yoga
Soo Minor Midget Thunderbirds of the Great North Midget Hockey League have incorporated the physical, mental discipline of Yoga into their training regime. …[read more]
The legend of Mav
He can be called an Ontario Hockey League legend and few — if any — would dispute that notion. He can also be termed gruff but pleasant, ornery but kind, a beer-drinking guy who coached and managed against the best of them. …[read more]
Oulahen, Findlay, Rutledge
Flint Firebirds of the Ontario Hockey League have finalized their coaching staff ahead of the 2018-2019 season, general manager Barclay Branch has confirmed. …[read more]
This Bud’s for Sudbury
A vacant coaching position has drawn former Ontario Hockey League bench boss Bud Stefanski out of retirement. Stefanski, who originally hails from the northeastern Ontario mining town of Timmins, has joined the Sudbury Wolves as an assistant on the staff of head coach Cory Stillman. …[read more]