All posts by Randy Russon
100+ points for Jake Palmerio
Soo Eagles forward Jake Palmerio reached and surpassed a career milestone on Wednesday in his team’s 5-0 win over the Rayside-Balfour Canadians. …[read more]
Eagles can fly higher
They have clinched fourth place and they will finish the regular season with a record above the .500 mark. And with seven games to play on the slate, Soo Eagles still have a chance to move up in the standings in the West Division of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. …[read more]
Stretch run in the NOJHL
As the 2017-2018 regular season heads towards the finish line, there are a number of placings that are still to be determined in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. …[read more]
Hot dog Hounds have mustard
Can the Soo Greyhounds be beat come playoff time? Being that they are not perfect, then yes, they can and will be beat. But I don’t know if there is a team in the Ontario Hockey League that can beat the Soo four times in a seven-game series. …[read more]
Who, what, where in the N.O.
Some is good, some is bad, some is just plain okay. But most of what the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League is about is pretty good. …[read more]
Trappers up two on Timmins
If Timmins Majors are to extend their playoff season the upstart Great North Midget Hockey League team cannot lose their next game. …[read more]
Bring on the Sting
It looms as a showdown between two of the hottest teams in the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League as the Soo Greyhounds and Sarnia Sting face off tonight. …[read more]
Beware the Bulldogs
Separated from the powerhouse teams of the Western Conference that dominate the Ontario Hockey League, the Hamilton Bulldogs are marking their territory as beasts of the Eastern Conference. …[read more]
Soo penalty totals don’t lie
A shot at redemption via the playoffs after a sub-par regular season was not to be for the Soo Greyhounds of the Great North Midget Hockey League. …[read more]
Good scout v. ordinary scout
The ordinary scout who tracks the Great North Midget Hockey League is the one who shows up when all the others do and goes along with whatever the majority is saying about a certain player. …[read more]
Great North semi-final pairs
It will be the no. 1 seed North Bay Trappers v. the no. 5 seed Timmins Majors and the no. 2 seed Sudbury Nickel Capital Wolves v. the no. 3 seed Kapuskasing Flyers in the second round of the Great North Midget Hockey League playoffs. …[read more]
Puckin’ around the NOJHL
As February inches towards the middle of the month let us visit and revisit a few rumours as they pertain to the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. …[read more]
Timmins ousts Soo midgets
Visiting Timmins Majors completed a two-game playoff sweep of the Soo Greyhounds on Saturday with a come-from-behind, 3-2 overtime triumph. …[read more]
Baber nets his first
Sault Ste. Marie product Camaryn Baber has his first Ontario Hockey League goal in his 10th game with the Saginaw Spirit. …[read more]
Great North playoffs begin
Separated by a single point during the 2017-2018 regular season, Soo Greyhounds and Timmins Majors are set to face off in a best-of-three, Great North Midget Hockey League playoff series. …[read more]
No talk today from Powassan
As the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League takes pride in its relationship with the Canadian Mental Health Association as a partner in the Talk Today program, the president of the reigning champion Powassan Voodoos has his own method of communication. …[read more]
Trader Mike refuels Rangers
He swooped down like a hawk at the Ontario Hockey League trade deadline and scooped up four players who have made a good Kitchener Rangers team even better. …[read more]
Great North playoff dates
Fourth-seed Soo Greyhounds and fifth-place Timmins Majors will face off in a first-round, best-of-three, Great North Midget Hockey League playoff series this weekend. …[read more]
Spirit rises sooner than later
It is a team that I have been touting as an Ontario Hockey League contender-in-waiting since last summer. It is also a team that most pundits figured would miss the Ontario Hockey League playoffs for a second straight season in 2017-2018. …[read more]
Potential NOJHL expansion
It has gone from a seven-team league to a 12-member loop in the span of about 10 years. And there is ongoing board room discussion that could lead the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League to expand by two more teams within the near future. …[read more]
Soo boys have Spirit
Camaryn Baber will be joining fellow Sault Ste. Marie product Nicholas Porco in the lineup tonight when the visiting Saginaw Spirit takes on the Soo Greyhounds in an Ontario Hockey League matchup. …[read more]
Timmins has shot at fourth
Timmins Majors have three games to play in the 2017-2018 regular season — all on home ice — and need a single point to overtake the Soo Greyhounds for fourth place on the major midget side of the Great North Midget Hockey League. …[read more]
Good, bad, ugly in Powassan
I am going to take a different route in the case of the league suspension and subsequent team firing of a first-place coach who carries a good, clean reputation in the hockey world. …[read more]
Beavers net is solid
Newcomer Camden Burggrabe has restored a solid goal-tending tandem to the Blind River Beavers of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. …[read more]
NOJHL and Talk Today
Talk Today, the mental health initiative program designed to assist amateur sports teams and their players across Canada, originated in 2014 courtesy the Ontario sector of the Canadian Mental Health Association. And since 2015, the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League has been active as a partner with the initiative that is part of Bell Let’s Talk, a wide-reaching program designed to break the silence around mental illness and to support mental health all across Canada. …[read more]
Puck stops with Culina
Overage goalie Mario Culina continues to define “steal of a deal” for the Kitchener Rangers through six starts since being acquired from the Sudbury Wolves at the Ontario Hockey League trade deadline. …[read more]
Avery Rebek is top dog
Having become the first team in the major midget division of the Great North Midget Hockey League to complete the 36-game regular season schedule, the Soo Greyhounds now await the start of the playoffs, which are likely to begin on the second weekend of February. …[read more]
Soo midget teams clash
The major midget Soo Greyhounds needed overtime to eke out a 3-2 decision over the minor midget Soo Thunderbirds in Great North Midget Hockey League action from Wednesday. …[read more]
Praise for Nicholas Porco
Saginaw Spirit first rounder Nicholas Porco isn’t putting up big points as a 16-year old Ontario Hockey League rookie. But there is no reason for worry, according to Saginaw general manager Dave Drinkill. …[read more]
Super week for Mario
Overage puck-stopper Mario Culina of the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League has been named Canadian Hockey League goaltender of the week. …[read more]
NHL Central Scouting has Spirit
There is evidence to support the claim that the Saginaw Spirit is home to some of the best young talent in the Ontario Hockey League. …[read more]
30 goals for Nick Smith
The Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League has its first 30-goal scorer of the 2017-2018 campaign in the person of Soo Thunderbirds forward Nick Smith. …[read more]
Soo Eagles v. Soo T-Birds
The border battle that features the Soo Eagles and Soo Thunderbirds continues with the cross-river rivals facing off again tonight. …[read more]
Touring the Great North
The clock is ticking on the regular season watch of the Great North Midget Hockey League. The 2017-2018 regular season slate in both the major midget and minor midget divisions ends in early February. …[read more]
Beware the Battalion
Don’t look now but the North Bay Battalion is climbing up the ranks of the Eastern Conference of the Ontario Hockey League. …[read more]
Flashback: ’85-86 Wolves
The 1985-1986 edition of the Sudbury Wolves ended a string of five straight seasons of missing the Ontario Hockey League playoffs. …[read more]
Culina cool in the crease
Overage goalie Mario Culina has proven to be a bargain for the Kitchener Rangers in the three games since being acquired from the Sudbury Wolves at the Ontario Hockey League trade deadline. …[read more]
Hartsburg to write a column
Retired National Hockey League player and coach Craig Hartsburg has accepted an overture from Hockey News North to write a regular column relative to minor hockey development and putting more fun back in the game. …[read more]
Nice start for new guys in BR
So far, so good, even though it is a small sample. That is, Zach Senecal is off to a good start with the Blind River Beavers in his return to the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. …[read more]
Dallaire is a Major difference
Statistics do not lie. They may not always tell the whole story but they do not lie. Just take a look at the goal-tending stats for the Timmins Majors of the Great North Midget Hockey League. …[read more]
OHL trade deadline aftermath
It was a trade show that featured a number of star attractions. In a two-week period that led to the January 10 trade deadline in the Ontario Hockey League, no less than 28 transactions involving 47 players and 87 draft picks were consummated. …[read more]
Wolves in full rebuild mode
Rob Papineau could have tried to repair the structure that he inherited a year ago by patching a few holes. Instead, the Sudbury Wolves vice president and general manager opted for a full rebuild. …[read more]
Flying high up in Kap
They are just waiting to be scouted. And to be sure, there are a number of jewels who are hidden off the highways in the hockey nooks of northeastern Ontario. …[read more]
Nice pick up for Flint
As he aims to position the Flint Firebirds for future success, general manager Barclay Branch closed the deal on a promising trade with the contending Hamilton Bulldogs today. …[read more]
Wolves pack adds young pup
Sudbury Wolves general manager Rob Papineau has continued a youth movement wheel and deal with a series of transactions that include a major addition. …[read more]
Blind River adds Zach Senecal
1998 birth year forward Zach Senecal is returning to the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League, this time with the Blind River Beavers. …[read more]
Kitchener gets Mario Culina
Sault Ste. Marie product Mario Culina has been acquired by the Kitchener Rangers from the Sudbury Wolves in an Ontario Hockey League trade that Hockey News North has confirmed. …[read more]
High rent district of the OHL
Rental prices have skyrocketed in the Ontario Hockey League, thanks in no small part to the Soo Greyhounds and Kingston Frontenacs, not to mention the Kitchener Rangers, Sarnia Sting and Hamilton Bulldogs. …[read more]