All posts by Randy Russon
Where are they now?
He was a hard-toiling, hard-boiled left winger who worked the corners and became an old Memorial Gardens fan favourite following an Ontario Hockey League trade from the erstwhile Kingston Canadians to the Soo Greyhounds during the 1981-1982 season. …[read more]
Crunch time for Thunderbirds
It’s a sure sign of spring.
Soo Thunderbirds are off to the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League championship series for the fourth successive season. …[read more]
Lower the boom in Blind River
What is next for the Blind River Beavers?
Will they remain a part of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League? …[read more]
Battalion fends off Frontenacs
I went with the upset in calling for the sixth-seeded Kingston Frontenacs to upend the third-place North Bay Battalion in the first round of the Ontario Hockey League’s Eastern Conference playoffs. …[read more]
Cain is T-Birds cool hand
He is the main man behind the scenes.
He is the guy who manages the roster and uses his many contacts in the game to keep his team a contender.
He is polite but he can be gruff. He has a cool hand but an iron fist. …[read more]
Who is David Branch cheering for?
It’s playoff season in the Ontario Hockey League.
Which leads me to ask this question: Which team is OHL commissioner David Branch rooting for to win the championship this year? …[read more]
T-Birds in familiar territory
Soo Thunderbirds are one win away from advancing to the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League championship series for the fourth successive season. …[read more]
More growth for NOJHL?
During the last off-season, the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League added a team to go from eight in 2013-2014 to nine in 2014-2015.
And once the 2015-2016 season begins, the NOJHL could be at 10 teams, maybe more. …[read more]
Mantha shows coaching mettle
A wild weekend ended the 2014-2015 North American Hockey League regular season in stunning fashion.
Desperately needing to sweep two road games from the Soo Eagles and just as desperately needing the Johnstown Tomahawks to lose a home-and-home series with the Keystone Ice Miners to make the playoffs, the Michigan Warriors got all of that. …[read more]
Here ‘n there in the rinks
Soo Greyhounds and North Bay Battalion both scored easy wins in their Ontario Hockey League playoff openers on Friday…Second place is still at stake in the North Division of the North American Hockey League…Soo Thunderbirds and Elliot Lake Wildcats resume their Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League playoff series tonight. …[read more]
A pair of OHL playoff predictions
One is a no-brainer, even for an aging hockey hack.
The other, I am going with the underdog. …[read more]
Battalion v. Frontenacs
It is an Ontario Hockey League playoff series that we project as a lengthy set with overtime games and one-goal margins aplenty. …[read more]
Flint Firebirds hire GM, coach
Flint Firebirds — who will make their Ontario Hockey League debut in 2015-2016 from the erstwhile Plymouth Whalers franchise — have hired a general manager and a head coach. …[read more]
Hounds should pound Saginaw
Sixteen teams — eight from each of the Western and Eastern conferences — begin the annual quest for Ontario Hockey League supremacy this week with sights set on the 2015 Memorial Cup tournament that will be held in Quebec City, beginning on May 21. …[read more]
Thunderbirds v. Wildcats
Top-seeded Soo Thunderbirds will play host to the Elliot Lake Wildcats in Game 1 of a best-of-seven, Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League semi-final playoff. …[read more]
A big Eagle and his two little chums
Rookie forward Jacob Hernandez guested on the most-recent edition of the Soo Eagles Hockey Show, which airs on Tuesdays from 5-6 p.m. on ESPN 1400 Radio.
Later, Hernandez got to meet two young hockey players from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario — brothers Nick and Sam Caruso — who were on hand for the Eagles show, which is broadcast live from the Service Grill on Korah Rd. …[read more]
NOJHL poised to stay in the Falls
The first hurdle towards keeping a Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League team in Iroquois Falls has been cleared. …[read more]
Tyler Marble stacks up
He is 23-years old and has drawn favourable comparisons to another high-end goalie who left school early to sign a pro contract. …[read more]
Fastest game on ice?
It’s similar to hockey but it is not quite the same.
Those who play it — with all due respect to hockey — call it the “fastest game on ice.” …[read more]
NOJHL final four is set
Seventh-place finishers in a nine-team Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League during the regular season, the expansion Powassan Voodoos have reached the final four of the playoff round. …[read more]
Junior hockey relocation, movement
As the junior hockey world turns, teams enter and exit through a revolving door that spins open and shut.
Even the self-proclaimed, best junior loop in the world — the Ontario Hockey League — is not exempt from movement. …[read more]
NOJHL to remain in Iroquois Falls?
It appears as though the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League will not be leaving Iroquois Falls — home of the Abitibi Eskimos — after all. …[read more]
NOJHL playoff picture
Seriously now, did anyone on the outside looking in give the Powassan Voodoos much of a chance in their Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League playoff series with the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners? …[read more]
Matt Caruso lights up Blind River
Soo Thunderbirds completed a one-sided playoff sweep of the Blind River Beavers on Tuesday and rookie forward Matt Caruso continued to light the lamp. …[read more]
Soaring Eagles seek second
Soo Eagles are on a mission.
With five games to play in the 2014-2015 North American Hockey League regular season, the Eagles are in sole possession of second place in the six-team North Division. …[read more]
Elliot Lake on the rebound
Now that was more like it.
With the pressure on and in a virtual must-win setting, Elliot Lake Wildcats returned to the victory column in front of their home fans on Monday night. …[read more]
Barons have Wildcats on the run
It’s been a reversal of fortunes for the Elliot Lake Wildcats and Sudbury Nickel Barons thus far in their best-of-seven playoff series. …[read more]
T-Birds are Great North champs
Well done, Soo Thunderbirds.
Call it a triumphant return to the Great North Midget Hockey League for Sault Ste. Marie after a one-year hiatus. …[read more]
Runaway Bulls
The reality is setting in.
An iconic, Ontario Hockey League mainstay since 1981, the Belleville Bulls will be no more following this 2014-2015 season. …[read more]
Midwest playoff sweeps
Pass the broom.
All three first-round playoff series in the Midwest Jr. Hockey League ended in two-game sweeps on Saturday. …[read more]
Massey seeks junior team
The Township of Sables-Spanish Rivers is looking at bringing junior hockey to Massey Arena for the 2015-2016 season. …[read more]
Great North midget finals resume
Soo Thunderbirds can win the Great North Midget Hockey League championship this weekend without leaving home. …[read more]
Eagles in race for second place
Two teams in a race for second place in the North Division of the North American Hockey League will face off tonight and Saturday evening at Pullar Stadium in the Michigan Soo. …[read more]
NOJHL mismatch
Soo Thunderbirds will play host to the Blind River Beavers at John Rhodes Community Centre tonight in Game 1 of a best-of-seven playoff series between the top and bottom teams in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. …[read more]
Wicked winds of change
What a difference a few days can make.
The winds of change that blew through Espanola on Monday swept south of the border into Michigan on Tuesday and affected several junior hockey leagues in the process. …[read more]
Soo Eagles in school
Soo Eagles of the North American Hockey League are well-known within the area for their volunteer work within the community. …[read more]
Town hall politics
Oh, to be a fly on the wall in the town hall of Espanola.
To be sure, there is more to the story that started with Monday’s press release issued by the Town of Espanola which stated that it was “exercising its right” to terminate its contract with the Espanola Rivermen of the Canadian International Hockey League. …[read more]
Town of Espanola, Rivermen at odds
The Town of Espanola says it is exercising its right to terminate its contract with the Espanola Rivermen of the Canadian International Hockey League.
But CIHL president Tim Clayden — who also owns the Rivermen — begs to differ. …[read more]
Sam is the man in Kingston
The surging Kingston Frontenacs have not only clinched one of eight playoff spots in the Eastern Conference of the Ontario Hockey League but they have moved into sole possession of sixth place. …[read more]
Masked Marble
Tyler Marble has a reputation as a big-game goalie from his time with the Soo Eagles when he was named the top netminder in the North American Hockey League for the 2012-2013 season. …[read more]
David Radke, Thunderbird all-star
Seasoned defenceman David Radke is the lone skater from the regular-season champion Soo Thunderbirds to be recognized as a Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League all-star for the 2014-2015 season. …[read more]
Junior hockey footprints
The landscape shifts from season to season.
The footprints vary from league to league.
Such is life in the junior hockey world where change is inevitable and uncertainty is a certainty. …[read more]
Lakers on verge of playoff spot
First-year coach Damon Whitten and his Lake Superior State University Lakers are in position to land a Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoff spot. …[read more]
Mazzuca and me
There is a misconception out there that Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League commissioner Robert Mazzuca and I are not on speaking terms. …[read more]
CIHL plans ahead to 2015-2016
CBC Radio Sudbury journalist Mathieu Gohier called me the other day, wanting to know my thoughts on the future of the fledgling Canadian International Hockey League.
Gohier and I talked at length about the CIHL, which experienced its share of struggles as a first-year junior league this 2014-2015 season. …[read more]
Soo Eagles get away with one
Soo Eagles stole a win on Saturday night.
In front of 776 witnesses at Pullar Stadium, the Eagles pulled off a 4-1 theft of the Springfield Jr. Blues despite being out-shot 43-21 by the visitors. …[read more]
Birds, Eagles in home nests
Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League and Soo Eagles of the North American Hockey League both have home games tonight. …[read more]
Michael Doan pitches first shutout
Sault Ste. Marie native Michael Doan registered the first shutout of his Division 1, Western Collegiate Hockey Association career on Saturday.
Doan, a 6-foot-5, 210 pound goalie who is in his junior season at Northern Michigan University, made 27 saves as the Wildcats blanked the visiting Lake Superior State University Lakers 5-0. …[read more]