All posts by Randy Russon
Hounds forward has hairline fracture
As they chase 50 wins, 100 points and first place in the Ontario Hockey League, the Soo Greyhounds will be without injured winger Justin Bailey for at least the next couple of weeks.
Bailey, who was acquired by the Greyhounds from the Kitchener Rangers just prior to the OHL trade deadline in early January, has been diagnosed with two hairline fractures in his ankle. …[read more]
Eagles have the Blues at home
Winners of four successive games, the hard-skating Soo Eagles will play host to the Springfield Jr. Blues this evening in the first of three games in as many nights between the North American Hockey League North Division foes.
Game times are 7 p.m. tonight, 7:30 p.m. on Friday and 7 p.m. on Saturday. …[read more]
Hounds eye 50 wins, 100 points
Soo Greyhounds super fan Chris Sierzputowski recently tweeted that I should be giving his favourite Ontario Hockey League team some love.
He’s right. …[read more]
Ryan Vendramin, player of the month
Sault Ste. Marie native Ryan Vendramin is the Greater Ontario Jr. Hockey League’s player-of-the-month for February. …[read more]
Here ‘n there
Soo Eagles play with an edge…Two expansion-team success stories…A star centre is back in the Ontario Hockey League… …[read more]
Eagles win fourth straight
Soo Eagles have moved into a tie for second place in the North Division of the North American Hockey League.
Backed by a sharp, 36-save outing from goalie Chad Catt, the Eagles completed a weekend sweep of the visiting Michigan Warriors on Saturday with a 3-1 triumph before close to 700 fans at Pullar Stadium. …[read more]
Efficient Eagles swoop to victory
From the first puck drop, Soo Eagles were in high flight on Friday night.
Playing with energy in front of effervescent goalie Chad Catt, the Eagles maintained third place in the torrid North Division of the North American Hockey League with an efficient 4-1 win over the visiting Michigan Warriors before close to 700 fans at Pullar Stadium. …[read more]
Michigan Warriors v. Soo Eagles
As the playoff race continues in the North Division of the North American Hockey League, Soo Eagles will play host to the Michigan Warriors tonight (7:30) and Saturday evening (7:00) at Pullar Stadium. …[read more]
T-Bird midgets home to North Bay
Fresh from a first-round bye, Soo Thunderbirds will begin the second round of the Great North Midget Hockey League playoffs with a pair of home games this weekend.
The Thunderbirds will play host to the North Bay Trappers on Saturday afternoon at 1:30 and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at the Essar Centre to open the best-of-five series. …[read more]
CIHL has Sudbury ice for 2015-16
Armed with a signed ice rental agreement and a signed dedicated space (dressing room) agreement, the fledgling Canadian International Hockey League plans to have a new franchise in Greater Sudbury for the 2015-2016 season.
The agreements are signed by the City of Greater Sudbury. …[read more]
Red Wings v. Flint oldtimers
Popular goalie Eddie Mio and forwards Mickey Redmond, Joey Kocur, John Ogrodnick and Darren McCarty head a list of Detroit Red Wings/National Hockey League alumni who will face off against a team of erstwhile Flint Generals and other minor pro oldtimers in a Friday night fundraiser game at Perani Arena.
The now 61-year old Mio grew up across the river from Detroit in Windsor, Ont. …[read more]
GMHL continues to grow
It wasn’t supposed to last.
Very few — myself included — took it seriously and many of us predicted its quick demise.
But the junior A level Greater Metro Hockey League, which was founded in 2006 and began play with seven teams, has stood the test of time while continuing to grow. …[read more]
Best of the border
Today’s tour takes us from one side of the International Bridge to the other as we check in on the Soo Eagles of the North American Hockey League and Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. …[read more]
Attack fells Fighting Irish
How good is the Batchewana Attack of the Canadian International Hockey League?
Just ask the Detroit Fighting Irish of the Midwest Jr. Hockey League. …[read more]
OHL playoff chase
In the Ontario Hockey League’s Eastern Conference, where only the Sudbury Wolves are eliminated from playoff contention, there is a dandy race going on.
Mere points are what separate the Niagara IceDogs, Belleville Bulls, Kingston Frontenacs, Mississauga Steelheads and Peterborough Petes as the five teams are in a frantic fight for the final two playoff spots in the Eastern block. …[read more]
Here comes the Fighting Irish
Detroit Fighting Irish of the Midwest Jr. Hockey League is headed north for a pair of interlocking matches with the Espanola Rivermen and Batchewana Attack of the Canadian International Hockey League. …[read more]
Dorval delivers for Frontenacs
Rookie centre Zack Dorval made the most of some extra playing time on Wednesday.
With the flu-riddled Kingston Frontenacs short of bodies, Dorval stepped up big with a goal and an assist in a clutch 3-2 win over the visiting Peterborough Petes. …[read more]
Big game for Brett Jeffries
He is not known as a big goal scorer.
But Brett Jeffries had a big game on Tuesday, scoring four goals to spark the Soo Thunderbirds to a 7-3 victory over the visiting Blind River Beavers in Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League action. …[read more]
MWJHL, CIHL in open dialogue
The commissioner of the third-year, seven-team Midwest Jr. Hockey League is of the notion that having an interlocking schedule with the fledgling Canadian International Hockey League in 2015-2016 will benefit the overall level of play. …[read more]
Detroit Fighting Irish to Soo Eagles
It’s official.
Soo Eagles of the Tier 2 North American Hockey League have signed 1995 birth-year forward Jacob Hernandez from the Tier 3 Detroit Fighting Irish of the Midwest Jr. Hockey League. …[read more]
Around the leagues
An alphabetical tour from the Canadian International Hockey League to the Great North Midget Hockey League to the Midwest Jr. Hockey League to the North American Hockey League to the North American 3 Hockey League to the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League to the Ontario Hockey League to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association: …[read more]
Too close to call in NAHL North
Soo Eagles, who are part of a frantic race for a North American Hockey League playoff spot, are on the road to Johnstown this weekend for two games with the Tomahawks.
Heading into action this weekend, the Eagles have 43 points in 43 games from a record of 21-21-1. …[read more]
Eagles get Catt
Soo Eagles have acquired 1994 birth-year goalie Chad Catt from the Aberdeen Wings in a North American Hockey League deal that was finalized just before Friday’s midnight trade deadline. …[read more]
RR’s rumour mill
Today’s tour of the mill begins on the Ontario Hockey League coaching circuit and shifts to state-of-the-franchise talk within the North American Hockey League, Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League and the Canadian International Hockey League. …[read more]
Eagles tender Tonkovich
Soo Eagles have signed a prime prospect from the Pittsburgh area to a North American Hockey League tender for the 2015-2016 season.
Eagles coach-general manager Bruno Bragagnolo has confirmed to HockeyNewsNorth.com that the Soo has tendered Austin Tonkovich, a strapping 6-foot-1, 185 pound, 1997 birth-year left winger. …[read more]
NAHL Central showdown
Two teams battling for the fourth-and-final playoff spot in the Central Division of the North American Hockey League will face off on Friday night. …[read more]
It’s not all fun and games
It is supposed to be all fun and games and for the kids but we all know it’s way more than that.
Junior A hockey isn’t the hundred million dollar business that the major junior game is but it’s still a business.
Take a look at the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. …[read more]
Tuneup Tuesday
It’s official. The Ontario Hockey League is moving Michigan towns from Flint to Plymouth…Here and then and around the rinks… …[read more]
The puck stops with Halverson
It’s the big question being asked around Houndtown.
Can second-year goalie Brandon Halverson backstop the star-studded Soo Greyhounds to an Ontario Hockey League championship this 2014-2015 season? …[read more]
Attack headed to Detroit
Batchewana Attack will cross the International and Mackinac bridges later this week and head south along Interstate highway 75 to the Detroit area for a showcase tournament.
The Denny Lambert-coached Attack, which leads the Canadian International Hockey League with a record of 28-0-1, will take part in the showcase event that is being hosted by the Detroit Fighting Irish of the Midwest Jr. Hockey League. …[read more]
Net losses cost Eagles
Soo Eagles matched the top team in the 24-member North American Hockey League stride-for-stride this weekend only to drop back-to-back home games to the Janesville Jets.
Simply put, Janesville got better goaltending in upending the Eagles by 6-1 and 6-4 scores. …[read more]
29 saves, 2 assists
Detroit Fighting Irish goalie George Hill was stopping pucks and setting up goals on Friday.
Hill — who spent three days earlier in the week practising with the Soo Eagles of the North American Hockey League — made 29 saves and assisted on two Detroit goals as the Fighting Irish outlasted the visiting Motor City Monarchs 5-4 in one of three Midwest Jr. Hockey League games played. …[read more]
Eagles home to high-flying Jets
It’s back-to-back big tests for the Soo Eagles.
The Eagles, who are in pursuit of second place in the North Division of the North American Hockey League, are home to the top-seeded Janesville Jets tonight (7:30) and Saturday night (7:00) at Pullar Stadium. …[read more]
Hernandez hangs in with Eagles
So far, so good.
Detroit Fighting Irish forward Jacob Hernandez will continue his audition with the Soo Eagles next week. …[read more]
Eagles deal with Odessa
Soo Eagles have completed a four-player exchange with the Odessa Jackalopes.
In a North American Hockey League trade finalized late Tuesday, the Eagles have acquired hard-hitting, 1995 birth-year defenceman Jake Hamilton and energetic, 1995 birth-year forward Leo Lumm from Odessa. …[read more]
Tuneup Tuesday
If rumours do make the junior hockey world go around then the old mill is really turning.
Rampant rumours are running through the (in alphabetical order) Canadian International Hockey League, Midwest Jr. Hockey League, North American Hockey League and Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. …[read more]
Beavers at the bottom of the barrel
Just what is going on down Highway 17 East at Blind River?
At the very bottom of the nine-team Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League are the once-proud Blind River Beavers with one point from a record of 0-38-1. That’s right, one lousy point.
And as bad as things are on the ice in Blind River, it is a mess off the ice as well. …[read more]
CIHL at the crossroads
Yes, there have been struggles. Major struggles, in fact.
For one reason or another, teams have either left on their own or have been shown the door.
To be sure, all has not gone according to the plan of the founder of the first-year Canadian International Hockey League. …[read more]
Six Soo teams win games
Six Sault Ste. Marie-based teams — representing six separate hockey leagues — all won their games on Friday night. …[read more]
Irish goalie and the Eagles nest
A second member of the Detroit Fighting Irish of the Midwest Jr. Hockey League has been invited to attend a week of practice with the Soo Eagles of the North American Hockey League. …[read more]
Here come the KL Gold Miners
The two teams that met for the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League championship last spring will face off on Saturday night when the Soo Thunderbirds play host to the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners. …[read more]
Eagles have eyes on second spot
First place may be out of reach for the Soo Eagles but finishing second will mean home-ice advantage come playoff time. …[read more]
Triumphant tale of T-Bird midgets
To be sure, major midget hockey has made a positive return to Sault Ste. Marie following a one-year absence that many feel should never have happened in the first place.
At any rate, gone are the Soo North Stars and their multiple Great North Midget Hockey League championships and in their place are the Soo Thunderbirds. …[read more]
Remo assists the Attack
He had once hoped to tend goal beyond the junior level, perhaps at a Canadian or American university.
But a groin injury that he suffered while playing for the Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League never fully healed so Remo Febbraro stepped away from the game as a 20-year old. …[read more]
Possible MWJHL, CIHL scenarios
Here’s to hockey without borders. …[read more]
How sweep it is
Having swept the visiting Bemidji State University Beavers on the weekend — the first such perfection under first-year head coach Damon Whitten — the Lake Superior State University Lakers have moved into Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoff contention. …[read more]
Formidable Attack
Batchewana Attack is establishing itself as the powerhouse of the new Canadian International Hockey League.
Almost perfect, the Attack leads the CIHL with a record of 25-0-1. …[read more]
Soo Eagles are about opportunity
It’s part of a never-ending search to try to improve the hockey team.
And at the same time, it allows the staff the opportunity to evaluate a player up close. …[read more]