All posts by Randy Russon
Batchewana Attack joins CIHL
Junior hockey is returning to Rankin Arena in Sault Ste. Marie after a 32-year hiatus.
Batchewana Attack has become the seventh team in the new Canadian International Hockey League, which will begin play effective the upcoming 2014-2015 season.
The Attack will be based out of Rankin Arena, which housed the Soo Thunderbirds of the erstwhile International Jr. B Hockey League from 1978 until 1982. …[read more]
AGM agendas
The Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League and the Midwest Jr. Hockey League are both holding their annual general meetings this weekend.
Governors from the NOJHL will welcome new franchises from Elliot Lake and Powassan to make it a nine-team league.
MWJHL executives will be joined by officials from the upstart Canadian International Hockey League at their AGM. …[read more]
Ex-NHLer to coach in new CIHL
Dennis Maruk, who played in the Ontario Hockey League and the National Hockey League with distinction, has been hired as head coach of the Milton Battle Arts Cobras of the new Canadian International Hockey League. …[read more]
Soo Thunderbirds v. Soo Eagles
Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League and Soo Eagles of the North American Hockey League will resume the Rollie King Cup series after a two-year hiatus, officials from both teams have confirmed.
The cross-border Soo teams established the Rollie King Cup during the 2011-2012 season when both were members of the NOJHL. …[read more]
Steve Glover turns Irish
Detroit Fighting Irish of the Midwest Jr. Hockey League has beefed up its player development department with the addition of Steve Glover to the staff.
Fighting Irish coach-general manager Dan Vasquez said Glover will assist the MWJHL team as a scout and consultant to the hockey department. …[read more]
DFI recruit played for Kevin Conway
There is a Sault Ste. Marie connection to one of the new recruits of the Detroit Fighting Irish of the Midwest Jr. Hockey League. …[read more]
CIHL-MWJHL invitational in Detroit
The Ice Box Sports Center in the Detroit suburb of Brownstown will be the site of a pre-season invitational tournament for teams from the Midwest Jr. Hockey League and the new Canadian International Hockey League.
Detroit Fighting Irish of the MWJHL will play host to the Shamrock Showcase Showdown, which will be held from September 18-21. …[read more]
Brett Findlay is a Kelly Cup champ
Alaska Aces have a connection to Echo Bay, Ont. on their East Coast Hockey League championship team of 2013-2014. …[read more]
Soo Eagles to Washington Capitals
Chris Waterstreet, a swooping left winger who played for Soo Eagles of the North American Hockey League in 2012-2013, will attend a National Hockey League tryout camp next month. …[read more]
Wainman et al to ACHA
Three players who skated in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League in 2013-2014 are off to the American Collegiate Hockey Association ranks.
The three are forward Duane Wainman via the Espanola Rivermen and North Bay Trappers, forward and NOJHL scoring leader Gavin Burbach of the Soo Thunderbirds and defenceman Vinny Barra of the Blind River Beavers. …[read more]
Home sweet home
The hometown kid is back home.
Former Lake Superior State University Lakers assistant coach Rich Metro is returning to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association team in a similar role under new bench boss Damon Whitten. …[read more]
Geographical interlock
Teams from the Midwest Jr. Hockey League and the new Canadian International Hockey League are perusing a 2014-2015 regular-season schedule that would include interlocking games based on geography. …[read more]
CIHL adds two more teams
Two more teams have confirmed their membership into the new Canadian International Hockey League.
Central Ontario HTI Stars and St. Charles Spirit are the latest additions into the CIHL, giving the new league five confirmed teams to date. …[read more]
Eagles eye Twin Soo talent
As Soo Eagles prepare for their third season as members of the North American Hockey League, coach-general manager Bruno Bragagnolo continues to try to take advantage of the area talent pool. …[read more]
Sewell, Stephens are Fighting Irish
There is no place quite like home.
Detroit Fighting Irish of the Midwest Jr. Hockey League have inked a pair of area products, coach-general manager Dan Vasquez has confirmed to HockeyNewsNorth.com. …[read more]
New CIHL confirms teams
The new Canadian International Hockey League has confirmed that Colborne Cramahe Hawks and Milton Battle Arts Cobras have cleared the United Hockey Union screening process and will ice teams effective the 2014-2015 campaign.
CIHL president and founder Tim Clayden, who also owns the Espanola Rivermen — formerly of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League — said he expects to announce four more teams to the new loop within the next week to 10 days. …[read more]
Soo Indians to Michigan Warriors
Andrew Barbeau really wants to play for the Michigan Warriors in 2014-2015.
And the Warriors in turn are impressed with what the 1997 birth-year defenceman from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. has to offer. …[read more]
Beavers land all-state star
Chris Zajac, a 5-foot-11, 180 pound, 1996 birth-year forward from Naperville Central high school in the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook, has committed to the Blind River Beavers of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League for the 2014-2015 campaign. …[read more]
Bird nest is full
The recent addition of a pair of 1995 birth-year forwards via trade has just about shut the door on any rookie skater who has aspirations of securing a roster spot with the Soo Thunderbirds for the 2014-2015 campaign.
By acquiring out-of-towners Ryan Erickson and Jake Staples from Pembroke Lumber Kings of the Central Canada Hockey League in exchange for goalie Joel Horodziejzcyk, the number of veteran forwards who can play for the Soo’s Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League team in 2014-2015 now stands at 12. …[read more]
T-Birds trade top goalie
Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League have dealt 1995 birth-year goalie Joel Horodziejczyk to Pembroke Lumber Kings of the Central Canada Hockey League. …[read more]
Still puckin’ around
It may be June but there are hockey stories to be written.
Take yesterday — June 3 — for instance when HockeyNewsNorth.com posted five separate stories all relevant to the moment.
Take a summer vacation from hockey?
Nah.
There are too many potential stories out there. …[read more]
Soo Eagles draft Owen Headrick
Garden River First Nation product Owen Headrick became a North American Hockey League draft pick today.
Soo Eagles selected the 6-foot, 190 pound defenceman in the third round of the 2014 NAHL draft. …[read more]
Andrew Barbeau to Michigan Warriors
Hard-hitting defenceman Andrew Barbeau of Sault Ste. Marie was selected in the second round of today’s North American Hockey League draft by the Michigan Warriors. …[read more]
Dan Oleksy joins MC Monarchs
MC Monarchs of the Midwest Jr. Hockey League have rounded out their coaching staff.
The new Michigan-based, MWJHL franchise has brought aboard 31-year-old former college and minor-pro player Dan Oleksy as an assistant under head coach Jason McCrimmon. …[read more]
Junior hockey landscape
There are multiple junior hockey leagues of three degrees throughout Canada and the United States.
Basically, the levels are classified as Major Junior, Tier 2 Junior (aka Jr. A and Jr. B) and Tier 3 Junior. …[read more]
Laker grad joins Army
A former Lake Superior State University Lakers goalie has joined the Army.
The Division 1, National Collegiate Athletic Association hockey Army, that is. …[read more]
Midwest merry-go-round
Round and round it goes.
There are major confirmations to relay today from the Midwest Jr. Hockey League.
Michigan Ice Dogs — who are based in Farmington Hills — have a new head coach.
As well, the MWJHL has approved the relocation of the Bloomington Blaze to the Illinois town of Decatur.
And the new MC Monarchs have announced upcoming tryout dates. …[read more]
Fighting Irish at the Ice Box
Summer heat? What summer heat?
Detroit Fighting Irish of the Midwest Jr. Hockey League held a three-day spring skates tryout camp that concluded on Friday night at the Ice Box Sports Center in Brownstown. …[read more]
Saginaw offers to sign Soo boy
Hulking right winger Adam McPhail of Sault Ste. Marie has been offered a contract by the Ontario Hockey League’s Saginaw Spirit, sources have told HockeyNewsNorth.com. …[read more]
Good NAHLers out there
A few weeks ago, the coach of the Lake Superior State University Lakers told me that he was looking to finalize his roster for the 2014-2015 Western Collegiate Hockey Association season with another three to five players.
“A forward or two, a defenceman or two and a goalie,” is what new Lakers headmaster Damon Whitten replied when I asked him how many more newcomers he wanted to add for the 2014-2015 campaign. …[read more]
Wise on these guys
Teammates on the Soo Thunder minor midgets two seasons ago, they all moved up to the major midget ranks in 2013-2014, albeit on different teams in different leagues.
Undrafted by any major junior team, all three 1997 birth-year forwards are still eligible to play at the midget level in 2014-2015.
But wise men say they are all capable of playing at the tier two junior level in 2014-2015, if not in the North American Hockey League, then most-definitely in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League or the new Canadian International Hockey League. …[read more]
Lakers add to net worth
Lake Superior State University Lakers now have their three goalies for the 2014-2015 Western Collegiate Hockey Association season.
HockeyNewsNorth.com has learned that the latest twine tender to commit to LSSU is Gordy Defiel, a 1993 birth-year who played for Coquitlam Express of the British Columbia Hockey League in 2013-2014. …[read more]
CIHL progress
Its membership into the United Hockey Union and Amateur Athletic Union is secure.
Now, the Canadian International Hockey League begins the screening process through the UHU and AAU that will determine the teams and locations that will comprise the new loop.
So, where to from here? …[read more]
Francis Anzalone, head coach
The kid has graduated.
Again.
Francis Anzalone has become a head coach at a high level at the tender age of 26. …[read more]
Reggie Leach is a Blind River Beaver
Blind River Beavers have added a retired National Hockey League superstar to their scouting staff.
The Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League team has confirmed that legendary goal-scorer Reggie Leach will scout for the Beavers as he travels across Canada conducting hockey schools and on guest-speaking tours in which he encourages Aboriginal youth to make good life choices. …[read more]
Pucks ‘n mucks
I am not a fan of the one-game-winner-take-all format to decide the Memorial Cup championship.
The way I see it, it takes a seven-game series to win any playoff round in the Canadian Hockey League. So why should the CHL championship — and the Memorial Cup that goes with it — be decided by one game? …[read more]
Busy in Blind River
Don Gagnon has started the process of rebuilding the Jr. A hockey program in Blind River.
The 60-year old Gagnon, a retired steelworker from Sault Ste. Marie, is busy preparing for the 2014-2015 campaign — which will be his first full term as coach and director of hockey operations for the Beavers of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. …[read more]
Steve Howard to Nashville
The North American 3 Hockey League coach-of-the-year for the 2013-2014 season has a new gig.
Steve Howard, who piloted the erstwhile Flint Jr. Generals to a 42-4-2 record and the NA3HL East Division regular-season and playoff crowns, is off to Nashville. …[read more]
New CIHL gets UHU approval
The sanctioned United Hockey Union — under the umbrella of the Amateur Athletic Union — has officially approved the new Canadian International Hockey League as a member, effective immediately.
The UHU executive gave its unanimous endorsement to the CIHL and its founder Tim Clayden at a Friday meeting in Detroit. …[read more]
Aidan Wright to LSSU Lakers
Lake Superior State University Lakers have added a Sault Ste. Marie product to their Western Collegiate Hockey Association roster effective the 2014-2015 season. …[read more]
Here ‘n there on a May day
We know that major junior hockey in Canada is a business.
Big business.
There are franchises worth millions of dollars and there are advertisers who spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on teams and leagues. …[read more]
Smoke and mirrors
Intention and commitment are not synonyms.
Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League commissioner Rob Mazzuca may want his trusted followers to believe that intention carries the same meaning as commitment but surely even he knows that can’t be true. …[read more]
Hockeytown hotbed
There is no end to the hockey season for Dan Vasquez.
Vasquez, who is the coach-general manager of the Detroit Fighting Irish of the Midwest Jr. Hockey League, is a busy guy on a number of fronts. …[read more]
NOJHL footprint
Its upcoming annual general meeting should tell the tale of how many teams will comprise the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League in 2014-2015.
With the departure of the attendance-leading Espanola Rivermen to the new Canadian International Hockey League, the NOJHL is currently made up of seven teams from east to west: Cochrane Crunch (formerly Elliot Lake Bobcats), Kirkland Lake Gold Miners, Abitibi Eskimos, Mattawa Blackhawks (formerly North Bay Trappers), Sudbury Nickel Barons, Blind River Beavers and Soo Thunderbirds. …[read more]
UHU set to embrace new CIHL
As the sanctioned United Hockey Union — under the umbrella of the Amateur Athletic Union — prepares to officially approve the new Canadian International Hockey League as a member, it has already endorsed it.
For starters, Ron White, who serves as president of the UHU, national junior hockey director for the AAU and commissioner of the Western States Hockey League, has congratulated the CIHL as a new member of the group. …[read more]
Nearby options
In the town where I live I know of at least four undrafted, 1997 birth-year skaters who could and should be playing junior hockey in 2014-2015 but do not have a commitment as of yet.
They are (in alphabetical order) defenceman Caleb Boman and forwards Matthew Caruso, Jacob Palmerio and Jason Uhl. …[read more]
Laprade leaves LSSU Lakers
The time has come for what needs to be done.
A long-time Laker has left the hockey program at Lake Superior State University. …[read more]
NOJHLer off to Adrian College
Forward Austin Rust has parlayed a high-scoring season with Kirkland Gold Miners of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League into a commitment to play at the Division 3, National Collegiate Athletic Association level with Adrian College Bulldogs. …[read more]