All posts by Randy Russon
Warriors in, Eagles out
Michigan Warriors are headed to the North American Hockey League playoffs.
Soo Eagles are not.
The I-75 highway rivals will be going in opposite directions when the playoffs begin in the North Division of the NAHL on the first weekend of April. …[read more]
Fort Knox, Blind River
Soo Thunderbirds have taken a 3-1 lead in their first-round, best-of-seven, Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League playoff series with Blind River Beavers.
But it hasn’t been easy for the Thunderbirds, who finished in first place during the NOJHL regular season, 75 points ahead of the last-place Beavers. …[read more]
Stating the obvious
Soo Greyhounds need to rebound.
As with a victory tonight in Game 2 of their first-round, best-of-seven, Ontario Hockey League playoff series with Owen Sound Attack. …[read more]
Beavers out to get even
Can David upset Goliath again?
Playing at home tonight, Blind River Beavers will be out to try to even their first-round, best-of-seven, Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League playoff series with Soo Thunderbirds. …[read more]
Hounds await Attack
Houndtown will be home to a pair of Ontario Hockey League playoff games, tonight and Saturday.
Soo Greyhounds, seeded second in the Western Conference, will face the seventh-seeded Owen Sound Attack in the first-round, best-of-seven series. …[read more]
NAHL North nestle
Port Huron Fighting Falcons are in with 74 points.
Michigan Warriors are almost there with 63.
Which leaves four teams fighting for two playoffs spots in the North Division of the North American Hockey League.
And the clock is ticking. …[read more]
Birds blank Beavers
Soo Thunderbirds regained their scoring touch on Thursday and the end result was a one-sided whitewash. …[read more]
Soo Indians moving on, up
They played 58 games this 2013-2014 season as a major midget outfit that rose from the doldrums after being dormant in 2012-2013.
And Soo Indians not only fashioned a 31-26-1 record against top competition — the season concluded with a berth at the Michigan Amateur Hockey Association state championships — but a number of their players have attracted the attention of teams from various junior leagues. …[read more]
NOJHL playoff picture
Two teams have advanced to the second round of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League playoffs, two others have been eliminated and the remaining four are on ice tonight. …[read more]
Rivermen can sweep Sudbury
Espanola Rivermen are one win away from advancing to the second round of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League playoffs.
The Rivermen lead the Sudbury Nickel Barons 3-0 in the best-of-seven series and will be on the road to try to complete the sweep tonight. …[read more]
It’s over in North Bay
It’s all over for the North Bay Trappers.
In more ways than one. …[read more]
Attack has Hope against Hounds
To be sure, Soo Greyhounds loom as the favourites in their first-round, best-of-seven, Ontario Hockey League playoff series with Owen Sound Attack.
The second-seeded Hounds finished 25 points ahead of the seventh-seeded Attack in the Western Conference standings and the Soo took both regular-season matches from Owen Sound.
But there is Hope in Owen Sound.
As in goalie Brandon Hope. …[read more]
Reports of rumours
Rinks and rumours. It’s almost as if there can’t be one without the other.
Rumours have a way of making the hockey world revolve and seldom is there a shortage of rinkside rhetoric. …[read more]
Rivermen on the road
Espanola Rivermen take to the road tonight trying to take a further hold on their opening-round, best-of-seven, Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League playoff series with Sudbury Nickel Barons. …[read more]
Birds in a battle with Beavers
What is going on here?
Wasn’t this supposed to be a sweep of a series?
Put the brooms away. There will be no sweeping.
Soo Thunderbirds and Blind River Beavers are tied at a game apiece in their first-round, best-of-seven, Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League playoff series. …[read more]
Laker fan favourites
A change has been made.
A new guy will in charge.
But who will it be?
HockeyNewsNorth.com has conducted a random, unscientific poll of fans and sponsors connected to Lake Superior State University and come up with a list of the four most-popular choices to take over as new head coach of the hockey Lakers. …[read more]
So much for the Soo sweep
Playoffs really are a different story.
Eighth-seeded Blind River Beavers spotted first-place Soo Thunderbirds a 2-0 lead and then stole a 3-2 victory in Game 1 of their opening-round, best-of-seven, Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League playoff series. …[read more]
NOJHL openers
Soo Thunderbirds will take to the playoff trail beginning tonight when they play host to the Blind River Beavers.
Start time in what is Game 1 in the first-round, best-of-seven, Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League playoff series is 7:30 p.m. at Essar Centre. …[read more]
Radke ready to roll
He is often overshadowed by two of his fellow defencemen, namely Tyler Jones and Owen Headrick.
But while Jones was named best defenceman and Headrick rookie-of-the-year in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League, David Radke is also a much-valued member of the Soo Thunderbirds. …[read more]
Potential Laker coaching candidates
There is a hockey buzz about both sides of the International Bridge in the wake of the recent firing of Jim Roque as head coach of the Lake Superior State University Lakers.
Roque was let go as LSSU coach after the Lakers failed to make the playoffs in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association this 2013-2014 season.
As a national search for a new coach at LSSU is underway, there have been no shortage of names being mentioned as potential candidates to replace Roque, who had a below-average, nine-year run as the Lakers bench boss. …[read more]
The Wright way
Two seasons removed from the Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League, 1993 birth-year left winger Jake Wright is finishing his junior career in style.
In this, his second season out in Eastern Canada, the Sault Ste. Marie native won the Maritime Hockey League scoring championship as a member of the Woodstock Slammers. …[read more]
Metro v. Flint
Two Michigan teams separated by a mere 30 miles of Interstate 75 highway will meet starting tonight in a first-round, best-of-three, North American 3 Hockey League playoff series.
Flint Jr. Generals will play host to the Waterford-based Metro Jets in Game 1 of the series.
While the two teams may be close geographically, they were far apart in the regular-season standings. …[read more]
NOJHL playoffs start tonight
It’s that time of the season again.
Playoff time.
The first puck will drop on the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League playoffs tonight. …[read more]
Looking for new Laker coach
A national search for a new hockey coach at Lake Superior State University is underway.
After a ho-hum, nine-year run as head coach of the Lakers, Jim Roque was fired from his position on Tuesday.
The dismissal of Roque ends an association with LSSU that dates back to 1983 when he was a freshman forward with the Lakers. …[read more]
Beavers facing a Bird bath
On paper, this looms as a whitewash of a playoff series.
For starters, first-place Soo Thunderbirds finished 75 points ahead of eighth-place Blind River Beavers during the 2013-2014 Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League regular season.
Then there’s the fact that the Thunderbirds won all eight of their regular-season meetings with the Beavers. …[read more]
As playoff season approaches
A sportswiter’s smaze of smattering snippets: …[read more]
NOJHL first-round forecast
It’s the beginning of the playoff season in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
All four best-of-seven series get underway this week.
Following are my first-round predictions. …[read more]
Four-point weekend for Eagles
Only three weekends remain in the North American Hockey League regular season and four teams — including Soo Eagles — are in a frantic chase for two playoff spots in the North Division. …[read more]
Award winning Thunderbirds
Personnel from the no. 1 ranked Jr. A hockey team in Canada have been duly recognized.
Six members of the Soo Thunderbirds have won major awards in votes cast by representatives from each of the eight teams in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. …[read more]
Eagles home to Warriors for two
Two points out of the fourth-and-final playoff spot in the North Division of the North American Hockey League, Soo Eagles will play host to second-place Michigan Warriors tonight and Saturday at Pullar Stadium.
Game times are 7:30 p.m. tonight and 7 p.m. on Saturday. …[read more]
Still hope for Elliot Lake
There may be junior hockey in Elliot Lake next season afterall.
To be sure, Elliot Lake Bobcats of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League have confirmed they are relocating to Cochrane after this season.
But sources are saying the City of Elliot Lake is looking at the possibility of operating a community-owned junior hockey team effective the 2014-2015 season. …[read more]
Turning the Paige
After being sidelined for more than three months with a concussion, Paige Skoog is once again the main man between the pipes for the Soo Eagles of the North American Hockey League.
And the second-year NAHL goalie will try to backstop the Eagles into the North Division playoffs with nine games to play in the regular season.
Two points out of the fourth-and-final playoff spot in the North Division, the Eagles will play host to the second-place Michigan Warriors this Friday and Saturday at Pullar Stadium. …[read more]
Personal goals within reach
As a team, Soo Thunderbirds have clinched first place in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League standings and will be the no. 1 seed when the playoffs get underway next week.
But the Thunderbirds still have two games to play in the regular season — on home ice this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. — and there are players who are within milestones. …[read more]
NOJHL issues
In many respects, the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League has been a good follow this 2013-2014 season.
Soo Thunderbirds and Kirkland Lake Gold Miners have not only been the top two teams in the NOJHL with 40-plus regular-season victories apiece but both are highly-rated within the Canadian Jr. A Hockey League rankings.
As well, Abitibi Eskimos and Espanola Rivermen have made for quite the race for third-and-fourth place.
The Rivermen have not only been a first-year, on-ice success in Espanola but are the NOJHL attendance leaders with a per-game average of just over 500.
But there are issues for the NOJHL to deal with it as it peeks ahead. …[read more]
Pretty sure about Ryan Burr
He is one of those later-developing players.
Born in November of 1995, he also has what hockey people refer to as a late birthday. …[read more]
Five Soo Indians prospects
From a major midget hockey team team laden with prospects for the next level, here are five players from the Soo Indians who are of considerable note: …[read more]
Soo Indians headed to Detroit
Soo Indians have advanced to the Michigan Amateur Hockey Association major midget state championships, which begin next week in the Detroit suburb of Taylor.
Playing on the road on the weekend, coach Pat Carricato and his Soo squad overcame a one-game-to-none deficit with two straight wins to defeat the Lansing Capitals in a qualifying series for the MAHA state playdowns. …[read more]
Tough tests loom for T-Birds
Okay, we know that Soo Thunderbirds have clinched first place in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League standings and will meet the lowly Blind River Beavers in the first round of the playoffs.
But despite their lofty standing in the NOJHL, tough tests loom for the Thunderbirds come playoff time. …[read more]
Pay-to-play is where it’s at
Tier 2 junior hockey has become an expensive sport for owner-operators to be involved in.
Unlike the Ontario Hockey League — where huge fan support and corporate-sponsorship dollars have allowed the major junior loop to become the $200 million business that it is — mere survival is often a month-to-month, season-to-season way of life in lower-level junior. …[read more]
Three-way tie for fourth in NAHL North
The race for the fourth-and-final playoff spot in the North Division of the North American Hockey League appears headed down to the wire.
Soo Eagles, Springfield Jr. Blues and Janesville Jets are tied for fourth place with 49 points apiece. …[read more]
For the record
Just because I believe in being open and honest I do want it to be known that I have taken a volunteer position as a media communications adviser for the proposed new Canadian International Hockey League. In a nutshell, I have volunteered to write press releases for the new CIHL, no more, no less.
Birds to watch
These Birds are made for watching.
On the cusp of clinching top spot in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League standings, Soo Thunderbirds will look to further fashion their record of 45-5-3 tonight when they play host to the North Bay Trappers.
Game time is 7:30 p.m. at Essar Centre.
On a team of talent and true grit, here are just five of many Birds worth watching. …[read more]
Proposition, supposition
Let’s suppose that the proposed new International Jr. Hockey League (or whatever it might be called) does get approval from the American-based, Amateur Athletic Union to play under its umbrella beginning with the 2014-2015 season.
Let’s suppose that the proposed IJHL winds up featuring a Canadian Division comprised of six teams that would defect from the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League, Ontario Jr. Hockey League and Greater Metro Jr. Hockey League. …[read more]
Suspicious suspension of NOJHL owner
This one reeks of vindictiveness.
If I am Espanola Rivermen owner-governor Tim Clayden, I am consulting with a lawyer on this one.
Two days after giving written notice to fellow Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League governors that his Rivermen would be looking to play in a new league come the 2014-2015 season, Clayden has been fined $5,000 and suspended indefinitely by commissioner Robert Mazzuca. …[read more]
Borderline D1-D3
The majority of players in the North American Hockey League aspire to move on to the Division 1, National Collegiate Athletic Association level.
The fact is, though, that the majority of NAHLers do not make it to Division 1.
Which should not be seen as the end of the line for NAHLers who have made playing Division 1 hockey their ultimate goal.
To be sure, there are plenty of good Division 3, NCAA schools out there. …[read more]
Espanola Rivermen owner speaks out
As an owner, operator and general manager, Tim Clayden is known as one of the shrewdest and best Junior A hockey operators in Canada.
Now the owner of the Espanola Rivermen — who as a first-year franchise are leading the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League in attendance — Clayden is exploring other avenues for his team.
Following is the transcript of a lengthy interview I conducted with Clayden. …[read more]
Fun in Flint
Flint Jr. Generals have not only secured top spot in the East Division of the North American 3 Hockey League but they have a shot at finishing first overall in the 21-team loop.
With two games to play in the 2013-2014 regular season, Flint has an almost-flawless record of 40-4-2. …[read more]
Rambles, rattles and rumours
I have more than a few things on my mind today.
My hockey mind, that is.
And if you are so inclined, I invite you to read on for a few rambles, rattles and rumours. …[read more]