On and off in the ‘O’
Multiple games have been postponed and rescheduled. But the Ontario Hockey League has soldiered on through Omicron as battles rage on in both the Western Conference and Eastern Conference.
…[read more]Nick Porco on the Attack
Sault Ste. Marie native Nick Porco is on the move in an Ontario Hockey League trade, Hockey News North has confirmed.
…[read more]Mario Culina back in the pros
Sault Ste. Marie product Mario Culina has left the hockey program at Brock University to sign with the Fort Wayne Komets of the minor pro ECHL, Hockey News North has confirmed. A former standout goalie in the Ontario Hockey League, the 24-year old Culina previously played in the ECHL during the 2018-2019 season before going to school.
…[read more]Centennial years in North Bay
They have a secure spot in the Ontario Hockey League history books as a quintessential small market franchise that was the frenzied talk of the town for many a cold winter. The Centennials were North Bay’s first OHL team, arriving from Niagara Falls in 1982 only to leave for Saginaw 20 years later.
…[read more]Cam Baber dealt to London
In a stunning move, the Saginaw Spirit has traded overage captain Camaryn Baber to the London Knights for a fourth round pick at the 2025 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft.
…[read more]Hounds return with a win
They may have cancelled — or perhaps just postponed — the World Junior Championships but the Ontario Hockey League has returned to play in some venues, including Sault Ste. Marie.
…[read more]Czech into Flint
Import draft pick Simon Slavicek has signed with the Flint Firebirds of the Ontario Hockey League, Hockey News North has confirmed.
…[read more]Early years of OHA Hounds
It was 1972. I was still in high school at Sir James Dunn. I was also working 36 hours a week — 6 p.m. to midnight Monday to Friday and noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday — in the men’s bar at the Windsor Hotel. (Um, not being the scholarly type, I definitely preferred working and making money over attending regular classes at SJD.) 1972 was also the year that the Soo Greyhounds became members of the Ontario Hockey League as an expansion team.
…[read more]Up north in the OHL
Soo Greyhounds and North Bay Battalion are among the high achieving teams of the Ontario Hockey League ahead of the 2022 portion of the regular season slate. As for the OHL’s third team that is based in northeastern Ontario, the Sudbury Wolves have been a first half failure.
…[read more]Calem shows his local Spirit
Calem Mangone is home in Sault Ste. Marie for the Christmas holiday break. And the rookie right wing sensation with the Saginaw Spirit of the Ontario Hockey League helped to spread some holiday cheer to an under 11 team in the Soo.
…[read more]Bailey Brkin gets AHL call
Utica Comets of the American Hockey League — the top farm club of the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League — have confirmed that they have signed goalie Bailey Brkin to a tryout contract. The 22-year old Brkin is a former standout with the Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League.
…[read more]Brkin is workin’ as a pro
He ended his junior career in style after moving from the Western Hockey League to the Ontario Hockey League and the Soo Greyhounds. And now at age 22, goalie Bailey Brkin is off to a good start in his first season of professional hockey.
…[read more]OHL Wolves shut down
In accordance with established protocols, the Ontario Hockey League has confirmed that the Sudbury Wolves have suspended all team activities as a result of 12 players having tested positive for COVID-19.
…[read more]Flint via northern Ontario
They may be based in mid Michigan but the Flint Firebirds have a firm player and scouting connection to northern Ontario.
…[read more]Big game for Camaryn Baber
Saginaw Spirit overcame a 4-0 deficit with six goals in the final 27 minutes of the game to score a stunning 6-4 Ontario Hockey League road decision over the Kitchener Rangers on Friday.
…[read more]Hoover a mover to the Cubs
Sudbury Cubs of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League have made a blue chip addition to their blue line by virtue of the development assignment of 2004 birth year defenseman Joshua Hoover via the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League.
…[read more]Big game for Nick Porco
Maybe this is what the big kid needed to get going. Sault Ste. Marie product Nick Porco had a breakout game for the Barrie Colts on Thursday.
…[read more]Mangone makes his mark
It didn’t take Sault Ste. Marie product Calem Mangone very long to begin a statistical history with the Saginaw Spirit of the Ontario Hockey League.
A rookie forward with a 2004 birth date, Mangone earned an assist in his first regular season game in the OHL and then tallied his initial goal in a Saginaw uniform in his second career match as the Spirit split a two game opening weekend set with the visiting Erie Otters.
…[read more]David Campbell is a Duke
Local product David Campbell is on his way to the Wellington Dukes of the Ontario Jr. Hockey League via the Blind River Beavers of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League and the North Bay Battalion of the Ontario Hockey League.
…[read more]Hounds deal overage skater
Soo Greyhounds have settled their overage situation and are now down to the maximum three 20-year old players.
…[read more]Porco can be Barrie good
As the Barrie Colts are being pegged as top contenders in the Eastern Conference of the Ontario Hockey League for the 2021-2022 season, their new general manager and coach is hoping for a breakout campaign from 20-year old left winger Nick Porco.
…[read more]Kraken calls on MacKay
Soo Greyhounds overage right winger Cole MacKay is off to the National Hockey League training camp of the expansion Seattle Kraken, Hockey News North has confirmed.
…[read more]Hendo has three hockey hats
Suffice to say that Jamie Henderson will be spending a lot of time in the various rinks of the north over the course of the 2021-2022 hockey season.
A Sault Ste. Marie native known for his thoroughness and relentless attachment and devotion to the game, Henderson has three diverse roles with three different teams in three separate hockey leagues.
…[read more]Hockey north watch tower
We have teams, players and coaches to keep collective eyes on as junior hockey in the north puts its sticks on the 2021-2022 season.
…[read more]They call him Captain Cam
Sault Ste. Marie product Camaryn Baber has been named captain of the Saginaw Spirit of the Ontario Hockey League.
The 2021-2022 campaign will be an overage season for Baber, who has a 2001 birth date.
…[read more]Junior hockey outlook
It was a season like no other relative to junior hockey in the province and coalitions such as the Ontario Hockey League, Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League and Superior International Jr. Hockey League.
And hopefully there will never be another season like the 2020-2021 campaign that was so adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
…[read more]Kartye gets Kraken in Seattle
Soo Greyhounds overage candidate Tye Kartye is getting a pro opportunity, Hockey News North has confirmed.
A 6-foot, 200 pound left winger with a 2001 birth date, Kartye has been invited to the National Hockey League training camp of the expansion Seattle Kraken.
…[read more]Barnes in Blind River
An Ontario Hockey League prospect of the Owen Sound Attack is slated to develop with the Blind River Beavers of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League for the upcoming season.
He is Jackson Barnes, a 6-foot-2 defenseman with a 2004 birth date.
…[read more]Lambert to scout for Wolves
Fresh from a stint as head coach of the Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League, Denny Lambert has joined the scouting staff of the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League.
…[read more]Hounds’ new goalie coach
Matt Smith is following in some big foot steps as the new goalie coach for the Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League.
As in, the previous four goalie coaches for the Greyhounds are now with pro hockey teams.
…[read more]Drumm is one up on Gretzky
As an underage 15-year old during the 1976-1977 Ontario Hockey League season, Wayne Gretzky played in three games for the Peterborough Petes before the Soo Greyhounds took him with the third overall pick of the 1977 OHL draft.
But not even the Great One can top fellow forward Brian Drumm when it comes to being the youngest player to ever skate in an OHL game. That is, Drumm first suited up for the Oshawa Generals as a 14-year old local affiliate during the 1971-1972 season.
…[read more]Hounds ink Russian defender
Kirill Kudryavtsev has officially signed with the Soo Greyhounds after the Ontario Hockey League team took the 2004 birth year defenseman in the first round, sixth overall, at the 2021 Canadian Hockey League import draft.
A native of Yaroslavl, Russia, he spent the 2020-2021 season with Loko Yaroslavl in Russia’s top junior hockey league and produced two goals, five assists, seven points in 20 games.
…[read more]Lussier lands in Flint
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan native Cole Lussier has been hired by the Flint Firebirds of the Ontario Hockey League as their new video coach and administrative assistant.
The 24-year old Lussier was a top forward with the under 16 Soo Thunder and under 18 Soo Indians before moving on to play at the junior level in both the Central Canada Hockey League and North American Hockey League.
…[read more]Erie presence in Blind River
Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League are sending one of their top prospects to develop with the Blind River Beavers of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League for the 2021-2022 season.
…[read more]Hounds of summer into fall
There is anxious anticipation ahead of the 2021-2022 Ontario Hockey League season. More so given that the entire 2020-2021 season was wiped out due to the coronavirus.
Now, with a return to a good degree of normalcy seemingly on the horizon, OHL teams such as the Soo Greyhounds have been spending the summer tending to internal and external business preparatory to the upcoming season.
…[read more]A steal for the Habs?
Playing on the worst team in the Ontario Hockey League did not help the stock of North Bay Battalion goalie Joe Vrbetic for the 2021 National Hockey League draft.
Vrbetic, a former Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League star with the Powassan Voodoos, faced baptism by fire for the Battalion during the most recent OHL season in playing for a North Bay team that posted an awful record of 17-41-4.
…[read more]Slick has more Spirit
One of the very best play by play announcers in the Ontario Hockey League has been given a promotion by his employer.
Saginaw Spirit president and managing partner Craig Goslin has confirmed the appointment of Joey Battaino as vice president of communications and broadcasting.
…[read more]Tough guys of the north
My roots are in northern Ontario. And as I am proud to be a northerner, I make no apologies for, when it comes to hockey, being partial to players who hail from the north.
Which brings me to compile my personal Top 10 list of the toughest customers from northern Ontario to play in the Ontario Hockey League during what I will call the rough and tumble decades of the 1970s and 1980s.
…[read more]It’s all about the Show
Hockey dreams have turned into one aspect of reality for a number of youngsters with northern Ontario roots and associations.
As 30 players from 18 different Ontario Hockey League teams were selected at the recent 2021 National Hockey League draft, a number of them have a connection to the Great North Under 18 Hockey League and the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
…[read more]Birds ink Hounds pick
Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League have signed a prospect of the Soo Greyhounds from the 2021 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft.
He is 6-foot-2, 195 pound, 2005 birth year defenseman Andrew Gibson. Hailing from the Windsor area town of LaSalle, Gibson was a fourth round pick of the Greyhounds at this year’s draft.
…[read more]Flint promotes Sault scout
Mike Oliverio has been named head scout of the Flint Firebirds.
The 54-year old Sault Ste. Marie resident has served as a long-time regional scout for the Ontario Hockey League franchise dating back to when the Firebirds were known as the Plymouth Whalers.
…[read more]Hay says hey to Flint
Flint Firebirds have now signed two of their top picks from the 2021 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft.
The most recent commitment to Flint is forward Ethan Hay, who was the Firebirds third round pick from the AAA Waterloo Wolves.
…[read more]Caufield was well schooled
He is one of hockey’s newest sensations, a 20 year old mighty mite who has already become a folk hero of sorts for the under dog Montreal Canadiens and their improbable Stanley Cup run of 2021.
…[read more]Flint’s new coaching troika
A trio of incoming coaches has been hired by the Flint Firebirds since owner Rolf Nilsen brought in 66-year old Terry Christensen on May 7 to be the president of hockey operations for the Ontario Hockey League team.
…[read more]Soo boys have twice the Spirit
They both carry intangibles relative to character, relentless work ethic and perseverance.
Three years apart in age, Sault Ste. Marie products Camaryn Baber and Calem Mangone are poised to become first-time teammates in 2021-2022 as part of the latest contending edition of the Saginaw Spirit of the Ontario Hockey League.
…[read more]Flint inks first rounder
Any concerns that the new look Flint Firebirds would have difficulty signing their first round pick from the 2021 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft have been addressed.
…[read more]Saginaw signs Soo skater
Wow. That didn’t take long.
A mere week after taking Calem Mangone with the second overall pick of the first round of the 2021 Ontario Hockey League under 18 draft, the Saginaw Spirit has signed the Sault Ste. Marie product to a standard player contract.
…[read more]