Saginaw to Flint
This should add even more fuel to the Interstate 75 highway rivalry between the Flint Firebirds and Saginaw Spirit of the Ontario Hockey League.
That is, after one season as associate coach with Saginaw in 2019-2020, Jared Nightingale is taking a short trip a few exits down I-75 to become an assistant coach in Flint.
…[read more]Ex-OHL star in Espanola
Joey Talbot, a former high scoring right winger with the Ottawa 67’s of the Ontario Hockey League and part of their 1999 Memorial Cup championship team, has joined the Espanola Express of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League as an assistant coach/skills development coach.
The 41-year old Talbot later had a productive pro career, including four standout seasons with the legendary Sheffield Steelers of the British Elite Ice Hockey League.
…[read more]Fellinger falls to Hounds
Wawa, Ontario native Austin Fellinger has become the Ontario Hockey League property of the Soo Greyhounds.
…[read more]OHL still high on Soo boys
For the third year in succession a player from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. has been picked within the first three rounds of the Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft.
…[read more]Toms signs with Hounds
It is the next step in development.
Local lad Connor Toms is moving up from the Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League to the Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League.
…[read more]New coach for Flint
A new bench boss is in place for the Flint Firebirds of the Ontario Hockey League.
Ted Dent has been named head coach of the Firebirds.
The 51-year old Dent replaces Eric Wellwood, who recently resigned his position with the Michigan-based OHL team.
…[read more]Raffi Torres to Elliot Lake
A former star winger who was an impact player in the Ontario Hockey League before going on to play in more than 700 National Hockey League games will assist the new Elliot Lake Red Wings of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League as a mentor.
…[read more]Branch resigns as Flint GM
A widely respected person who led the Flint Firebirds to their best season in franchise history has stepped down as general manager of the Ontario Hockey League team.
Affable Barclay Branch, who orchestrated a three year rebuild in Flint that resulted in a 40-21-2 record for the Firebirds during a 2019-2020 season that was shortened by COVID-19, confirmed his resignation today to Hockey News North.
…[read more]1986 Memorial Cup champs
It was 35 years ago this weekend that the Guelph Platers won the coveted Memorial Cup championship as the best team in Canadian major junior hockey.
Suffice to say that the Platers took the Ontario Hockey League by surprise during the 1985-1986 season.
The Platers had missed the playoffs in each of their first three seasons in the OHL. Starting out as an expansion team in 1982, the Platers posted successive records of 7-63-0, 20-46-4 and 21-40-5.
…[read more]Hounds missed on Matier
This one lies squarely on Soo Greyhounds general manager Kyle Raftis.
That is, the Greyhounds had a chance to choose local product and future world class gold medal winner Jack Matier in the first round of the 2019 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft only to — for whatever reason — opt for another defenseman.
…[read more]Rat puke and Wolves
They had their share of good players and character individuals, including two standouts who became high draft picks to the National Hockey League and 11 others who would go on to play at the minor pro and/or European pro levels.
But for whatever reason, the Sudbury Wolves of 1983-1984 would finish in last place overall with a record of 19-50-1 in what was a 15-team Ontario Hockey League back then.
And it didn’t help that the underachieving Wolves of 1983-1984 were coached by a rude, crude dude who would routinely tell his players “you are all rat puke” when he was dissatisfied with their play.
…[read more]Loss of an OHL season
Could the Ontario Hockey League have done more to start the 2020-2021 season back in November when COVID-19 cases were relatively low?
Did the OHL do wrong to its players when continuing to insist it was “not interested in playing games without fans in attendance” like other leagues were doing?
…[read more]Eight player trade of ’83-84
Free traders Joe Drago of the Sudbury Wolves and Larry Mavety of the Belleville Bulls were never shy when it came to dealing players.
And the rival Ontario Hockey League general managers — Drago and Mavety were also good friends — more than proved that point early in the 1983-1984 season when they combined to make a massive eight player trade that featured three northern boys.
…[read more]Jack Matier a world class kid
He has been chosen to play on the world hockey stage.
Sault Ste. Marie product Jack Matier is slated to skate for Team Canada at this month’s 2021 International Ice Hockey Federation under-18 world championship tournament.
…[read more]Hounds ’79-85 reunion
Friends of Terry Crisp and Sam McMaster are planning a Soo Greyhounds reunion for Saturday, July 17 of this year. The reunion is for those who had an association with the Ontario Hockey League team from 1979 to 1985.
Crisp coached the Greyhounds from 1979 to 1985. McMaster worked alongside Crisp as the Greyhounds general manager from 1980 to 1985.
…[read more]Here’s looking at Hounds
Major question mark between the pipes aside, Soo Greyhounds figure to be a formidable force once the games begin on the pandemic affected version of a 2020-2021 Ontario Hockey League season.
With seasoned skill and developed depth on the forward lines and at the defense position, the Greyhounds are set up for success in whatever form or length the anticipated, abbreviated OHL season takes.
…[read more]OHL return to play sketch
It has been just over a year since there was game action in the Ontario Hockey League.
As COVID-19 put a halt to the 2019-2020 season a year ago this month, the OHL is poised to finally return to the ice for a shortened version of a 2020-2021 campaign.
A normal OHL regular season is 68 games for each of its 20 teams. But there is very little that is normal in this age of hockey as it relates to COVID-19.
…[read more]Stevenson still in the game
His hockey playing career ended a dozen years ago at age 34. But now, at 46 years of age and at his playing size and weight of 6-foot-1, 215 pounds, Jeremy Stevenson still looks fit and trim enough to be patrolling the left wing.
A first round pick of the Cornwall Royals in 1990 who would finish his Ontario Hockey League career with the Soo Greyhounds, Stevenson defied the odds to play in 228 National Hockey League games after being an 11th round pick of the Anaheim Ducks in 1994.
…[read more]NOJHL boss was OHL star
These days, Rob Mazzuca is well known as the likeable, respectable commissioner of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
With deep northern Ontario roots, Mazzuca — who has been the league’s commander in chief since 2011 — has brought a thorough, thoughtful, professional approach to his position and to the NOJHL itself.
…[read more]Soo via Kingston
Even the best of teams can only have so many star players.
In fact, it is the best of teams who make good use of the grinders.
And it was during the Ontario Hockey League glory years of Sam McMaster as general manager and Terry Crisp as coach that the powerhouse Soo Greyhounds twice made trades with the lowly Kingston Canadians in which they exchanged high scoring forwards for fibrous left wingers.
…[read more]Moving out of the dog house
As the 1984-1985 championship campaign ended a spectacular five year run for the Soo Greyhounds under the coach and general manager duo of Terry Crisp and Sam McMaster, the next five seasons would be all downhill for the Red and White.
But as the Greyhounds went from the penthouse in 1984-1985 to the outhouse in 1985-1986, a pair of right wingers escaped the dog house via trade and finished their Ontario Hockey League careers with a flourish.
…[read more]Statement from David Branch
Ontario Hockey League commissioner David Branch has issued the following statement relative to return to play discussions for the 2020-2021 season.
…[read more]OHL boss is optimistic
The 18 teams of the Quebec Major Jr. Hockey League have already combined to play well over 150 games thus far into the COVID-19 affected, 2020-2021 regular season.
Meanwhile, the 22-member Western Hockey League is slated to begin play on February 26 with games involving its Alberta-based teams.
Over to the Ontario Hockey League — where COVID-19 cases continue to drop province wide — no firm start date has been determined for its 20 teams, three of which are American-based. But commissioner David Branch is optimistic that the OHL, which along with the QMJHL and WHL are under the umbrella of the Canadian Hockey League, will play hockey this season.
…[read more]Express route for OHL picks
Nestled on the Spanish River, about 35 miles west of Sudbury and 145 miles east of Sault Ste. Marie — and just south of the junction of Highway 6 and Highway 17 — lies the little junior A hockey town of Espanola.
As the town is home to just under 5,000 residents, it also houses the Espanola Express of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. And quite notably, the Express has become a route of choice for no less than nine Ontario Hockey League priority selection draft picks ranging in age from 16 to 18.
…[read more]Stars still high on Porco
Almost two years after taking Nick Porco in the fifth round of the 2019 National Hockey League draft, the Dallas Stars still like what they have in the 19-year old winger from Sault Ste. Marie.
Joe McDonnell, who is the director of amateur scouting for the Stars and the person responsible for picking Porco, made that quite clear when talking to Hockey News North.
…[read more]Nick Porco with Texas Stars
As the Ontario Hockey League remains in limbo as to when or if the 2020-2021 season will begin, junior age players from the various teams are, in the meantime, getting opportunities to play pro.
One such prospect is Nick Porco, a 19-year old left winger from Sault Ste. Marie who is a member of the OHL’s Barrie Colts and a National Hockey League draft pick of the Dallas Stars.
…[read more]Jack Kopacka packs his bags
Former Soo Greyhounds winger Jack Kopacka has had his National Hockey League rights transferred.
The 6-foot-2, 200 pound Kopacka, who had three productive seasons with the Greyhounds after being an eighth round pick at the 2016 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft, is now the NHL property of the Ottawa Senators following a trade today with the San Jose Sharks.
…[read more]Knights before Hunters
Given their sustained success as co-owners and as general manager and head coach, it sometimes seems as though the dynamic duo of Dale Hunter and Mark Hunter have always operated the London Knights.
But the Knights had an illustrious — if not as prolific — presence in the Ontario Hockey League long before the Hunter boys arrived in London back in 2000.
In short, there were Knights before there were Hunters.
…[read more]NHL staffs plentiful Soo crew
There is more to the current Sault Ste. Marie connection to the National Hockey League than the many players who are either from the Soo or who played for the Ontario Hockey League Greyhounds.
A lot more.
As a matter of fact, there are in excess of 20 guys with a link to the Soo who are part of NHL staffs as coaches, general managers and scouts.
…[read more]It was a first for the Hounds
They had missed the playoffs in each of their first three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, beginning with their debut campaign of 1972-1973.
And fans and supporters of the Greyhounds — who were used to the winning ways from the team’s days in the Northern Ontario Hockey Association — were becoming restless and impatient.
…[read more]What’s next for the OHL?
Regular season action in junior hockey leagues that span northeastern and northwestern Ontario got underway in November with new playing rules that ban intentional contact — and with very few spectators allowed in the arenas.
But while the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League began regular season play on November 13 and the Superior International Jr. Hockey League started two weeks later, the higher level, higher stakes Ontario Hockey League has remained idle.
…[read more]Nine OHL picks in Espanola
A small market team in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League, the Espanola Express has become a major location for Ontario Hockey League draft picks to develop.
Notably, no less than nine players who are currently in the Espanola lineup are priority selection draft picks of seven different OHL teams.
…[read more]Denny digs the NOJHL gig
He has played the game at its highest level, suiting up for more than 500 National Hockey League games in what was an inspiring, improbable rise to the top.
He was later an assistant and head coach of eight seasons in the Ontario Hockey League for the same team that he played for, the Soo Greyhounds.
And now, 50-year old Denny Lambert is combining a career as a police officer with being the first year head coach of the Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
…[read more]No lack of story lines
Junior hockey is being played throughout northern Ontario, albeit in modified form, with no deliberate contact, restrictions on team to team travel, and few fans allowed in the rinks.
And unlike the Ontario Hockey League, which is planning on an early February start date to its regular season, the 2020-2021 campaign is already several weeks underway in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
To that end, there are good story lines galore relative to the NOJHL, including sports writers who previously ignored the league only to all of a sudden be on the bandwagon with plenty of printed words.
…[read more]Flint to Leamington
Top prospect goalie Chazz Nixon has been assigned by the Flint Firebirds of the Ontario Hockey League to the Leamington Flyers of the Greater Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
The GOJHL has been cleared by the Ontario Hockey Federation to begin regular season play in January while the OHL has targeted February as its planned start date.
…[read more]Such a good, good man
He defined kindness and generosity with a trademark, friendly smile and the warmest of hearts.
A much respected, benevolent gentleman who was well known and well liked, he shunned the limelight even though he was so active in the community as a businessman, volunteer and philanthropist.
He had a love for dogs and a soft heart for the less fortunate and he gave so much in so many ways and asked for nothing in return.
…[read more]New scouting gig for Soo boy
As a medium size defenseman at 5-foot-11, 180 pounds, Mike Dawson made it to the Ontario Hockey League through hard work and perseverance.
A seventh round pick of the Kingston Frontenacs from the Soo Legion midgets at the 1990 priority selections draft, Dawson went on to play three full seasons in the OHL.
He later played five seasons of Atlantic Canada university hockey in total at both Acadia and St. Mary’s followed by two years of pro hockey in Holland and another in the minor pro, Central Hockey League.
Now 47 years of age, the Sault Ste. Marie product has taken his work ethic and knowledge of the game to an ongoing full-time scouting position in the National Hockey League.
…[read more]NOJHL is on ice; OHL is not
This is a statement of fact relative to the coronavirus and two levels of junior hockey in Ontario.
That is, the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League does not have to take a lead from the Ontario Hockey League as it pertains to a return to play for the 2020-2021 season.
Because folks, as the OHL will remain in a shutdown until the new year, the majority of the teams in the NOJHL have been on the ice since the middle of September in the form of skills, drills and in-house scrimmages.
…[read more]Angelo Bumbacco passes away
Sault Ste. Marie and its wide ranging hockey family has lost an absolute legend of the game.
Hockey News North has confirmed that the iconic Angelo Bumbacco has passed away at the age of 88.
Born and raised in the Sault, Bumbacco was to undergo hip surgery on Tuesday but he died before going into the operating room, according to a family member.
…[read more]On the NHL ‘watch list’
A pair of former Great North Midget Hockey League opponents and a scoring star from the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League are on the radar of the National Hockey League’s central scouting department.
They are among a few hundred prospects who are on the ‘preliminary players to watch list’ ahead of the 2021 NHL draft.
The list is a compilation of top prospects from all the major development leagues throughout North America and Europe. It will be updated throughout the season as scouts further evaluate the players.
…[read more]Toms in training with T-Birds
He has the ‘natural athlete’ bloodlines from the Pettenuzzo side of his mom’s family.
And his dad is a very driven individual who went from being a 13th round draft pick to become an Ontario Hockey League star and from being a ninth round draft pick to play in more than 235 games in the National Hockey League.
A budding prospect and a good athlete in his own right as a third round pick of the Soo Greyhounds at the 2020 OHL priority selections draft, 2004 birth year defenseman Connor Toms is currently skating with the Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
…[read more]Working the Knight shift
If you don’t like, appreciate, or respect the London Knights, you might want to skip this story.
That is, Luke Evangelista is just the latest example of how the Knights develop their hockey players the London way.
The 2002 birth year forward went from a whitewash of an Ontario Hockey League rookie season with the Knights in 2018-2019 to becoming a second round National Hockey League draft pick of the Nashville Predators in 2020.
…[read more]Junior hockey variances
Return to play scenarios for junior hockey in Ontario are contrasts in distinction.
For example, while teams in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League and the eastern Ontario based Central Canada Hockey League are on the ice holding drills that vary from skill sessions to non contact scrimmages, members representing the Ontario Hockey League remain in a dormant state relative to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Both commissioner Robert Mazzuca of the NOJHL and CCHL commander in chief Kevin Abrams are maintaining a wait and see attitude as they keep in touch with public health officials and their respective governing bodies while overseeing their respective leagues during these unprecedented times.
…[read more]Flint deals with London
Once a Knight, now a Firebird.
Flint Firebirds have acquired highly touted forward Sahil Panwar in an Ontario Hockey League transaction with the London Knights.
Flint has transferred its fourth round pick at the 2021 OHL priority selections draft to London in exchange for the 6-foot-1, 180 pound Panwar.
…[read more]OHL to Austria pro league
A durable, honest, hard nosed, two way right winger has turned three full seasons in the Ontario Hockey League into a professional contract in Austria.
Daylon Groulx, who would be going into his overage season in the OHL, has instead opted to turn pro as a 20-year old.
The 6 foot, 185 pound Groulx finished up his OHL career with the Ottawa 67’s in 2019-2020 after being acquired from the Owen Sound Attack for three draft picks.
…[read more]Bibby boards the Express
Destination, Espanola.
A 15-year old youngster who was chosen at the 2020 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft has signed with the Espanola Express of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
He is left winger Luke Bibby, a 13th round draft pick of the Owen Sound Attack from the Brantford 99ers under-16 team.
…[read more]Kory is back in Kingston
K is for Kory. K is for Kingston.
Kory Cooper is back in the Ontario Hockey League with the Kingston Frontenacs, this time as their assistant general manager and goalie coach.
Cooper will work under Paul McFarland, who earlier this summer returned to the Frontenacs as coach and general manager after three seasons as an assistant in the National Hockey League.
…[read more]Confidence a key for Calisti
Robert Calisti has made gigantic strides since his rookie season of 2017-2018 with the Soo Greyhounds when he dressed for only six games in the Ontario Hockey League and did not pick up a point.
After being picked by the Greyhounds in the third round, 44th overall, of the 2017 OHL priority selections draft, Calisti would spend the majority of the 2017-2018 campaign with the Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
Regular season and playoffs included that 2017-2018 term, Calisti played in 46 games with the Thunderbirds and produced eight goals, 22 assists, 30 points from his defense position.
…[read more]Toms is for the T-Birds
One way or another, Connor Toms will be remaining at home to play junior hockey this season.
If the 16-year old defenseman does not make the roster of the Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League, he will man the blue line for the Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
Thunderbirds general manager Trev Zachary has confirmed the signing of the medium sized defender, who was a third round pick, 44th overall, by the Greyhounds at the 2020 OHL priority selections draft.
…[read more]