‘Best ’07 goalie in the North’
It is a league that is monopolized by goalies who were born in 2005 and 2006. But there is a 2007 birth year puck stopper in the Great North Under 18 Hockey League who is considered the best in his age group.
To be sure, Sault Ste. Marie product Nick Marson of the Sudbury U16 Nickel Capitals has been a standout performer between the pipes through the first half of the 2022-2023 season. Marson, who just turned 15 years old on December 16, has a 5-1-1 record and 3.11 goals against average on a U16 Nickel Capitals team that has an 8-5-1 mark and a team GAA of 3.57.
A well respected, veteran Ontario Hockey League scout who is based in Northern Ontario told Hockey News North that the 5-foot-9, 180 pound Marson is “small but he has been phenomenal for (the U16 Nickel Capitals) this season … he is the best ’07 goalie in the North in my opinion.”
Marson is one of six younger goalies in the GNU18HL who have 2007 birth dates and who are eligible for the 2023 OHL priority selections draft.
What makes Marson’s record and fulfillment even more splendid this season is that he is playing on one of only two U16 teams against older players in the eight member GNU18HL. Then there is the fact that he opted to leave home at age 14 for Sudbury last fall to try out for — and then make — the U16 Nickel Capitals after being cut by his hometown Soo Jr. Greyhounds.
Marson is also an affiliate player for the Espanola Paper Kings of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.