Great North notables

A runaway regular season race to first place for the Soo Jr. Greyhounds. An improbable upset by the North Bay U18 Trappers to take the playoff championship from the Soo in stunning fashion. That and more from an eye-opening season in the Great North Under 18 Hockey League.

Eight teams representing six towns make up the Great North. North Bay has both the U18 Trappers and the U16 Trappers. Sudbury has both the U18 Nickel Capitals and the U16 Nickel Capitals. Then there are the U18 Jr. Greyhounds of the Soo along with the smaller market Timmins Majors, Kapuskasing Flyers and New Liskeard Cubs.

At any rate, following are one writer’s select story lines from the 2022-2023 Great North season.

HOUND SOUND

This was a powerhouse team that put together a powerful regular season record of 26-2-0 while out-scoring the opposition by a wide margin of 152 to 46 and allowing less than 20 shots on goal per game. Ditto the three round robin matches and the semi-final contest of the playoff tournament when they won all four games and outscored their opponents by a ridiculous margin of 31 to 3.

Led by older forwards Gabe Palumbo, Cole Cond, Callum McAuley, Harley Wardell and Jacob Smith and younger front-liners such as Hudson Chitaroni, Brendan Cooke, Lucas DiBerardino and Deven Jones McDonald and a veteran to rookie defence corps featuring Evan Roach, Candon O’Neill and Declan Gallivan, the Soo Jr. Greyhounds took a 16 game winning streak into the title tilt of the championship tournament. How could they lose?

Well, despite an overall record of 30-2-0 and a goals for/goals against differential of 183 to 49, the Jr. Greyhounds somehow came up short to the North Bay U18 Trappers in a one game, winner take all showdown to decide the champions of the Great North. Despite having home ice advantage, the Soo never once had the lead in the championship match and eventually lost by an 8-5 score to the upstart Trappers of North Bay. The Jr. Greyhounds had taken three of four games from North Bay during the regular season and finished 10 points ahead of the Trappers in the standings. But when everything was on the line and the pressure was on, North Bay rode the splendid coaching of Doug Sanders to championship glory.

On a side note, Sanders — who works for the Ontario Provincial Police in North Bay — grew up and played hockey in the small North Channel town of Bruce Mines, which is less than 40 miles from Sault Ste. Marie.

MAJOR RESPECT

From general manager Ron Holmes on down, the Timmins Majors are a respectful organization. And it is no coincidence that the Majors had their third respected and respectful coach behind the bench in as many seasons.

This season, it was Steve Polyblank who was the head coach in Timmins. The season before, Kevin Walker was the head coach of the Majors. And the season before that it was Brandon Perry running the bench. Walker left the Majors to become the head coach and general manager of the Red Lake Miners of the Superior International Jr. Hockey League. And before him, Perry moved up from the Majors to become the head coach and GM of the Timmins Rock of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.

One thing really stands out about getting to know and talking to Polyblank, Walker and Perry: they are all team-first coaches who never make anything about themselves.

SOO TO SUDBURY

With no room to play for their hometown Jr. Greyhounds, three boys packed their hockey bags and headed 180 miles down Highway 17 East to pursue their careers in Sudbury.

2006 birth year goalie AJ Borrelli earned a spot with the U18 Nickel Capitals and turned a solid regular season into a spectacular playoff showing for good guy head coach Brian Dickenson. And a pair of 2007 birth year players from the Soo tried out for and made the U16 Nickel Capitals after being cut by the hometown Jr. Greyhounds. Goalie Nick Marson and forward Coulson Bell both performed well for Sudbury far from home and family in the Soo. Marson had a record of 7-5-1 for a Nickel Capitals team that was below .500 with an 11-16-1 mark. And while Bell had modest scoring totals of five goals, four assists, nine points, he was one of the better defensive forwards for the U16 Nickel Capitals and their good guy coach, Jordan Cheechoo.

Notably, Borrelli, Marson and Bell all suited up as affiliate players for NOJHL teams this season. Borrelli spent time with the Blind River Beavers as an AP and Marson and Bell both saw game action with the Espanola Paper Kings.

TEAM NOHA

It says here that aforementioned goalie Nick Marson of the U16 Nickel Capitals deserved a better shake from the Team NOHA staff that picked the squad that will compete in the upcoming OHL Cup.

No qualms with Team NOHA picking Alex Hall of Timmins as one of its two goalies. But taking Nathan Maguire of the Jr. Greyhounds over Marson rubs me the wrong way. Yes, Maguire had a 1.69 goals against average for the Soo. But he played behind a power house Soo squad that rarely allowed more than 15 shots on goal per game.

Marson, on the other hand, routinely faced 40 shots on goal per game for the U16 Nickel Capitals, who often played shorthanded as the most penalized team in the Great North. Further, despite battling through injury, Marson had a 7-5-1 record in the games that he played. And when Marson was not in net, the U16 Nickel Capitals had a 4-11-0 record.

Nothing against Maguire. But Marson won games on his own. Multiple times. No ifs, ands, or buts about it, Marson should be on Team NOHA. Period.