Early season story lines
We are about a month or so into the ’25-26 Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League regular season. Championships are not won during the fall months but stakes can be put in position and the anxiety button to qualify for one of the eight playoff spots in the 11 member NOJHL can begin to pulsate, if only slightly.
MARKET SHARE: Two time reigning champion Sudbury Cubs have not been dominant in the early going. Not that there should be any cause for concern in the Nickel City. Sudbury’s hockey department is well equipped to tweak and has been known to tweak what needs to be tweaked.
Darryl Moxam is as good a coach as there is in the league and the Cubs have a number of high end, veteran players who have prior experience in the Ontario Hockey League including forwards Nolan Newton (Barrie Colts) and Daks Klinkhammer (Flint Firebirds) and defenseman Spencer Horgan (Sudbury Wolves) who are all among the best players in the NOJHL.
The Cubs are also bringing along some young players such as 2009 birth year forward Ty Dubreuil, who is a 2025 OHL priority selections draft pick of the Windsor Spitfires. Dubreuil already has a three point game to his credit with the Cubs as a rookie skater who is just a season removed from the AAA Under 16 level.
As it is likely but a matter of time before Sudbury really revs it up, there are teams who are serious with a capital S that are showing early season signs of being contenders. They include the Hearst Lumberjacks, Powassan Voodoos, Timmins Rock, Espanola Paper Kings and Soo Thunderbirds.
PAPER MAKERS: Espanola features four high scoring forwards who together, are averaging a whopping seven points per game as top producers for the Paper Kings.
They are veterans Joseph Coates, Cameron Menard, Carter Drigo and 2009 rookie standout Owen Smith, who is a 2025 OHL priority selections draft pick of the North Bay Battalion.
BETWEEN THE PIPES: A trio of OHL priority selections draft picks are among the goalies who have looked good in the early stages of this NOJHL season.
They are Cole Vreugdenhil (North Bay Battalion) of the Powassan Voodoos, Mateo Beites (Sudbury Wolves) of the Sudbury Cubs and Nathan Maguire (Flint Firebirds) of the Soo Thunderbirds. Vreugdenhil, with a 2009 birth date, is the youngest of the three. Meanwhile, Beites was born in 2008 and Maguire has a 2007 birth date.
Among other goalies who have stood out thus far, the list includes Jack Helkie of Espanola, Alex Boivin of Hearst and Jace Knoerle of the Soo Eagles. Helkie, Boivin and Knoerle — who has faced a barrage of shots in the Eagles net — all have 2006 birth dates and are in their second season in the NOJHL.
