EL Vikings sign Soo goalie
Sault Ste. Marie product Cam Boville has signed with the Elliot Lake Vikings of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League, Hockey News North has confirmed. The signing becomes official once approved by the NOJHL.
Boville, who has a late October, 2006 birth date, stands in at 6-foot-2, 185 pounds. A determined youngster, Boville ventured from his Sault Ste. Marie home to tend goal for the Peterborough Under 16 AAA Petes in 2021-2022 and returned to that area of the province in 2022-2023 to stop pucks for the Clarington Under 18 AAA Toros.
In signing with Elliot Lake, Boville becomes the third incoming goalie to sign with the Vikings ahead of the 2023-2024 NOJHL season. The others are Thunder Bay product Sam Keene and dual Canadian-American citizen Matt Vahramian. Keene was born in 2005 while Vahramian has a 2006 birth date.
Boville is the latest Sault Ste. Marie connection to the new look Vikings of Elliot Lake.
Defenseman Sam Verbonac is poised to play for the Vikings following a trade with the Huntsville Otters of the Provincial Jr. C Hockey League earlier this summer. Verbonac, who has a 2005 birth date, is a Sault Ste. Marie product who, prior to heading to Huntsville, was a steady defender for the Soo Jr. Greyhounds of the Great North Under 18 Hockey League. He also has six games of prior NOJHL experience with the Espanola Paper Kings.
Also this off season, the Vikings brought in Michael Gagnon as their Sault Ste. Marie based scout. The 41-year old Gagnon is a long-time local minor hockey coach. Gagnon grew up around the game as the son of Don Gagnon, who played in the Ontario Hockey League with the Soo Greyhounds and the Lake Superior State Lakers of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and at the minor pro level before going on to coach minor and junior hockey for close to 40 years.
Meanwhile, the new look Vikings are back to reclaim their age old junior hockey status in Elliot Lake. Earlier this off season, long-time local resident Jef Jarmovitch took over operation of the Elliot Lake Red Wings from Paul Noad and rebranded the NOJHL franchise as the Elliot Lake Vikings. Jarmovitch was quick to retain Chris Keleher as head coach and general manager.
Junior hockey has had a presence in Elliot Lake since 1965. It began with the Vikings, who first played in the old International Jr. B Hockey League, then the NOJHL. And since 1997, when the Vikings went off to sea, there have been the Elliot Lake Ice, Elliot Lake Bobcats, Elliot Lake Wildcats and Elliot Lake Red Wings of the NOJHL. (The Bobcats were also part of the Greater Metro Jr. Hockey League.)