Opening acts in the NOJHL
Espanola Paper Kings — with a pair of improbable blowout victories — are among the early season story lines in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
The Paper Kings, who barely missed the NOJHL playoffs in ’24-25, began the ’25-26 campaign with a 9-0 whitewash of the Blind River Beavers before hammering the Hearst Lumberjacks by a decisive 8-2 margin. Espanola did come down to earth in a rematch with Hearst, losing 5-2 to the Lumberjacks.
Nonetheless, it was a noteworthy start to the season for Espanola — and with all three games in front of the hometown fans.
Among the top offensive performers for the Paper Kings were forwards Joseph Coates (five goals, three assists, eight points), Owen Smith (3-4-7) and Cam Menard (3-3-6.) The youngster Smith, who has a 2009 birth date, was an 11th round pick by the North Bay Battalion at the 2025 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft.
Meanwhile, holdover goalie Jack Helkie began the season for the Paper Kings with a shutout in the blanking of Blind River.
Espanola was one of four NOJHL teams to post a pair of wins during the first week of regular season play. Like Espanola, Hearst also won two of three of games while the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners and Powassan Voodoos both went 2-0.
Not taking anything away from the paper kings but how about those gold miners let’s hope they can keep it up.