Rayside looking to make right turn
Rayside-Balfour Canadians are a much-better team than the .500 record they currently sport.
A pre-season favourite to battle the reigning champion Soo Thunderbirds for first place in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League’s West Division, Rayside-Balfour instead has a so-so record of 6-6 after 12 games.
The Thunderbirds are far ahead in first spot with a 12-1 record.
Rayside’s 6-6 record is more disappointing considering that the Canadians began the 2015-2016 season with four straight victories.
Well-put-together by general manager Keane Cronin, Rayside is a nice blend of older players with considerable junior experience and younger ones with skill and status.
Examples of the younger talent are 1997 birth-year forward Brody Brunet, who has a future commitment to play at the Division 1, National Collegiate Athletic Association level with the Lake Superior State University Lakers and three recent Ontario Hockey League draft picks — 1998 birth-year defenceman Ryan Mooney (Sudbury Wolves) and 1999 birth-year forwards Bradley Chenier (North Bay Battalion) and Cayse Ton (Owen Sound Attack.)
All are having good seasons to date.
Brunet has played in just 4 games but has 3 goals, 3 assists, 6 points. As for the others, Chenier is second on the Canadians in scoring with 6-7-13 totals, just ahead of Mooney at 4-8-12 and Ton at 4-6-10.
The Canadians also boast 1995 birth-date, mainstay juniors in forward Ryan Erickson, who leads the team in scoring with 4-10-14 totals and defenceman Kyle Fransen, who has 5-7-12 numbers.
Another high-end skater for the Canadians is 1998 birth-year defenceman Brett Whitehead, who along with the aforementioned Mooney, are on the early-watch list of at least one Division 1, NCAA school.
And while the Canadians have struggled somewhat between the pipes — veteran NOJHL goalies Jessie Morin and Kevin Labelle both have save percentages that are south of .900 — Rayside head coach Jason Young says the team’s 6-6 record is “just not good enough.
“It’s .500 hockey, but our team is not a .500 hockey team. We’re a lot better than that,” Young told the Sudbury Star in a recent interview.
To be sure, Rayside — a virtual homegrown team with 23 of its 25 players either from the Sudbury area or nearby northeastern Ontario communities — can take a right turn towards a better record when it plays a home-and-home series with the 3-11-1 Blind River Beavers this Saturday and Sunday.
The Canadians head to Blind River for a 7:30 p.m. game on Saturday before returning home to play the Beavers in a 6:30 p.m. match on Sunday.
PHOTO: Rayside rookie skater Bradley Chenier, in recent NOJHL action against the Soo Eagles.
I think that The talent is there on this team.
The problem is that there are players who are not on shape. IMHO.
They do defanitly have some real good young talent Player’s at all positions. Thanks for such a nice posative article Randy.
RR: I am not quite sure what it is that you like about Rayside. They are a dirty Team who cant beat the good teams in the League. Can you spell “Over Rated”??? It is quite ovious that you must be from Sudbury!!!
French River Rapids #1,
You are entitled to your opinion on one hand but on the other, you need to make sure of what you believe to be “obvious.”
That’s because not only am I not from Sudbury but I have never lived or worked there.
Regards,
RR
G1 – ESP 1 – 4 RSB – W 1-0-0
G2 – ESP 3 – 4 RSB – W 2-0-0
G3 – FRR 4 – 5 RSB – W 3-0-0
G4 – ELL 3 – 6 RSB – W 4-0-0
G5 – CC 4 – 3 RSB – L 4-1-0
G6 – RSB 3 – 6 IFE – L 4-2-0
G7 – KLG 5 -2 RSB – L 4-3-0
G8 – TMR 8 – 2 RSB – L 4-4-0
G9 – CC 6 – 4 RSB – L 4-5-0
G10 – RSB 6 – 1 FRR – W 5-5-0
G11 – RSB 10 – 3 FRR – W 6-5-0
G12 – SMI 4 -3 RSB – L 6-6-0
They can certainly take care of teams that aren’t quite up to NOJHL par. I wouldn’t say they choke against the better teams in the league. They’ve boasted decent scores against CC and SMI (whom I still think will bloom late). That 8-2 loss was a Friday night in Timmins (enough said there). They’re other L’s haven’t been too bad. They might not be a top-top bunch, but they’re in the thick of things. If they can string a few solid scraps together against the top dogs and continue to push teams like the Soo, CC to their limits, team confidence would rise and so would their game. They could end up being a pretty interesting team to watching in the post season (I know, too early for that kind of talk, but you cannot count them out of that picture). They’re a .500 team that could easily 8-4-0 instead of 6-6-0. No real need to press the panic button in RSB. They’re doing just fine so far. Also, you have to make note that their first 3 out of 4 games were against teams that are expansion sides.
French River Rapids # 1,
With a username like that I think both your insight into RBC and opinion of RR should be taken with a grain of salt.