Six teams over .500 mark

By Randy Russon
October 28, 2025
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There is relative balance within the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League as six of the 11 teams are above the .500 level with the ’25-26 regular season schedule nudging towards November.

HEARST IS IN FIRST: Showing no signs of slowing down and with an offensive machine that features the top three scorers in the NOJHL — Mathieu Comeau, Chase Thompson and Henry Ouellet — Hearst Lumberjacks are atop the standings with 29 points from a record of 14-3-1. Hearst is riding the super coaching of 68-year old rookie NOJHL bench boss Guy Losier.

TWENTY PLUS POINTS: Somewhat of a surprise thus far, the surging Soo Thunderbirds are part of a four team race for second place. Getting good overall play from their forwards and defensemen and top shelf goaltending from 2007 birth year rookie Nathan Maguire, the Thunderbirds have 22 points from a record of 10-3-2 and are a single tick ahead of three teams who all have 21 — Powassan Voodoos (10-3-1), Sudbury Cubs (10-5-1) and Espanola Paper Kings (10-6-1.) And let us not forget head coach Brandon Perry and his Timmins Rock, who are lurking with 17 points from a record of 8-5-1.

PAPER KING POINT GETTERS: Espanola has two players who are among the top five in the NOJHL in scoring. Cameron Menard has 14 goals, 16 assists, 30 points while Joseph Coates has connected for 11 goals, 17 assists, 28 points.

EAGLE EYE SHARP SHOOTER: After scoring 11 goals in 45 games for the Soo Eagles during the ’24-25 season, northern Michigan product Anden Marceau has already found the back of the net 15 times in 16 outings thus far in ’25-26.

TIMMINS ROCKS KL AGAIN: Maintaining their dominance of the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners, the Timmins Rock rolled to a recent 10-2 decision over their northeastern nook neighbours. And get this: the win by Timmins over KL was the 53rd consecutive regular season triumph for the Rock over the Gold Miners, which dates all the way back to January 15, 2019. Wow.