Leaving Soo for Blind River
Camden Cowan has become the latest high end hockey player from Sault Ste. Marie to pack his equipment and head 90 miles east along Highway 17 to Blind River ahead of the ’25-26 season.
The 5 foot 8, 160 pound Cowan has been acquired by the Blind River Beavers from the Soo Thunderbirds in a Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League cash transaction.
Regular season and playoffs included for the Thunderbirds in ’24-25, Cowan skated in 48 games and produced five goals, 15 assists, 20 points. It was the first season of junior hockey for Cowan, a Sault Ste. Marie product who has a 2006 birth date.
Prior to playing in the NOJHL for the Thunderbirds, Cowan was a productive forward for the Soo Jr. Greyhounds of the Great North Under 18 Hockey League in ’23-24. Effectively utilized by U18 Jr. Hounds head coach Denny Lambert, Cowan skated in 26 games and had 12 goals, 17 assists, 29 points.
Cowan isn’t the only player with Sault Ste. Marie ties to seek the NOJHL in Blind River.
Earlier, as was first reported by Hockey News North, a trio of graduates from the AAA Soo Jr. Greyhounds program signed NOJHL cards with Blind River ahead of the ’25-26 season.
All three are forwards. They are Wyatt Jarratt, who has a 2009 birth date, Danny MacDonald, who was born in 2008, and Caleb Walker, who has a 2007 birth date.
The 6 foot 1, 175 pound Jarratt played for the Under 16 level Jr. Greyhounds of the Great North in ’24-25 and totalled 19 goals, 24 assists, 43 points in 39 games, regular season and playoffs included.
As for MacDonald and Walker, they both stated in the Great North for the Under 18 level Jr. Greyhounds in ’24-25.
The 5 foot 10, 155 pound MacDonald produced 13 goals, 21 assists, 34 points in 33 games for the U18 Jr. Greyhounds. He then played in three games in the NOJHL for Blind River as an affiliate and had a goal and an assist.
As for the 6 foot 1, 170 pound Walker, he clicked for 25 goals, 21 assists, 46 points in 37 games, regular season and playoffs included, for the U18 Jr. Greyhounds in ’24-25. He also was impressive in 12 NOJHL games with Blind River as an AP — five in the regular season and seven in the playoffs — and had three goals, four assists, seven points.