Frontenacs now a formidable force
Already the top team in the Eastern Conference — and one of the more-balanced squads in the Ontario Hockey League — the Kingston Frontenacs have become a formidable force with the recent addition of left winger Michael Dal Colle.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Dal Colle, a first-round National Hockey League draft pick of the New York Islanders, was acquired from the reigning OHL and Memorial Cup champion Oshawa Generals on New Year’s Day for rookie forward Robbie Burt and four high draft picks.
Dal Colle, who scored 42 goals for Oshawa in 2014-2015, made an immediate impact in his Kingston debut a few hours after joining the Frontenacs on New Year’s Day. The 19-year old port-sider scored twice and was named the game’s first star in a 5-3 win over the Peterborough Petes.
A skilled, veteran-laden team that includes three players from this year’s World Junior Hockey Championships — forwards Lawson Crouse and Juho Lammikko and defenseman Roland McKeown — Kingston has certainly enhanced its championship-contender status with the addition of Dal Colle.
Besides the aforementioned stars, Kingston also boasts leading point-getter Spencer Watson, rookie goal-scoring sensation Jason Robertson, high-end defensemen Stephen Desrocher and Chad Duchesne and the top-flight goaltending duo of Lucas Peressini and Jeremy Helvig.
And for good measure, the Frontenacs feature grit-and-grind forwards that include Cody Caron and Zack Dorval, who both have a connection to Sault Ste. Marie.
The 19-year old Caron is a Sault Ste. Marie product while the 17-year Dorval, who hails from the northeastern Ontario town of Hearst, played his minor-midget season in the Soo before being drafted by Kingston in the second round in 2014.
Another Soo connection to Kingston is highly-regarded Frontenacs assistant coach John Goodwin, who won the OHL scoring championship in 1980-1981 as a star centre for the Greyhounds.
PHOTO: Newly-acquired forward Michael Dal Colle had an impressive debut for the Kingston Frontenacs with two goals in a 5-3 win over the Peterborough Petes. (Photo by Billy Kimmerly.)