Trying for an OHL tryout
Landon Deforge is not what one would call a big kid, standing in at 5-foot-8 and tipping the scales at 155 pounds. Nonetheless, the skilled, smart, speedy skater played a big role for the Timmins Majors of the Great North Midget Hockey League during the 2019-2020 season.
To be sure, Deforge’s coach in Timmins, Brandon Perry, definitely deems the 2003 birth year forward to be worthy of an Ontario Hockey League tryout.
And to that end, Perry has reached out to a couple of OHL teams about a potential tryout for Deforge ahead of the 2020-2021 season.
“Teams are not sure when or if they will be hosting camps so they can’t give me a definitive answer,” Perry relayed to Hockey News North. “The teams that I talked to are interested (in Deforge) but they just can’t give me a solid answer until they know more (relative to the state of hockey as per the COVID-19 crisis.)”
In the meantime, Perry can’t say enough about Deforge.
“Landon was a horse for us this past season,” Perry said of Deforge. “He is a player who always puts the team’s best interests ahead of his own.”
While Deforge led Timmins in scoring with 13 goals, 27 assists, 40 points in 38 league games — the Majors finished fifth in the eight-member Great North with a record of 16-18-4 — those impressive numbers do not begin to tell the whole story, Perry told Hockey News North.
“Landon had a productive season but he played so many minutes in all situations for us that it may have taken away from his personal statistics,” Perry pointed out.
Besides having the skill, smarts and speed that he shows on the ice, Deforge is also a character kid and an exceptional high school student, Perry pointed out.
“He is an incredible young man, one of, if not the, best students we had on our team,” Perry noted. “On the ice, he plays with so much speed in his game and attacks the middle of the ice so well and creates a lot of space for his line-mates.
“I am very excited to see what he accomplishes in the future and it has been an absolute pleasure coaching him,” Perry added in further praise of Deforge.
“Landon definitely has the potential to play in the OHL or the Q (Quebec Major Jr. Hockey League),” summed up Perry.