Back on the Express line
The train is starting to chug along the Express tracks in the Spanish River town of Espanola.
Espanola Express president and general manager Jason Rapcewicz has confirmed to Hockey News North the commitments of two seasoned skaters with northern Ontario roots for the 2020-2021 season.
The Express had a turnaround term in 2019-2020 and made the playoffs in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League for the first time since the 2015-2016 campaign.
…[read more]Beware the Beavers
They are the junior hockey epitome of small market success. Playing out of a venerable Highway 17 town with a population base of about 3,500, Blind River Beavers have put together four straight winning seasons in establishing the franchise as one of the best in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
…[read more]T-Birds to look at local goalie
Once they are cleared to hold their summer ice camp — dependent on restrictions being lifted relative to the COVID-19 pandemic — Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League plan to take a look at local goalie Zach Prusky.
The 5-foot-10, 165-pound Prusky, who has a 2003 birth date, spent the 2019-2020 season as a rookie with the New Liskeard Cubs of the Great North Midget Hockey League.
Impressively, in true workhorse fashion, Prusky played the most minutes — 1,741 — of any goalie in the Great North loop in 2019-2020.
…[read more]Birds of the Soo nest
There is a lot that can happen between now and the start of the 2020-2021 junior hockey season relative to player personnel.
And just as much can change between the beginning of the season and the end of it.
But as it currently stands, Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League have no less than nine local kids who could be a part of the team when the first puck drops on the 2020-2021 campaign.
…[read more]T-Birds take in two locals
It is a bonus when a junior hockey team can sign a local player.
It is a double bonus when the team can add two locals at once.
Two of the top four scorers from the Soo Jr. Greyhounds of the Great North Midget Hockey League will stay at home to suit up for the Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League come the 2020-2021 season.
…[read more]RBC gives $10K to NOFCC
Rayside Balfour Canadians of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League have scored big for the Northern Ontario Families of Children with Cancer group.
…[read more]T-Birds will be set to go
There is mindful optimism — even if it is from reading between the lines — that there will be a 2020-2021 junior hockey season.
And Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League will be a nice mix of old and new once teams are able to stick handle around the COVID-19 obstacle.
Incoming head coach Denny Lambert and his bench staff will be looking to work from the inside and outside as the Thunderbirds move on from a 2019-2020 season in which they finished in third place in the West Division with a record of 30-19-7.
…[read more]Kingston trio makes music
A troika of forwards stands tall in the talent pool that is poised to help elevate the Kingston Frontenacs into future Ontario Hockey League contention.
Center Shane Wright and wingers Zayde Wisdom and Martin Chromiak are first line pieces of the puzzle that have Kingston ticketed for emergence within the Eastern Conference come the next OHL season.
All three were major points producers with the Frontenacs during the 2019-2020 season — and they all have time on their side in the form of remaining OHL eligibility.
…[read more]Hounds have 50-50 shot
Soo Greyhounds have a better chance of being in the 2021 Memorial Cup tournament than they do of winning next spring’s Ontario Hockey League championship. To be sure, the Greyhounds have to beat out only one team — the Oshawa Generals — to gain automatic entry into the 2021 national championship event.
…[read more]Schlueting to Saginaw
Saginaw Spirit general manager Dave Drinkill has started the Ontario Hockey League trade season with a bargain pickup.
Drinkill has obtained 2002 birth year defenseman Pacey Schlueting from the North Bay Battalion for a fourth round draft pick in 2024 and a 12th round pick in 2023.
The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Schlueting was a first round pick of the Battalion, ninth overall, at the 2018 OHL priority selections draft from his hometown North Bay Trappers of the Great North Midget Hockey League.
…[read more]Dressed for the Knights
He has the hat. He has the t-shirt.
Next, it is the jersey of the London Knights that Mason Chitaroni wants to wear.
That’s because Chitaroni is a plum prospect of the Knights, who took the 5-foot-10, 150-pound defender in the fifth round, 99th overall, at this year’s Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft from the Soo Jr. Greyhounds of the Great North Midget Hockey League.
“I want to show London that they made the right choice in drafting me,” the 15-year old youngster relayed to Hockey News North.
…[read more]Top 12 OHL rookies are …
Ontario Hockey League has confirmed its first and second team all-rookie selections from the 2019-2020 season. General managers from the 20 OHL teams conducted the voting process.
…[read more]Two teams on the upswing
When a team has been at the bottom of the standings, it figures that there is no place to go but up.
Two years ago, the 2018-2019 season, it was the Kingston Frontenacs who finished in last place in the 20-team Ontario Hockey League. And this past season, the 2019-2020 campaign, it was the North Bay Battalion which had the dubious distinction of having the worst record in the OHL.
…[read more]Bulls call on Bronson
Dunaújvárosi Acélbikák Steel Bulls have put in a call from Central Hungary to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario to ask veteran defenseman Bronson Kovacs to play another season of professional hockey in Erste Liga.
And the 29-year old Kovacs — he will turn 30 in July — told Hockey News North that he has made a verbal agreement to return to the Steel Bulls for the 2020-2021 hockey season. The 2020-2021 campaign will mark the sixth season of pro hockey in Hungary for Kovacs.
…[read more]NOJHL and the HCR
Barring any late change or modification, the Hockey Canada Registry will open as usual on June 1 to the 130 or so teams that are a part of the Canadian Jr. Hockey League. CJHL membership includes the 11 teams of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey.
…[read more]Great North to NOJHL
Several skaters from the top team in the Great North Midget Hockey League from 2019-2020 are poised to progress to the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League in 2020-2021.
Forwards Michael Chaffay, Dylan Forsyth, Devin Mauro and Ty Zachary and defenseman Mateo Perri are among the stalwarts from the Great North’s Soo Jr. Greyhounds who may be headed to the NOJHL once the 2020-2021 season gets going.
…[read more]Lambert to lead T-Birds
This is a multiple coaching hire of well known local hockey people.
Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League will have a new look coaching staff for the 2020-2021 season, Hockey News North has confirmed. And leading the way as the new bench boss of the T-Birds is a man who played the game at its highest level.
…[read more]Guarding the Greyhound net
A pressing question relative to the Soo Greyhounds ahead of the 2020-2021 Ontario Hockey League season correlates with the most paramount position of all.
Who will be the goalies for a Greyhound team that sees itself as a contender to the extent that it is bidding to play host to the 2021 Memorial Cup tournament and be a participant?
…[read more]Ryan Dugas has the numbers
On a Kingston Frontenacs team that posted the worst overall record in the Ontario Hockey League over the past two seasons, it was their youngest goalie who had the best numbers of any puck stopper. By far.
…[read more]Famine of the Frontenacs
General manager Darren Keily has a distant goal of bringing a long-awaited Ontario Hockey League championship to Kingston. So too does head coach Paul McFarland. But that may be much easier said than done considering the Kingston Frontenacs have never — ever — won an OHL title.
…[read more]Top dog in the Hound pound
Soo Greyhounds have confirmed the signing of their first round pick from the 2020 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft.
…[read more]More of the future in Flint
Fresh from their finest season in a franchise history that began in 2015, Flint Firebirds have added fuel to the future with the signing of two more players from the 2020 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft.
…[read more]Toots Kovacs to Sault College
It is another level of the game for Zoltan (Toots) Kovacs. A fixture within the local hockey community for decades, the 60-year old Kovacs has enrolled with the Sault College Cougars men’s team as an assistant to head coach Mike Hall.
…[read more]OHL scouts put in the time
It can be a time consuming job as a nightly gig that also includes morning and afternoon assignments on the weekend. But passion and perseverance lies within the pores of the average Ontario Hockey League scout.
…[read more]Chitaroni has a flip side
It is destination unknown for Mason Chitaroni relative to the 2020-2021 hockey season. That is, the 15-year old defenseman with the world-class speed — he does not turn 16 until October 2 — could be playing in the Ontario Hockey League, the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League, or for any one of four teams in the Greater Ontario Jr. Hockey League when the 2020-2021 campaign gets going.
…[read more]NOJHL is still a plus 11
One way of looking at it is, with the Elliot Lake Wildcats announcing a leave of absence for next season, the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League is down one team.
…[read more]Porco in the Nick of time
As dictated by the COVID-19 crisis, time is standing still in the hockey world. Still, as for time away from the hockey rink, Sault Ste. Marie product Nick Porco is putting it to good use.
…[read more]Coaching rerun in Kingston
It took the Kingston Frontenacs less than two weeks to fill their vacant head coach position. And it will be a familiar face manning the bench in Kingston when the next Ontario Hockey League season begins.
…[read more]Serre to skate for Laurentian
The Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League’s most valuable player has confirmed his commitment to play for the Laurentian Voyageurs of Ontario University Athletics come next season.
…[read more]Sting operation nets another
Sarnia Sting of the Ontario Hockey League has snagged a second American skater away from the Michigan State Spartans of the Division 1, National Collegiate Athletic Association.
…[read more]Northern lights of the OHL
It has been said that hockey players from northern Ontario are, on average, overlooked when compared to those from the Greater Toronto Area and the southwestern and eastern parts of the province.
…[read more]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.
…[read more]Mason has Knight vision
He is working out on his own, in the family basement and in the garage. He jogs alone through his neighbourhood — and thinks of the season ahead. A 2020 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft pick of the London Knights, Mason Chitaroni has a vision of where he wants to be when training camp opens.
…[read more]Nipissing knows the NOJHL
Nipissing Lakers of Ontario University Athletics have recruited two more high end skaters from the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League to the North Bay school.
…[read more]Seca to manage the Sting
An educator with a long-time link to the Ontario Hockey League, Dylan Seca has been promoted to general manager of the Sarnia Sting.
…[read more]Frontenacs fire Foster
Kingston Frontenacs general manager Darren Keily has made head coach Kurtis Foster the fall guy for the failures of the Ontario Hockey League team over the past two seasons.
…[read more]Firebirds click top pick
Flint Firebirds of the Ontario Hockey League have confirmed the commitment of 2020 first round draft pick Gavin Hayes.
…[read more]Sarnia takes it to the Max
The third overall pick at the 2020 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft has opted for the Sarnia Sting over the Michigan State Spartans of the Division 1, National Collegiate Athletic Association.
…[read more]Toms training for next term
Plum, home grown prospect Connor Toms is running the local hub trails and working out in the basement gym of his family’s Sault Ste. Marie home as he preps for the next hockey season.
…[read more]Good times, good Knights
Sustained success of 18 successive winning seasons under the current ownership and operation of brothers Dale Hunter and Mark Hunter is the latest chapter of a good London Knights history.
…[read more]Jack Matier, social distancing
Social distancing and bans on group activity relative to the coronavirus pandemic has had an obvious effect on hockey players and teams.
…[read more]Self isolating, hockey writing
Many around the globe have left their office work stations to set up shop at home as a health precaution against the COVID-19 pandemic. But I was already ahead of the game as someone who has been working and writing from home for a number of years now.
…[read more]Rolling dice on NCAA recruits
Teams in the Ontario Hockey League have not been shy to use early to mid round draft picks on players who have already made verbal commitments to Division 1, National Collegiate Athletic Association schools.
…[read more]New gig for Michael Kantor
Hard-driven Michael Kantor, who played in more than 200 Ontario Hockey League games for Saginaw Spirit, Soo Greyhounds and Sudbury Wolves despite never being drafted, is turning to the business side of the game.
…[read more]Sault Major coaches
Head coaches have been selected for seven rep teams that will compete on behalf of the Sault Major Hockey Association for the 2020-2021 season, Hockey News North has confirmed.
…[read more]Nickel Caps ‘D’ gets OHL nod
Defenseman Teegan Dumont from the Sudbury Nickel Capital Wolves of the Great North Midget Hockey League has been invited to the Ontario Hockey League training camp of the London Knights, Hockey News North has confirmed.
…[read more]Hearst to Plattsburgh
Forward Spencer Silver of the Hearst Lumberjacks of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League is headed to the National Collegiate Athletic Association ranks.
…[read more]Very good, Ryan Vendramin
Simply stated, Ryan Vendramin of the Sault College Cougars had an American Collegiate Hockey Association season like no other in 2019-2020.
…[read more]OHL follower since 1972
I was still in school when the Soo Greyhounds and Sudbury Wolves departed the Northern Ontario Hockey Association to join the Ontario Hockey Association — now known as the Ontario Hockey League — back in 1972.
…[read more]