Potential NOJHL expansion
It has gone from a seven-team league to a 12-member loop in the span of about 10 years. And there is ongoing board room discussion that could lead the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League to expand by two more teams within the near future. …[read more]
Soo boys have Spirit
Camaryn Baber will be joining fellow Sault Ste. Marie product Nicholas Porco in the lineup tonight when the visiting Saginaw Spirit takes on the Soo Greyhounds in an Ontario Hockey League matchup. …[read more]
Timmins has shot at fourth
Timmins Majors have three games to play in the 2017-2018 regular season — all on home ice — and need a single point to overtake the Soo Greyhounds for fourth place on the major midget side of the Great North Midget Hockey League. …[read more]
The importance of practice
The part of coaching that I really loved the most was practice. It is the time you can have the biggest impact on a team and the players individually. …[read more]
Good, bad, ugly in Powassan
I am going to take a different route in the case of the league suspension and subsequent team firing of a first-place coach who carries a good, clean reputation in the hockey world. …[read more]
Beavers net is solid
Newcomer Camden Burggrabe has restored a solid goal-tending tandem to the Blind River Beavers of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. …[read more]
NOJHL and Talk Today
Talk Today, the mental health initiative program designed to assist amateur sports teams and their players across Canada, originated in 2014 courtesy the Ontario sector of the Canadian Mental Health Association. And since 2015, the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League has been active as a partner with the initiative that is part of Bell Let’s Talk, a wide-reaching program designed to break the silence around mental illness and to support mental health all across Canada. …[read more]
Puck stops with Culina
Overage goalie Mario Culina continues to define “steal of a deal” for the Kitchener Rangers through six starts since being acquired from the Sudbury Wolves at the Ontario Hockey League trade deadline. …[read more]
Avery Rebek is top dog
Having become the first team in the major midget division of the Great North Midget Hockey League to complete the 36-game regular season schedule, the Soo Greyhounds now await the start of the playoffs, which are likely to begin on the second weekend of February. …[read more]
Soo midget teams clash
The major midget Soo Greyhounds needed overtime to eke out a 3-2 decision over the minor midget Soo Thunderbirds in Great North Midget Hockey League action from Wednesday. …[read more]
Praise for Nicholas Porco
Saginaw Spirit first rounder Nicholas Porco isn’t putting up big points as a 16-year old Ontario Hockey League rookie. But there is no reason for worry, according to Saginaw general manager Dave Drinkill. …[read more]
Super week for Mario
Overage puck-stopper Mario Culina of the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League has been named Canadian Hockey League goaltender of the week. …[read more]
NHL Central Scouting has Spirit
There is evidence to support the claim that the Saginaw Spirit is home to some of the best young talent in the Ontario Hockey League. …[read more]
EMU Eagles taking flight
It has been so far, so good in the early going of the 2018 portion of the season for the Eastern Michigan University Eagles of the Division 1, American Collegiate Hockey Association. …[read more]
Core values of our great game
EDITOR’S NOTE: This marks the second in what will be on ongoing series of columns written for Hockey News North by retired National Hockey League player and coach Craig Hartsburg. Hartsburg retired from the game in 2016 after an eventful 27-year coaching career that included 19 seasons in the NHL and successful stints in the Ontario Hockey League and Western Hockey League. As a player, Hartsburg had a world-class career as an all-star defenseman with both the Soo Greyhounds of the OHL and the erstwhile Minnesota North Stars of the NHL. He was captain of the Greyhounds for two of his three OHL seasons and was captain of the North Stars for seven of his 10 NHL seasons. …[read more]
30 goals for Nick Smith
The Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League has its first 30-goal scorer of the 2017-2018 campaign in the person of Soo Thunderbirds forward Nick Smith. …[read more]
Soo Eagles v. Soo T-Birds
The border battle that features the Soo Eagles and Soo Thunderbirds continues with the cross-river rivals facing off again tonight. …[read more]
Touring the Great North
The clock is ticking on the regular season watch of the Great North Midget Hockey League. The 2017-2018 regular season slate in both the major midget and minor midget divisions ends in early February. …[read more]
Beware the Battalion
Don’t look now but the North Bay Battalion is climbing up the ranks of the Eastern Conference of the Ontario Hockey League. …[read more]
Flashback: ’85-86 Wolves
The 1985-1986 edition of the Sudbury Wolves ended a string of five straight seasons of missing the Ontario Hockey League playoffs. …[read more]
Culina cool in the crease
Overage goalie Mario Culina has proven to be a bargain for the Kitchener Rangers in the three games since being acquired from the Sudbury Wolves at the Ontario Hockey League trade deadline. …[read more]
New identity for Soo hockey
EDITOR’S NOTE: This marks the debut column of retired National Hockey League player and coach Craig Hartsburg. Hartsburg retired from the game in 2016 after an eventful 27-year coaching career that included 19 seasons in the NHL and successful stints in the Ontario Hockey League and Western Hockey League. As a player, Hartsburg had a world-class career as an all-star defenseman with both the Soo Greyhounds of the OHL and the erstwhile Minnesota North Stars of the NHL. He was captain of the Greyhounds for two of his three OHL seasons and was captain of the North Stars for seven of his 10 NHL seasons. …[read more]
Hartsburg to write a column
Retired National Hockey League player and coach Craig Hartsburg has accepted an overture from Hockey News North to write a regular column relative to minor hockey development and putting more fun back in the game. …[read more]
Nice start for new guys in BR
So far, so good, even though it is a small sample. That is, Zach Senecal is off to a good start with the Blind River Beavers in his return to the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. …[read more]
Dallaire is a Major difference
Statistics do not lie. They may not always tell the whole story but they do not lie. Just take a look at the goal-tending stats for the Timmins Majors of the Great North Midget Hockey League. …[read more]
Majors close in on Hounds
Timmins Majors completed a two-game sweep of the Soo Greyhounds today to close the gap between fourth and fifth place within the major midget division of the Great North Midget Hockey League. …[read more]
OHL trade deadline aftermath
It was a trade show that featured a number of star attractions. In a two-week period that led to the January 10 trade deadline in the Ontario Hockey League, no less than 28 transactions involving 47 players and 87 draft picks were consummated. …[read more]
Silver Sticks in Sarnia
The Silver Sticks International Hockey Tournament is being played in Sarnia this week and the Atom Major Selects of the Soo Pee Wee Hockey League are one of the many teams in a number of divisions from across North America that are taking part. …[read more]
Wolves in full rebuild mode
Rob Papineau could have tried to repair the structure that he inherited a year ago by patching a few holes. Instead, the Sudbury Wolves vice president and general manager opted for a full rebuild. …[read more]
Flying high up in Kap
They are just waiting to be scouted. And to be sure, there are a number of jewels who are hidden off the highways in the hockey nooks of northeastern Ontario. …[read more]
Nice pick up for Flint
As he aims to position the Flint Firebirds for future success, general manager Barclay Branch closed the deal on a promising trade with the contending Hamilton Bulldogs today. …[read more]
Wolves pack adds young pup
Sudbury Wolves general manager Rob Papineau has continued a youth movement wheel and deal with a series of transactions that include a major addition. …[read more]
Blind River adds Zach Senecal
1998 birth year forward Zach Senecal is returning to the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League, this time with the Blind River Beavers. …[read more]
Kitchener gets Mario Culina
Sault Ste. Marie product Mario Culina has been acquired by the Kitchener Rangers from the Sudbury Wolves in an Ontario Hockey League trade that Hockey News North has confirmed. …[read more]
High rent district of the OHL
Rental prices have skyrocketed in the Ontario Hockey League, thanks in no small part to the Soo Greyhounds and Kingston Frontenacs, not to mention the Kitchener Rangers, Sarnia Sting and Hamilton Bulldogs. …[read more]
Soo gets Raddysh, Sambrook
Soo Greyhounds have finalized a long rumoured Ontario Hockey League trade with the Erie Otters by acquiring Team Canada right winger Taylor Raddysh. …[read more]
Also, from Silver Creek
As the group of youngsters (see previous story) enjoyed a game of outdoor shinny hockey at Silver Creek Golf Course recently, so too did a gathering of family members and friends. …[read more]
Outdoors at Silver Creek
About 20 or so youngsters from the Sault Ste. Marie area spanning various divisions from local minor hockey circles took to the outdoor ice at Silver Creek Golf Course recently for a couple of hours of outdoor shinny. …[read more]
New goalie in Blind River
Former Soo Eagles goalie Camden Burggrabe is returning to the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League, this time with the Blind River Beavers. …[read more]
Soo Eagles add Casey, Rowe
Already averaging more than four goals per game, Soo Eagles of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League have further strengthened their forward unit. …[read more]
Minor midgets of the north
There are, without much question, a good number of minor-midget aged youngsters who are high performance players within the Great North Midget Hockey League this 2017-2018 season. …[read more]
Brousseau plays Major role
He was a rookie forward for the lowly Timmins Majors, who won only two of 36 regular season games in 2016-2017. But as the Majors have made major strides in the Great North Midget Hockey League in 2017-2018, so too has 2001 birth year forward Riley Brousseau. …[read more]
Shuffle in the Beavers net
Reigning West Division playoff champion Blind River Beavers have shuffled their net worth with the 2018 portion of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League season set to get underway. …[read more]
Write on about the OHL
It can be a high-stakes, high-risk league for players, coaches, owners et al. And there are many within it who make writing about the Ontario Hockey League a positive rite of passage. Some of whom — just to name a few — appear below. …[read more]
How I became an old writer
This wasn’t part of the plan that mom envisioned for her only boy. No way that mom wanted me to be a sportswriter, of all things. …[read more]
Swirling OHL trade winds
As rumours are rampant that the Erie Otters will move Team Canada right winger Taylor Raddysh before the January 10 trade deadline, the Hamilton Bulldogs have added yet another veteran player as they make a run at the Ontario Hockey League championship. …[read more]
Write on about the NOJHL
There is so much good that can be written about the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. And here are just a few examples from among the many folks who make following the NOJHL worth while. …[read more]
Soo T-Birds to BR Beavers
The top two teams in the West Division of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League have finalized a trade, HockeyNewsNorth.com has confirmed. …[read more]
Flyers have a Kap on third
A record of 16-9-3 through 28 games has the Kapuskasing Flyers sitting in a comfortable third spot on the major midget side of the Great North Midget Hockey League. …[read more]