Focus on skill development
A hot topic throughout the hockey world is skill development. There is no question it is and should be the focus — along with loving the game — for our young players. …[read more]
Stretch run in the NOJHL
As the 2017-2018 regular season heads towards the finish line, there are a number of placings that are still to be determined in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. …[read more]
Hot dog Hounds have mustard
Can the Soo Greyhounds be beat come playoff time? Being that they are not perfect, then yes, they can and will be beat. But I don’t know if there is a team in the Ontario Hockey League that can beat the Soo four times in a seven-game series. …[read more]
Who, what, where in the N.O.
Some is good, some is bad, some is just plain okay. But most of what the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League is about is pretty good. …[read more]
Trappers up two on Timmins
If Timmins Majors are to extend their playoff season the upstart Great North Midget Hockey League team cannot lose their next game. …[read more]
Trappers topple Timmins
Regular-season champion North Bay Trappers have taken a 1-0 lead in their second-round, best-of-five, Great North Midget Hockey League playoff series with the Timmins Majors. …[read more]
Bring on the Sting
It looms as a showdown between two of the hottest teams in the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League as the Soo Greyhounds and Sarnia Sting face off tonight. …[read more]
Beware the Bulldogs
Separated from the powerhouse teams of the Western Conference that dominate the Ontario Hockey League, the Hamilton Bulldogs are marking their territory as beasts of the Eastern Conference. …[read more]
Soo penalty totals don’t lie
A shot at redemption via the playoffs after a sub-par regular season was not to be for the Soo Greyhounds of the Great North Midget Hockey League. …[read more]
Good scout v. ordinary scout
The ordinary scout who tracks the Great North Midget Hockey League is the one who shows up when all the others do and goes along with whatever the majority is saying about a certain player. …[read more]
Great North semi-final pairs
It will be the no. 1 seed North Bay Trappers v. the no. 5 seed Timmins Majors and the no. 2 seed Sudbury Nickel Capital Wolves v. the no. 3 seed Kapuskasing Flyers in the second round of the Great North Midget Hockey League playoffs. …[read more]
Soo’s coach selection process
As our minor hockey season in Sault Ste. Marie is getting closer to the end of the 2017-2018 campaign, I would like to thank those who have given so much of their time to help our kids and the game. There have been a lot of good, positive things done by so many volunteers — board members, trainers, assistant coaches, head coaches et al. …[read more]
Puckin’ around the NOJHL
As February inches towards the middle of the month let us visit and revisit a few rumours as they pertain to the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. …[read more]
Fighting Irish jersey auction
Detroit Fighting Irish of the United States Premier Hockey League is holding a cancer jersey auction, which continues until the end of February. …[read more]
Timmins ousts Soo midgets
Visiting Timmins Majors completed a two-game playoff sweep of the Soo Greyhounds on Saturday with a come-from-behind, 3-2 overtime triumph. …[read more]
Baber nets his first
Sault Ste. Marie product Camaryn Baber has his first Ontario Hockey League goal in his 10th game with the Saginaw Spirit. …[read more]
Eagles on a Rowe
Rookie forward Austin Rowe went on a scoring rampage on Friday as the Soo Eagles cuffed the visiting Soo Thunderbirds 7-1. …[read more]
Great North winners
Kapuskasing Flyers and Timmins Majors have drawn first blood in their respective first-round, best-of-three, Great North Midget Hockey League playoff sets. …[read more]
Great North playoffs begin
Separated by a single point during the 2017-2018 regular season, Soo Greyhounds and Timmins Majors are set to face off in a best-of-three, Great North Midget Hockey League playoff series. …[read more]
No talk today from Powassan
As the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League takes pride in its relationship with the Canadian Mental Health Association as a partner in the Talk Today program, the president of the reigning champion Powassan Voodoos has his own method of communication. …[read more]
Trader Mike refuels Rangers
He swooped down like a hawk at the Ontario Hockey League trade deadline and scooped up four players who have made a good Kitchener Rangers team even better. …[read more]
OHL extends Talk Today
As part of its ongoing commitment to mental health, the Ontario Hockey League is making Talk Today a specific, month-long focus. …[read more]
Great North playoff dates
Fourth-seed Soo Greyhounds and fifth-place Timmins Majors will face off in a first-round, best-of-three, Great North Midget Hockey League playoff series this weekend. …[read more]
Why not be a defenseman?
I am obviously being a little biased in this article as I spent pretty much all of my playing days on the back end, except for one year as a 14-year old. …[read more]
Spirit rises sooner than later
It is a team that I have been touting as an Ontario Hockey League contender-in-waiting since last summer. It is also a team that most pundits figured would miss the Ontario Hockey League playoffs for a second straight season in 2017-2018. …[read more]
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]