Notes and quotes from the early going of the 09-10 Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League season:
…Was in Blind River on Wednesday night and interviewed three rookies from the U.S.A. for what will be an upcoming story in The Elliot Lake Standard. Goalie Chandler Long from Cleveland, Ohio and forward Austin Bailey and defenceman Grant Paulson, who are both from Minnesota, all said they are very impressed with the calibre of play in the NOJHL and the level of coaching that they are getting from veteran headmaster Jim Capy and his staff. By the way, despite being an American from Cleveland, Long said his favourite National Hockey League team is the Montreal Canadiens. Long also admitted that before this season he had “never heard of Blind River. But I love it here. My landlady (Robin Nyman) is awesome and so are the fans. Everywhere we go aound town people are talking about the Beavers.”
…While in Blind River, I also met young Denis Labbee, who was hired over the summer by the Beavers board of directors to be the team’s assistant general manager. Born and raised in Blind River, the 21-year old Labbee is a graduate of the Sports Management World Wide program that is based in Portland, Oregon.
…Three games into the season and Soo Thunderbirds head coach Patrick Carricato is questioning the character of his team. The Thunderbirds have a 1-2 record and blew a 5-0 lead on home ice in dropping a 6-5 decision to the crossriver Soo Eagles on Wednesday night. “For the second game in a row we needed leadership and didn’t have any,” Carricato told Sun Media after what he called “an embarrassing” loss to the Eagles. After opening the regular season with a 4-2 win at Temiscaming, the defending champion Thunderbirds then lost 5-1 in North Bay before falling to the Michigan Soo.
…A couple of rookies from Sterling Heights, Mich. sparked the Eagles to their 6-5 upset of the Thunderbirds. Goalie John Kleinhans came on in relief to stop 32 of 33 shots and forward Kevin Michelcavage potted two third-period goals to spark the Eagle comeback.
…Not surprisingly, the Abitibi Eskimos are off to a 2-0 start and not surprisingly, high-end veteran forwards Josh Clancy and Marc-Alain Begin have 5 points apiece.
…It’s been pointed out to me by a member of their scouting staff that last season the North Bay Skyhawks (now Trappers) were winless in the pre-season before going on to finish first overall in the NOJHL. North Bay was again winless in the pre-season this year but have started off the regular campaign with a 2-1 record.
…After beginning with a 7-1 loss on home ice to Blind River, the Manitoulin Islanders then gained a point on the road from a tough 4-3 overtime loss to the Beavers. And Blind River coach Jim Capy was impressed with the Islanders in the 4-3 game. “In all honesty, Manitoulin probably deserved the win more than we did,” Capy said bluntly. “If they stick to working hard and stay away from the bulls–t that gets them into penalty trouble, they’re going to win some games.”
…Never too soon for NOJHLers who are seriously looking to move on to the next level of hockey to check out Dawstar Video Scouting Services – www.dawstar.com. Chris Dawson of Dawstar has already helped more than one player advance to a higher level of hockey with a state-of-the-art video profile.
There you are Eagle fans
The Bay will visit you soon , get your hate on and ready
Not to get involved in this pointless argument.
but eagles fans Im not say Watchorn is not tuff, but he has been around a while between the NOJHL and NAHL and in the years I have seen him, he has been in 1 fight and got tunded as a rookie to Mckrank…now Mckrank could have been the heaveyweight of the league “mabey all time”. but when i see him he dose a lot of chirrping, mabey when the trappers play he might acctully fight.
Wondering if the 3,693 at the Lakers game is a sign of things to come or will it settle down to something less. Skyhawks never got close to that in their time at MG.
I just got done looking at the live scoreboard on the NOJHL website. What happened to the Islanders this weekend? Did they just have a huge letdown or what? What were the games between the Eagles and the TBirds like?
Alright AE and Steveo, For one your both not far from stupid, the fightin rule got changed for a reason, and no one looks for fights anymore besides mclean, and steveo you talk about wastes of time to fight? who the right mind would waste there time to slow down, back skate a little bit and fight him? maybe they would if there was a 5 minute fighting penalty but there is no room in the game for that anymore… and also you say watchhorn is a waste of time to fight.?? ok, you obviously have something stuck up your A$$, because watchhorn was in this league as a 16 yr. old and did his fair share up tilting, as for you NORTH BAY HOCKEY…. no watchhorn never faught mckrank. but he did bag humell from last year which is on YOU tube….when he was 16 he fought sudburys tough guy brodie “hamburger” wilson, and had about 5 other tilts, Steveo also said something about a waste of time to fight him? yeah i guess if a kid has 2 points per game he probably shouldnt fight rightttttttt????
get a grip….or off the blog… one of the two
armand, i was SO wrong. i missed by 1200 for the first game, even allowing for the students, so i doubt it will drop by too much…i’d expected 2000 average, so i’ll correct myself and say it slows to an even 3000 after a few games. i bet Guy’s wishing he could have a few hundred of those back, but it’ll never happen, even if fummerton comes back(will he have a ‘for sale’ sticker on his back?) as for who’s the tougher fighter in this league, we will never know now; unless someone puts on one of those exhibitions; becasue no coach will allow his players to take those suspensions. hey, what are the fighting rules in the outlaw league? might be fun to catch a game….hmmmm
Speaking of being 16 NHL Playoffs, im pretty sure Connolly of the soo thunderbirds took a chunk out of the big bad Jake Watchorn lastyear as a rookie aswell
bubba – there is a strong marketing effort going on for the Lakers to maintain their numbers and I expect them to be strong but the club is stuck with a short schedule and gaps in home games. I liked the no touch icing and all concession items for a buck.
I was at a wedding in South River Saturday night so i missed the game but i heard the crowd was huge. Where there any tickets that were givin away ? or all Paid$$$$$? How was the hockey? was it that much better than the Nojo? or was it better at all ?
I heard north bay got a new guy will be here wednesday danny zawacki suppose to be a top end player with attitude.
North Bay remains in the 13th slot for teh CJAHL top 15. Eskimos enter the picture as an honourable mention.
The CJHL Weekly Top 15 as of Monday, September 21st
1. (1) Vernon Vipers (BCHL)
2. (4) Spruce Grove Saints (AJHL)
3. (2) Humboldt Broncos (SJHL)
4. (9) Pembroke Lumber Kings (CJHL)
5. (HM) Penticton Vees (BCHL)
6. (7) Salmon Arm Silverbacks (BCHL)
7. (HM) Dauphin Kings (MJHL)
8. (10) Brooks Bandits (AJHL)
9. (3) Grande Prairie Storm (AJHL)
10. (8) Kingston Voyageurs (OJAHL)
11. (NR) Burlington Cougars (CCHL)
12. (12) Truro Bearcats (MJAHL)
13. (13) North Bay Trappers (NOJHL)
14. (14) Fort William North Stars (SIJHL)
15. (NR) Les Pantheres de Saint-Jerome (LHJAAA)
Honorable mention goes to the Sherwood Park Crusaders (AJHL), Weyburn Red Wings (SJHL), Winnipeg South Blues (MJHL), Abitibi Eskimos (NOHL), Villanova Knights (OJAHL), Markham Waxers (CCHL), and the Newmarket Hurricanes (CCHL)
The OJ has the same amount of teams in the top 15 as the Nojo, well what do ya know!
From a Yank scout looking at the rankings I have to say the CJHL rankings always look political and as if whoever doing them hasn;t seen half the teams play. Pembroke is good, but Nepean, Cornwall and Brockville look better this year. Kingston is better than all of the above. Don’t know enough about the BCHL, SIJHL and AJHl at this stage of the season to have formulated opinions yet. As a scout of junior hockey, I think I am pretty accurate on CJ an the newly split OJ. Trying to get up to speed on the NOJHL but what I have seen so far tells me that Abitibi and T-birds should crack the rankings and not sure why NBay is in it right now.
Ned the OJ is also the CChl , so Burlington is up there as well
Scout09…
The rankings really mean squat. I am not sure of what you have seen of the NOJHL, but why would the T-Birds crack the rankings over the Trappers. The Birds have a .500 winning % and lost badly to the Trappers and the Trappers are .800.
Abitibi received an H.M. and maybe should have been in there as well but god-forbid 2 teams from our piddly league be there when they can put 3 from each of BC and AB.
You summed it up prefectly… politics. Most of us have just learned to ignore these ‘baseless’ rankings.
The T-Birds should get there. They have the firepower or at least they are out shooting their opponents for the most part. So do they need to tweak something or just address the character issue the coach speaks of in regards to the players. If they need to tweak what should that be. So is the offense supporting the defense, is the defense breaking down???? They sure are leting in a lot of goals in at certain periods of the games. So maybe they aren’t skating the whole 60 minutes. Hope to see the next border battle.
I don’t think the rankings are “baseless” at all, they tell you right on the page what they are based on. At this point in the year you have no choise to but to go based on last year’s performances and some assumptions. If anything, maybe they shouldn’t start until November but to say they are “baseless” would be wrong. Statistically the teams that are mentioned perform well thoughout the year and are normally the ones meeting in league finals or semi finals. just like any league they have upset but hey, that’s sport.
I for one am happy to see the Soo not there. you simply can’t start throwing in a team with a 500 win % . There is about 60 teams across the country with that win percentage. Yes they have fire power but a good defence wins hockey games. on paper i might argue they have the best or 2nd best D in the league (them or the Wolves) but they certainly haven’t showed that, in 4 games the’ve allowed 18 goals, if my math is correct thats 4.5 goals against a game. to make matters worse, they scored even less. sliding teams in the top 15 or honourable mentions with records like that would provide fuel for unsubstantiated statements like Alan’s.
Well put Dudley, the proof is in the performance. Should be a good test this weekend as the Beavers land in the Rhodes this Friday at 7:30 and round two of the Border Battle resumes Sat, 7 pm at the Pullar. Looking forward to both games, not to mention those great Pullar Burgers and $2 bubblies. Game preview on the Beavers is up on our site at http://www.tbirdhockey.ca/news09_21_09.html
I think the birds, especially the vets, are just feeling the pressure that’s on them as league winners and hosts of the Dudley. They just need to relax and take it one game at a time and they’ll be fine. Are they going to win every game? of course not but I think they’ll improve with each game. Looks like it’s going to be more competitve in both divisions this year – just makes every team better when the competition is tougher. Nothing more boring than watching game after game where you can predict the winner and the score even before it even starts.
As to the tbirds being in the rankings, they don’t deserve it right now. Would like to see them there at some point though.
DeeJay
the fighting rule in the outlaw league is the same 1 fight and your out.
found a little article about the new guy north bay got.
apparently Marcel Audet is the GM according to the blog by the coach.
By Coach Cully
Bison forward Danny Zawacki will be heading north of the border. Zawacki has been called up to play for the North Bay Trappers of the NOJHL a tier 1 Jr A level team in northern Ontario. ” This is a huge oportunity for Danny, his work ethic is second to none, he is a great kid and he can play the game. I feel confident that Danny will fit in fine up there and he will possibly be at the Major junior level next season.”. North Bay GM Marcel Audet says ” we were looking for a top line forward and Daniel is the player we think can fill that role for us.” Danny will be joining another player who began the season with the Bison forward and Colorado native Brendan Galley plays for the Trappers and has had success at the higher level. ” This is a great chance for both players to continue playing hockey and chasing their dream of playing in the NHL. I wish both Danny and Brendan the best of luck.
Deejay , Outlaw mirrors NCAA rule book.
A small snippet about our league and promoting it. I checked our web hits this morning and they almost doubled, when I tracked them, a lot of traffic is coming the two new web sites that have replaced the former OJHL site, they are http://ojahl.pointstreaksites.com/view/ojahl and http://thecchl.com/view/cchl the other league the SIJHL http://sijhl.pointstreaksites.com/view/sijhl also has the Dudley Hewitt logo up on the front page, linked to our site. The new webmaster for the OHA, Scott Stevens was extremely helpful making sure this happened almost instantly. We, the TBirds appreciate things like that. For the record, the TBirds are 3/5 and have scored 27 goals and have 20 GA, (thats still not very good)
Thanks for the heads up motts, im not that familliar with the league in southern ontario.
I believe the eskis will be climbing the ranks very soon, The T Birds will be there before the seasons end as well unless things continue to unravel in the next couple weeks but i dont think its likely. As for the Traps…. well! i dont think anybody thought theyd be 4 and 1 at this point….. maybe with a more balanced league we will get better rankings than in the past . Can anybody recall the last time weve had 2 in the top 15?
FYI,
The SEPT 22 edition of THE HOCKEY NORTH SHOW on SPORTZEUS.COM is now available for listening. Go to Archived Events, click Select, then go to Archived Content and click the button. This edition of the HNS includes guest appearances by general manager Dave Guisbert and director of player development Charly Murray of the Soo Eagles.
Regards,
RR
TBird fans (and non fans) the Carmen Provenzano Cup will be presented to the TBirds this Friday when they face those pesky Beavers. Also I’ve added a new media section to the TBird site, go to http://www.tbirdhockey.ca/eagleshow/index.html and check out some nice game shots from our great photographer Jim Egan
Hi RR: I just finished listning to your Hockey North Show and found it to be very intresting! Good interviews with Dave & Charley and lots of good banter between you and Coach Kane! Any chance of you guys doing the Show over on the Michigan side once in a while?? I am sure many of the Eagle fan’s would like that and you have many fans to your Show and your writeups over here RR!
The “Bomb Shelter” would be the perfect spot for the RR Show!
Since I’ve a penchant for making a fool of myself in public, I’m daring these predictions knowing the risks and repercussions. I fully expect to be corrected by many of you, especially those who support the losing teams. By all means, polish your crystal balls and let’s see who’s got the better orbs!
Wed Sep 23 – Regular Season
Temiscaming Royals 4
Sudbury Junior Wolves 5
*Wolves are due. Royals’ tender was so-so vs Eskis last weekend.
Fri Sep 25 – Regular Season
Temiscaming Royals 6
Manitoulin Islanders 3
This might be a tighter game than one would suspect, if MAN can hold it together for 3 periods. Still, nod to the Royals.
Fri Sep 25 – Regular Season
Sudbury Junior Wolves 4
North Bay Trappers 5
Haven’t seen the Trap play yet, and SUD only once. In spite of the team having completely different face, let alone uniform and name, giving the edge the NB. SUD is dangerous but missing some essential element at this time.
Fri Sep 25 – Regular Season
Blind River Beavers 4
Soo Thunderbirds 6
Irresistable force meets irresistable force. Hmmmm……
Sat Sep 26 – Regular Season
Abitibi Eskimos 6
Manitoulin Islanders 3
With all due respect to the Isles, I’m predicting a score flattering the home team. SHort of the Eskis not showing up, or somehow where MAN pounds the visitors AND puts the puck in the net, Isles will be in tough.
Sat Sep 26 – Regular Season
Soo Thunderbirds 4
Soo Eagles 5
2nd game in as many nights for the Tbirds vs a fresh Eagles team with the taste of bird-blood on their lips. Suspect a repeat of the last matchup, but think that it won’t be a come-from-behind win for the Eagles.
Sun Sep 27 – Regular Season
Abitibi Eskimos 4
Blind River Beavers 3
2nd game in less that 24 hrs for the ‘mos , while the Beav will have had a day’s rest. Still, call it flagrant favoritism, Eskis being the team with more vets and experience and not lacking talent, this one will be 2 points for the visitors.
Sun Sep 27 – Regular Season
Temiscaming Royals 3
North Bay Trappers 5
Empty netter for the Traps to take this one at home. NB always tough on its home rink. Royals are a very good team, with lots of talent there. If their goaltending steps it up, the result could be different. if Fullerton comes back to suit up with his old squad, score may be tilted more in favor of the Trap.
NBH, Bayer, Motz…
Any further word on Fummerton or Zawacki? I saw a few vids of Danny on YouTube and he looks like he’d rather skate over/thru a guy than around him (mind you I don’t know the skill level of his opposition – think it was Midget AAA in the States).
Hey everyone i was looking around the other jr.a/ jr. b leagues and though i would give a scouting report of some of the sault boys and how they are doing:
gp g a p pim team
Jarrett Burton 5-1-1-2-2 -Kingston vees jr.a
Adam Pymakki 3-1-0-1-2 -Kingston vees jr.a
Jacob Chiblow 1-0-0-0-0 – Kingston vees jr.a
Greg Sartoretto 5-3-3-6-0 – Cumberland Grads jr. a
Zack Larue 7-5-4-9-10 – Markham Waxers jr. a
Garrett Nystedt 1-1-2-3-0 – Dryden Ice Dogs jr. a
Tyler Hawdon 5-0-2-2-13 – OCN Blizzard jr. a
Anthony Colizza 5-4-7-11-6 – Cambridge Winterhawks jr.b
Tyler Luikkonen 5-2-4-6-2 – Cambridge Winterhawks jr.b
Matt Amadio 5-2-2-4-4 – Cambridge Winterhawks jr.b
Tanner Rutland 4-0-0-0-4 – Cambridge Winterhawks jr.b
Nathan Ambleson 4-1-5-6-9- Cambridge Winterhawks jr.b
Mike Rivard 5-4-1-5-14 – Chatham Maroons jr.b
Brad Pascall 3-2-1-3-2 – Chatham Maroons jr.b
Patrick Watling 4-0-0-0-2 – Chatham Maroons jr. b
Temiscaming comes back to tie it in the 3rd then win in OT over Sudbury.
Sudz simply out coach in the last 5 min of this one big time
I know it’s early in the season .but Big , come from behind win for the Royals. I think the Royals and the Jr Wolves will be fighting a see-saw battle all season for 3rd and 4th spots……….would rather say 2nd and 3rd but got the feeling that Trappers will sew up 2nd with the beavers Claiming 1st
Errrrrrrrrr Meant Eskimos not Beavers
Hey
Great job on the the web site Birdwatch and Mr Eagan nice photos
I heard Belanger was a healthy scratch tonight for the wolves whats up with that?
Sudbury had their chances to put this game away alot tonight some bounces that just wouldnt go in the net one sitting on the goal line and a some big saves by the Royals goalie Jim Murray.
ive said it before and ill say it again if Kangas played to his full potential and hard every shift and played with a little bit of heart he would dominate this whole league and lead in points probably about 20 more then anyone else easy, very talented kid, almost had the trick tonight but was robbed by the royals tender.
The Royals couldnt get much going on the first 2 periods came on a bit harder in the 3rd and battled real hard in the last couple mins of the game to tie it up.
You’re wrong on this one Bayer , re; Kangas.
If he did what you said..,, He wouldn’t be playing in this league and would have heard his name called in late rounds of a draft 2 years ago.
Kangas no doubt should be the most dominant player in the league, actually he is but he should also be the scoring champ. and it’s not like he doesn’t have anyone to play with. The effort ain’t there but hey, if he doesn’t want to play major Jr or he doesn’t want to put in that much effort, well that’s up to him. Still nice to watch, for the most part it’s too late for anything now in the way of a career in hockey and if he doesn’t look at it 5 years from now with any regrets, great….. It’d just be sad a few years down the road if he was sitting wondering what the heck he was thinking. Hockey is not everything for everyone and i thnk we all know people who had the talent and wish they could go back and do those years differently, but i also havea couple of buddies who had the talent, never pushed themselves but still have no regrets, playing the game for a career wasn’t what they wanted and they still wouldn’t change a thing.
Well it looks like prediction of Sudbury edging out the Eskis to win the East isn’t looking so great. We all know why, but what a shame. I’m glad i’m not a wolves fan because it would be frustrating as all hell. That is still nice roster and Kangas ain’t the only top end player on that team. What happened to Verrault? Where’d he go? doesn’t he have a year left?
Jeff Verreault is attending school in the South.
Just posted on OspreyBlogs.com:
THEY MAY BE BETTER OFF NOT FIGHTING
Regards,
RR