Manitoulin Minor Report
It appears that the interest for a Manitoulin, traveling, house-league team is very much alive! The try-outs for the teams were very well attended and it bodes well for the future! There are some positions overall for bench staff if you are interested. There is contact information on the MMHA website.
The MMHA playoffs are on now or will be. At this point the U-9 standings have Gore Bay 1st, Little Current, 2nd and Manitowaning third. In the U-11 age group it is the Wiky Red squad on top with Gore Bay and Manitowaning 2nd and 3rd. The U-13 division features Manitowaning, Gore Bay, Little Current Blue as the 1,2,3 teams. In the U-15’s, Little Current leads Mindemoya who has games in hand and Manitowaning solid in third. In the eldest U-18 division, the Mindemoya Thunder is in first narrowly, over Gore Bay and M’Chigeeng!
Panther Points
The U15 Manitoulin Panthers hosted the Iroquois Falls Eskimos this weekend for 3 games as part of a Crossover Series between the Northeastern Ontario Hockey League and the Nickel District Hockey League. The U15 Panthers swept the series 4-0, 9-3 and 6-1.
In the midst of these games, the U13 Panthers had an impressive showing at home against the Copper Cliff Reds, with goals from Lynndra Madahbee-Peltier, Brody King (assisted by Matthew Debassige) and Matthew Debassige (assisted by Maximus Panamick), keeping it a close game until Copper Cliff pulled ahead in the 3rd period.
OHL Player of the Week!
Last week, the Ontario Hockey League announced that Los Angeles Kings prospect, Carter George of the Owen Sound Attack is the OHL Goaltender of the Week for the second time this season, going 2-0 with a 2.00 goals-against average and a .937 save percentage!
Turning aside 59 shots last week, George stopped 30 of the 31 shots that came his way on Saturday in a 3-1 victory against the Ottawa 67’s, spoiling Manitoulin’s Kohyn Eshkawkogan’s Ottawa 67’s night. (Incidentally, Kohyn did get an assist in the game to maintain his second position in rookie defencemen scoring!) Carter was back in the net on Sunday, making 29 saves on 31 shots to earn second star honours in a 5-3 win over the Brampton Steelheads.
Still just 18, Carter holds a ‘not his fault’, 8-17-2-3 record this season with a 3.53 goals-against average but with a .902 save percentage over 31 games! You can only change so much in a game, a mantra he very well likely appreciates. The team in front of him at the World Juniors this past holiday season, a prime example! Keep up the good work, Carter.
NOJHL Elder-snipesman!
Holly molly, what a season AOK’s Samuel Assinewei is having on his Sudbury Cubs squad who are now ranked second in the Canadian Junior Hockey League! Samuel has been a large part of that of course and his contributions include his nearly 2 points a game production! Samuel is second overall in league scoring just slightly behind teammate, Lucas Signoretti (who also played a couple of seasons with the Espanola Paper Kings). Samuel has 70 points in just 38 games and will be putting in important minutes as the intense end of the season is upon them. Good luck, Samuel!
