Greyhounds Report

by Brad Coccimiglio
on

When the Soo Greyhounds opened training camp prior to this season there
were very few question marks in their lineup. The only major question mark
was who was going to be the starting goaltender, Jake McCracken or
Jason Flick. That question has since been answered due to the fact that
McCracken has been unable to play due to injury.

Looking back at the first part of the Greyhounds season the team
looks to be in pretty good shape. They had a ton of veterans coming back
from last year’s team. At the draft they added even more experience with
the addition of winger Brent Theobald from the Mississauga IceDogs.

In the standings the Greyhounds are in great shape as they are
fighting with the surprising Windsor Spitfires for 1st place in the OHL’s
West Division and are among the top teams in the OHL. The Greyhounds Read more»

2000 Draft: OHL Prospect Overview

by Bob Chery
on

With CSB’s rankings out a few days early, instead of a forward-looking piece on this year’s OHL draft-prospects, I’m left instead to take a mostly backwards look at the early-season rankings of Central Scouting.

There are six players who look like a cut-above the rest of the pack. The Big Six consist of three forwards and three defencemen. The best of each are d-man Kurtis Foster of Peterborough and forward Raffi Torres of Brampton. Nobody seems to mention Torres when talking about the 2000 draft.
The only knock that could possibly be put on him is his size. He’s a notch below the
benchmark 6’0″, but at 5’11″ he’s a sturdy 193 pounds. Other than that the kid has
above-average skills in every facet, especially skating, and especially especially in
hockey sense. This kid is a player, the real deal. A lead-pipe cinch for the Prospects Game, and really should get
a look at Team Canada’s final evaluation camp prior to the WJC, he’s that good.

You can’t miss Foster, he’s a 6’4″ giant with good skating ability, puck-skills, and he’s
putting up good offensive numbers already. Everything the scouts like about a player, this kid has it. He may be the No. 1 prospect in the OHL. A notch below these two would be the Erie Otters forward tandem of Nikita Alexeev and Brad Boyes, and on the blue-line you have Windsor’s Dan Growden and North Bay’s Chris Eade who’s currently out because of an
appendectomy.

Torres is now
quoted 14 pounds heavier than his OHL Media Guide weight of 193 lbs., and at 207 it Read more»

Whalers & Spits Report

by pbadmin
on

WHALERS REPORT

After losing a number of quality players, the Plymouth Whalers were expected to struggle this Ontario
Hockey League season.
And struggle they have. The Whalers sit in fourth place in the OHL’s Western Division at about the
one-third mark of the campaign.
However, there are some encouraging signs.
In goal, 18-year old Rob Zepp has been steady behind a largely inexperienced defense. The Atlanta
Thrashers draftee has a goals against average of 2.42 in 17 appearances.
First round draft pick Stephen Weiss leads the team in scoring with 25 points, and fellow rookie Tomas
Kurka has 18.
Weiss has speed and good puck sense. The puck seems to follow him around, and all things considered,
those 25 points are no fluke.He’s been named to Ontario’s Under-17 team at the World Hockey Challenge.
Kurka, from the Czech Republic, brings with him the reputation of a sniper. His 15 points are fifth on the
team.
In between are second year wingers Justin Williams and Damien Surma, along with overage defenceman
Shaun Fisher.
A pleasant surprise has been the play of another Czech import. Defender Libor Urstrnul stands 6’5″ and
weighs 230 lbs., but has a fair amount of mobility, which is surprising for a big man. The soon-to-be
19-year-old also likes to mix it up, and isn’t afraid to drop the gloves.
Indeed, a Urstrnul fight is quite a sight. It starts with the fact that he DOES fight, a trait not often seen in
European players. Read more»

Richards a Diamond in the Rough

by Brad Coccimiglio
on

Player: Jeff Richards

Born: September 17, 1981

Hometown: Kenora, Ontario

Position: Left Wing

Number: 7

Height: 5’11″

Weight: 175 lbs

Shoots: Left

When the Soo Greyhounds drafted centre Jeff Richards in the 7th
round (148th overall) of the 1999 OHL draft I don’t think they expected him
to have much of an impact on the team this season.

Well, after his first 16 games Richards is becoming one of the top
rookies in the OHL. After 16 games Richards has posted 4 goals and 14
points. That puts him in 6th in team scoring behind Josef Vasicek (28
points), Cory Pecker (25 points), Ryan Jardine (24 points), Chad Spurr (19
points) and rookie sensation Trevor Daley (19 points).

Read more»

Meet the OHL’S Young Breed…

by pbadmin
on

Many surprises have taken place a little over a month into the 1999-2000 OHL season.
There are the usual surprise teams that have made early surges into the top of their division
and there have been the teams that were predicted to be strong contenders that slipped to the
basement. But the biggest surprise that has taken place that has fans around the province taking
note is the production of the league’s rookies early in the season.

Usually, teams this early in the season tend to lean on their older, more experienced
players to get the team on the right track and to help the younger players adjust to the league.
This OHL season has been somewhat of an exception as the rookies have stepped up and have become
the players that team relies on in the late stages of a close game. In most cases, these players
have delivered. Derek Roy, the 16 year old rookie for the Kitchener Rangers, is currently leading
the league in rookie scoring and is also leading his team. This is common in the league, where
the leading scorer for the team is a rookie. It represents a strong future for the league and
many great players on the horizon.

Read more»

Top Prospects

  1. Darnell Nurse
  2. Sean Monahan
  3. Zach Nastasiuk
  4. Chris Bigras
  5. Bo Horvat
  6. Ryan Hartman
  7. Kerby Rychel
  8. Max Domi
  9. Jimmy Lodge
  1. Nikita Zadorov
  2. Spencer Martin
  3. Jason Dickinson
  4. Justin Bailey
  5. Dakota Mermis
  6. Dane Fox
  7. Frank Palazzese
  8. Max Iafrate
  9. Luke Cairns
HF Boards