Archive for December, 2012

Blind River Beavers of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League are sending yet-another player to the major junior ranks.

Jon Lavigne, a 6-foot-3, 220 pound defenceman, has signed with the Gatineau Olympiques of the Quebec Major Jr. Hockey League after spending the first half of the 2012-13 season in the NOJHL with Blind River.

Lavigne, a 1995 birth date who hails from the Sudbury area, had moved up to the NOJHL this season after spending the 2011-12 campaign at the Gilmore Academy in Ohio.

In going from the NOJHL and Blind River to Hull and the QMJHL, he becomes the third player in as many years to graduate the Beavers for a major junior team.

The first was 1992 birth year winger Brett Findlay, who is now in his first season with the Peterborough Petes after spending the previous two Ontario Hockey League campaigns with the Soo Greyhounds.

The other is 1994 birth year defenceman Andrew Tessier, who now plays for the Drummondville Voltigeurs of the QMJHL after spending the 2011-12 season in the OHL with the Kingston Frontenacs.

As for Lavigne, his departure from Blind River for Hull is somewhat bittersweet, according to Beavers general manager Rusty Joncas.

“We know how skilled he is and he was a huge part of our team this season, however opportunities to play at the major junior level don’t come along every day and we were not going to stand in the way of Jon’s goals,” said Joncas.

Joncas added that “Jon is a great mixture of size, skill and determination and that will help him excell at the next level. Off the ice he’s a great kid, dedicated student and very popular with teammates and fans.”

In 24 games with the Beavers this season, Lavigne had three assists while taking a regular shift for rookie head coach Doug McEwen.

“Jon is a very intense, hardworking young defenseman,” noted McEwen. “His size and strength are great assets and will make any team very happy to have him playing for them. It was a pleasure to be able to help him along in his playing career.”

Pierre Boisvert, who is the director of player personnel for the Hull team of the QMJHL, has had his eyes on Lavigne for some time.

“Two years ago, I was in Mississauga at the OHL Showcase Tournament, watching potential players and I saw this this big d-man moving the puck like there was no tomorrow. What I saw in Jonathan then were his quality decisions in key moments, having the patience to wait the extra second and make a good play instead of having a knee jerk reaction to a situation. Because Jonathan was still eligible for the OHL Draft and being an Ontario kid, I couldn’t talk to him. Now as a free agent, we welcome him to Hull and the QMJHL.”

Lavigne had a shot at playing in the OHL this season but was a late cut by the Oshawa Generals before signing with Blind River. Now, it’s off to the QMJHL and Hull.

One door closes, another one opens.

As a 16-year old, he was a championship goalie in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.

As a 17-year old, he moved up to the Ontario Hockey League and followed his rookie season by becoming a National Hockey League draft pick.

As an 18-year old, he’s one of three goalies who will represent Team Canada at the World Jr. Hockey Championships.

The ride to the top continues for Jake Paterson, who backstopped the Soo Eagles to the 2010-2011 NOJHL championship as one of the youngest players in the league that season.

Paterson, a 1994 birth year goalie who is now in his second OHL season as the starting goalie with the Saginaw Spirit and regarded as the top, junior-aged, netminding prospect for the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings, will play for Team Canada at this year’s World Juniors, which get underway on Dec. 26.

To be sure, Paterson’s selection to the Team Canada roster comes as no surprise to the man who coached him with the Soo Eagles during that ’10-11 championship season.

“Nothing that Jake will do in his hockey career will surprise me,” said Bruno Bragagnolo, who now coaches an Eagles team that has since left the NOJHL for the North American Hockey League.

Bragagnolo is quick to recall Paterson’s performance in leading the Eagles to the ’10-11 NOJHL title.

“One of the reasons I made him the starting goalie is the way he handled the pressure,” Bragagnolo said of Paterson. “I remember telling you back then that the kid had ice in his veins.”

Bragagnolo added that Paterson showed a way of bouncing back from a so-so outing.

“You knew that if he didn’t have one of his better games that it was a guarantee that he would come back and we would win the next game. Guaranteed, that’s what would happen,” Bragagnolo added.

Paterson was at his best during the NOJHL semi-final playoffs that ’10-11 season when he and Soo Thunderbirds goalie Michael Doan put on an absolute clinic in an epic, six-game series that the Eagles eventually won.

Paterson and the then-19-year old Doan traded highlight-reel games in the six-game thriller, which the Eagles won before going on to defeat the Sudbury Jr. Wolves in the finals to win the NOJHL crown.

“That’s some of the best goaltending I have ever seen from two kids in the same series,” Bragagnolo said of Paterson and Doan.

As Paterson has since left the NOJHL for the OHL and become an NHL draft pick and Team Canada member, Doan too has moved upward and onward and is now a freshman on a full-ride scholarship with the Division 1, National Collegiate Athletic Association, Northern Michigan Wildcats.

Multiple sources are telling me that the Spanish River town of Espanola could once again be home to a Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League franchise.

Espanola mayor Mike Lehoux and Colin Wilson of the town’s Economic Development department have been looking to attract an NOJHL team to the hardworking town of more than 5,300, which is located about 135 miles east of Sault Ste. Marie and approximately 45 miles west of Sudbury, at the junction of Highways 6 and 17.

Espanola is home to a 13-year old arena complex that comfortably seats about 700 people for hockey.

NOJHL commissioner Robert Mazzuca, when asked about the possibility of Espanola joining the seven-team league, said discussion of any matters as such are considered confidential. Mazzuca did note that Espanola “has a very nice facility that is suitable for junior hockey.”

Espanola has been home to previous, failed junior hockey franchises, both in the NOJHL and the non-sanctioned, Greater Metro Jr. Hockey League.

But Mayor Lehoux has been active in searching for a suitable, established owner to partner with the town in operating an NOJHL franchise.

Indeed, sources are saying that the very-reputable Tim Clayden, who owns the NOJHL’s North Bay Trappers, has had discussions with Lehoux, Wilson and Town of Espanola Manager of Leisure Services Dianne Polden about the possibility of moving his franchise to Espanola for the 2013-14 campaign.

Clayden offered a polite “no comment” when asked if he was considering moving his NOJHL franchise from North Bay to Espanola. Like Mazzuca however, Clayden did say that Espanola “has a nice arena that could be a nice fit for an NOJHL team.”

The NOJHL’s Trappers are facing an uncertain future with the Brampton Battalion of the Ontario Hockey League moving its franchise to North Bay effective the 2013-14 season.

North Bay is regarded as the NOJHL’s flagship franchise and has led the league in attendance for each of its previous 10 seasons.

Barring the totally unexpected, the Ontario Hockey League will return to North Bay effective the 2013-14 season.

But as the Brampton Brampton prepares to relocate to North Bay in what is a virtual certainty, what is far less certain is the future of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League in the Gateway City.

The NOJHL has been a part of North Bay since the OHL left town in 2002. But with the OHL set to return to North Bay in 2013-14 by way of Brampton, what happens to the Trappers of the NOJHL?

Rumours are rampant in North Bay about where the Trappers may end up in 2013-14, with Espanola, Haileybury, Huntsville and two or three northern Michigan towns being mentioned as possible landing spots.

But before we get into that, there could be legal ramifications tied to the City of North Bay, which apparently was negotiating a new, three-year Memorial Gardens lease with the NOJHL Trappers while at the same time trying to lure the OHL Battalion to town.

The facts are that the City of North Bay announced a new three-year lease agreement with the NOJHL Trappers that was signed on September 17, only to announce its deal to move the OHL Battalion to town on November 5. And North Bay mayor Al McDonald has publicly stated that he first began negotiations with the OHL Battalion back in June of this year.

And while it’s true that the City of North Bay has a clause in its agreement with the NOJHL Trappers that allowed it to bring the OHL to town if the opportunity were to arise, there are allegations of misrepresentation and not bargaining in good faith that inside sources say are being prepared by a North Bay litigator on behalf of the NOJHL Trappers.

A City of North Bay employee — speaking on condition of anonymity, for obvious reasons, told me that the Trappers have a strong case for what is called “fraudulent misrepresentation”, a serious allegation that if proved, would be contrary to the Municipal Corporations Act.

“The Trappers have a case and the City knows it,” the employee told me. “I would suspect that (the Trappers) lawyer is all over it.”

Trappers owner Tim Clayden, when asked if he was contemplating going after the City of North Bay for damages, offered a polite “no comment.” Clayden added that his primary concern is completing the 2012-13 NOJHL season in North Bay and playing host to next spring’s Dudley Hewitt Cup, Central Canada playdowns that are slated for Memorial Gardens.

But the City of North Bay employee admitted to me that Clayden “would appear to be in good position to sue the City for damages and any relocation fees” should the Trappers leave North Bay and move elsewhere effective the 2013-14 season.

The City of North Bay, ideally, would like the Trappers to move from the 4,000-seat Memorial Gardens to the much-smaller, City-run West Ferris Arena, which has a seating capacity of about 700.

However, West Ferris Arena is not currently suitable to house an NOJHL team as it is in need of major upgrade.

WHAT ABOUT ESPANOLA?

Clayden and the current Trappers franchise might well end up in the Spanish River town of Espanola come the 2013-14 season.

Espanola, a gritty community with a population of about 5,300, has been home to failed junior hockey teams before.

But progressive Espanola mayor Mike Lehoux and Colin Wilson of the town’s Economic Development department have been looking to lure another junior hockey team their way and a proven operator like Trappers owner Clayden would be a potentially-good partner to team up with.

Espanola is home to a a modern, well-kept arena complex that is less than 15 years old and could comfortably house an NOJHL franchise.

Espanola is about 120 miles from North Bay and about 45 miles west of Sudbury. Espanola could well form a rabid North Shore rivalry with current NOJHL teams in Elliot Lake and Blind River.

So how might all of this play out?

What could potentially happen is that Clayden gets relocation fees from the City of North Bay to move to Espanola for the 2013-14 season and that the City of North Bay appeases the NOJHL by upgrading West Ferris Arena and allows a new local ownership to maintain an NOJHL franchise in North Bay.

That way, all parties — the City of North Bay, Clayden and the Trappers, and the NOJHL — are winners.

The City of North Bay moves forward with the OHL at Memorial Gardens and gets an NOJHL team to play out of West Ferris, Clayden gets to be the big game in town in Espanola, and the NOJHL adds another franchise in increasing its membership to eight teams.

Does all of this sound too good to be true?

Depends on whether or not the City of North Bay wants the legal headache that litigation would most likely cause.