…What about North Bay? Even with the Ontario Hockey League back in town in the form of the North Bay Battalion, sources say those involved with the NOJHL Trappers are “definitely moving ahead” with plans to vacate Memorial Gardens for the much-smaller West Ferris Arena in 2013-2014.

…At least five players who skated in the NOJHL during the 2012-2013 campaign have signed up for this weekend’s tryout camp being put on by the Soo Eagles of the North American Hockey League. The five who are confirmed are defencemen Michael Caruso, Tyler Sehovic and Jeremy Solomon of the Soo Thunderbirds, forward Tyler Brown of the Blind River Beavers and forward Nicholas Tassone of the Elliot Lake Bobcats.

The 37-year-old Lafleur will serve as video coach on the four-man staff, which will be headed up by Ian MacInnis, head coach and general manager of the Central Canada Hockey League’s Cornwall Colts.

Rounding out the group will be Billy McGuigan, (Summerside Western Capitals, CCHL) and Mario Chicchillo. (Toronto Jr. Canadiens, OJHL), who will act as assistants.

“I’m excited about this opportunity and will give everything I have to Team Canada East,” stated Lafleur.

“I believe my selection to the Team Canada East staff is a true reflection of the major strides the NOJHL has made the last few years in being recognized as a major competitor in Canadian Junior A Hockey,” added the Kirkland Lake bench boss.

“NOJHL commissioner Robert Mazzuca and his colleagues, as well as the coaching and administration staffs of each team, are responsible for this.”

Lafleur was chosen the 2012-13 recipient of the Mirl ‘Red’ McCarthy Memorial Trophy, emblematic of the NOJHL’s coach of the year.

In his first campaign at the helm behind the Gold Miners bench, he led Kirkland Lake to a more than respectable 25-18-2-3 record along with a fourth place finish in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League regular season standings. His disciplined club also boasted a league-low 612 penalty minutes.

Lafleur was also earlier named a NOJHL first team all-star for his effort in guiding his club in their first full season in the league as the Gold Miners.

“This is a well-deserved opportunity for Marc and a strong reflection of the tremendous job he did in Kirkland Lake this season with the Gold Miners,” offered NOJHL commissioner Robert Mazzuca.

“It also shows that the efforts and accomplishments put forth by all our league coaches are not only being recognized within the NOJHL, but also at the national level,” added Mazzuca.

The following are the bios of the Canada East coaching staff members, as supplied by Hockey Canada:

Ian MacInnis, 51, will make his first appearance with Canada East at the 2013 World Junior A Challenge. He has been owner, head coach and general manager of the Colts for the past six seasons. MacInnis guided the Colts to a league title in 2013 and a berth in the Fred Page Cup. He was also at the helm of the Colts in 2008 when they hosted the RBC Cup, Canada’s National Junior A Championship.

Mario Cicchillo, 55, will be an assistant coach for the first time with Canada East. Cicchillo just completed his first season as head coach of the Jr. Canadiens, leading the team to a 16-point improvement in the OJHL standings. Prior to coaching the Jr. Canadiens, Cicchillo coached in the OHL for six seasons with the Ice Dogs franchise, including two seasons as head coach in Niagara and four as an assistant coach when the team was in Mississauga.

Billy McGuigan, 37, will be an assistant coach for the first time with Canada East. McGuigan was head coach of Team East at last year’s CJHL Prospects Games. McGuigan has been head coach of the Western Capitals for the past two seasons, winning the MHL championship in 2013, and will be behind the bench at this year’s RBC Cup, which begins Saturday in Summerside. He also spent two seasons as an assistant coach with Canada’s National Sledge Team. McGuigan, who played four seasons of professional hockey in the CoHL, CHL and WCHL, has also been an MHL head coach with the Charlottetown Abbies and Miramichi Timberwolves.

Marc Lafleur, 37, will make his first appearance with Canada East at the 2013 World Junior A Challenge. Named NOJHL coach of the year this season, his first with the Gold Miners, Lafleur has also worked as an assistant coach with the QMJHL’s Rouyn-Noranda Huskies and in the NCAA with Bemidji State University. As a player, Lafleur spent two seasons with the USHL’s Thunder Bay Flyers, reaching the 1995 Centennial Cup, and won an NCAA Division II championship with Bemidji State in 1997.

Hockey Canada will announce details for Canada East camps in the near future.

Caruso, who stands in at 5-feet-11 and weighs 180 pounds, is winding down his first season with the Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League after two years of development with the Soo North Stars of the Great North Midget Hockey League. He was selected by the Peterborough Petes in the 14th round of the 2011 OHL Draft but has wisely retained his NCAA eligibility.

Guesting on a recent edition of the Hockey North Show on ESPN 1400 Radio, Caruso said that while he is keeping his options open, he is intrigued by the prospects of possibly playing at the Division 1, NCAA level.

“It would be great to be able to play NCAA hockey and get an education at the same time,” said Caruso, who has shown very well at the OHL camps in Peterborough that he has attended.

While he is playing for a good Thunderbirds team in a quality league like the NOJHL, the next step for Caruso could be in the North American Hockey League for the Soo Eagles or the Flint-based Michigan Warriors.

Both NAHL teams have made their interest in Caruso known.

Should the Eagles or Warriors, for example, wish to sign Caruso, they would have to compensate the Thunderbirds for his rights.

NCAA schools heavily recruit players from the NAHL while not paying as much attention to the NOJHL, though Division 1 scouts have been following Caruso and Tait Seguin, a 1995 birth year forward with the North Bay Trappers.

No less than 82 current NAHL players have future commitments to Division 1, NCAA schools and that number will top well over 100 by the time the 2013-2014 season begins.

The majority of players recruited from the NAHL by Division 1, NCAA programs are 19-or-20-years old by the time they get a commitment, which means a kid like Caruso could play another one to three years of junior hockey after this one before going off to an American school.

“We’ll see what happens after this season,” said Caruso. “I’ll sit down with my parents and we’ll discuss any opportunities that may be out there.”

A well-grounded kid, to be sure, Caruso has potential to move on, according to Thunderbirds coach-general manager Kevin Cain.

“Not many 17-year olds can be a top four defenceman on a good team. He has had a few minor injuries to battle through but he battles every night and has a bright future. He has a good work ethic and is well-respected by his teammates,” Cain said of Caruso.

As part of an annual three-league rotation, this is the NOJHL’s turn to play host to the four-team DHC, which also includes the champions of the Ontario Jr. Hockey League (St. Michael’s Buzzers) and Superior International Jr. Hockey League (Minnesota Wilderness.)

The host league is represented by two teams every year.

This year, North Bay was automatically in by being selected as the host team by the host league. The Trappers went through the front door by winning the NOJHL championship while the Thunderbirds also earned entry into the DHC by making it to the playoff finals against North Bay.

The Thunderbirds are defending DHC champions.

Looking at the two NOJHL reps at the DHC playdowns, which begin on April 30 North Bay, the Trappers and Thunderbirds are both solid, strong, seasoned squads that went the maximum seven games in the league championship series.

While evenly-matched, both NOJHL teams are of different makeup and structure.

The Trappers starting goalie, Greg Dodds, is 6-foot-2 and is a 1992 birth year.

The Thunderbirds starting goalie, Joel Horodziejczyk, is 5-foot-9 and is a 1995 birth year.

The Trappers top two defencemen are Beau Orser and Cole Klippenstein and both have 1992 birth dates.

The Thunderbirds top two defencemen are much younger. Michael Caruso is a 1995 birth year and A.J. Kapcheck was born in 1994.

The Thunderbirds are older up front led by 1992 birth dates Darcy Casola, Adam Ritchie and Brandon Warmington.

The Trappers go-to-forwards are younger. While Trevor Hunt and Samuel Blanchet were both born in 1992, Brennen Dubchak and Brandon Janke both have 1993 birth dates and Tait Sequin was born in 1995.

The Trappers are coached by Tom McCarthy and managed by Tim Clayden.

One man, however, calls the shot for the Thunderbirds as Kevin Cain is both coach and general manager.

Still, only one game stood between both teams and the NOJHL championship.

So while North Bay is no. 1 and the Soo is no. 2, they give the NOJHL an even shot at winning the DHC.

But what about the NOJHL beyond this 2012-2013 season?

Can the Trappers continue to make a go of it in North Bay with the Ontario Hockey League back in town?

What about the proposed expansion to Espanola? Is it still a go or will it be a no?

Will the Elliot Lake Bobcats remain where they are or relocate to Cochrane?

What about commissioner Robert Mazzuca? Will he be back in 2013-2014 or will he decide that enough is enough in trying to deal with the many challenges that the NOJHL has?

To be sure, the NOJHL does send the odd player directly to the Division 1 ranks, though certainly not nearly as many as those of us who are supporters of the northern league would like.

When it comes to recruiting players from Junior A or Tier 2 Junior (take your pick), the Division 1, NCAA schools have a preference for the North American Hockey League, which has 24 teams, all of which are based in the United States.

But there are a few current NOJHLers who have caught the eyes of more than one coach from an NCAA Division 1 program.

For example, Jim Roque, who is the head coach of the Lake Superior State Lakers, was at Sunday night’s Game 2 of the NOJHL final between Soo Thunderbirds and North Bay Trappers.

Players from the Soo and North Bay who should be attractive to Lake Superior State and other Division 1 schools include Thunderbirds defenceman Michael Caruso and Trappers forward Tait Seguin.

Caruso and Seguin both have 1995 birth dates.

But while they are playing in a quality league like the NOJHL, the next junior hockey step for Caruso and Seguin could well be south of the border in the NAHL.

Like it or not, most Division 1, NCAA recruiters consider the NOJHL to be a step below the NAHL.

Not that that would necessarily deter a Division 1 school from really liking NOJHLers such as Caruso and Seguin.

Even so, this could be the first and last season in the NOJHL for Caruso and Seguin.

Teams in the NAHL are closely looking at both Caruso and Seguin for next season. In fact, representatives from two Michigan-based NAHL teams were at Sunday’s Thunderbirds-Trappers game in the Soo.

As good a league as the NOJHL is, it doesn’t quite measure up to the NAHL in the eyes of most unbiased hockey observers.

Still, even if, for example, Caruso and Seguin do leave for the NAHL, it won’t mean that the NOJHL hasn’t done well in developing them. And isn’t the development of players a big part of the NOJHL mandate?

Yes it is.

Personally, I don’t like the “buy back the suspension” rule. If an infraction is punishable by a suspension during the regular season, it should also be punishable by a suspension during the playoffs. To me, buying back a suspension is relative to a criminal with money being able to buy his way out of a jail sentence. It’s been said that money can’t buy everything. Methinks that money should not be able to buy a player out of a suspendable offence.

Elliot Lake Bobcats are one win away from staging a major upset in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League playoffs.

Sixth-place finishers with 32 points from a record of 15-31-2 during the regular season, Elliot Lake has forced a seventh-and-deciding game in its first-round playoff series with the Sudbury Nickel Barons. With 59 points from a record of 29-18-1, third-place Sudbury finished a whopping 27 points ahead of Elliot Lake during the regular season.

But with two dramatic overtime victories in a thriller-of-a-playoff with Sudbury, Elliot Lake has extended the series to a winner-take-all seventh game which will be played on Wednesday night.

As a first-year team in the NOJHL, Elliot Lake has overcome the predictable on-ice obstacles facing any new entry. But the Bobcats have also had to deal with a struggling Elliot Lake economy, the result of last summer’s tragic mall collapse which killed two residents and shut down a number of stores, resulting in major job loss.

Ryan Leonard, the Bobcats tireless owner-general manager-coach, told me that the businesses that have had to shut down because of the mall collapse have cost his team in the neighborhood of $12,000 in corporate sponsorship. Add another $12,000 or so that’s been lost in projected attendance revenue and it’s close to a $25,000 shortfall for the hockey team.

“It’s been a struggle, no question about it,” said Leonard, a 33-year old go-getter who is known for his effervescent personality as much as his keen hockey instincts.

“Not only have we come up short in corporate sponsorship because of the mall collapse but with so many people out of work because of it, they don’t have the extra money to spend to come out and watch hockey,” noted Leonard.

Still, Leonard has remained upbeat through the trials and tribulations, though he stopped short of commiting to next season in Elliot Lake.

“I can’t afford to lose another $25,000,” said Leonard. “I don’t have that kind of money to lose. Hopefully there’s a solution that allows us to remain in Elliot Lake. If not, we may have to look to relocate.”

On the ice, it’s been a rising story of success, however.

Mired in last place for most of the season, the Bobcats played .500 hockey over the final 20 games of the schedule to move up to sixth spot. Goalie Cory Simic and scoring leaders Steve Gaul, Henry Berger, Brian Hennessey and Nicholas Tassone have all played major roles in the Elliot Lake resurgence.

“I am proud of each and every guy on this team,” said Leonard. “To force an excellent team like Sudbury to a seventh game is something that not too many people besides yourself thought would happen.”

But making predictions is what sportswriters — and sportsfans — like to do and in some cases are expected to do.

So, at the risk of being wrong and the chance of being right, here is how I think the first-round, best-of-seven playoffs in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League will play out.

SOO-ABITIBI

The second-place Thunderbirds should dispose of the seventh-place Eskimos with relative ease. Many who I have talked to are calling for a sweep but I think Abitibi coach Paul Gagne will coax one win out of his Eskis at the Igloo in Iroquois Falls. SOO IN 5.

SUDBURY-ELLIOT LAKE

I am a fan of Nickel Barons coach Dave Clancy. But Bobcats coach Ryan Leonard is a workaholic who eats, sleeps and drinks hockey. On paper, the third-place Nickel Barons should be a five-game winner over the sixth-place Bobcats. But Elliot Lake improved immensely down the stretch and there may be some fire and brimstone left to give the big boys from Sudbury all it can handle. Centennnial arena in Elliot Lake will be rocking and the Bobcats will take the Nickel Barons to the limit. SUDBURY IN 7.

KIRKLAND LAKE-BLIND RIVER

The fourth-place Gold Miners have aspirations of being the second NOJHL team at the Dudley-Hewitt Cup playdowns that are being held in North Bay and hosted by the Trappers. The fifth-place Beavers like playing for coach Doug McEwen but do they have the team discipline to extend the patience of headmaster Marc Lafleur and his Gold Miners? The Beavers will give the good fans of Blind River plenty of thrills in this one but…KIRKLAND LAKE IN 6.

And we have a few of them on the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League hot stove.

* The hot topic is the upcoming playoffs and who will eventually join the host North Bay Trappers at the April 29-May 4 Dudley-Hewitt Cup, Central Canada playdowns. Will it be the Soo Thunderbirds, who have been playing to potential since general manager Kevin Cain took over as head coach last month? Does Dave Clancy, the crusty coach of the Sudbury Nickel Barons, have a few old tricks up his sleeve? Or will the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners, with their upbeat coach Marc Lafleur and his uptempo style of play, be the other NOJHL rep at the 2013 DHC?

* Still, with the NOJHL, is it a given to suggest that the fifth-place Blind River Beavers, the sixth-place Elliot Lake Bobcats and the seventh-place Abitibi Eskimos will all lose in the first round of the playoffs? To be sure, the odds are stacked against all three winning a round of the playoffs. But the Beavers and Bobcats showed marked improvement over the final month of the regular-season and both teams play in arenas that can become downright intimidating to the opposition.

* Will Robert Mazzuca return as commissioner next season? Let’s hope so. Mazzuca is easily the most-effective commissioner the NOJHL has had since the days of the legendary Joe Drago, who is now a Hockey Canada executive.

* Will the NOJHL be an eight-team league in 2013-2014 with Espanola entering the league? If so, what will the Espanola team be called? Monikers that have been suggested include Espanola Braves, Espanola Eagles, Espanola Red Hawks, Espanola Rainbow and Espanola Spirit.