The Ontario Junior Hockey League has participated in the Central/Eastern Canada Cup Challenge the last few years as a substitute for an all-star game. I was fortunate enough to commentate a bunch of the games last year, and truly enjoyed the hockey on display - so I am not in any way suggesting that they change that setup.
But, what if there was a Northeast vs Southwest, Conference vs. Conference game? So with that thought in mind, I thought I'd make all-star teams, based solely on my opinion on their play to date in the 2015-16 regular season. A great amount of weight is also put on consistency, versus a guy with a little more talent, but less consistency. Obviously, I have a great relationship with a great deal of players, so don't take offence out there if I don't pick you! This is just for fun, but one disclaimer I'll say is that I know the Southwest a lot better than I know the Northeast, so give me a break there! I also am not taking into account exact positions (centre, wing, etc.), and have purposely picked at least one player from each team.
The format I have set for myself is 12 forwards, 6 defenceman and three goalies per conference, and so here are Neugsie's 2015-2016 OJHL All-Star rosters!
Northeast Conference
Forwards
Luc Brown, Wellington Dukes
Anthony Rinaldi, Kingston Voyageurs
Tyson Bruce, Markham Royals
Austin Gerhart, Aurora Tigers
Drake Board, Aurora Tigers
Liam Grande, Cobourg Cougars
Cedric Ralph, Lindsay Muskies
Mark Rozanov, Newmarket Hurricanes
Chris Sekelyk, Pickering Panthers
Liam Morgan, Trenton Golden Hawks
Mitch Emerson, Trenton Golden Hawks
Ben Sokay, Wellington Dukes
Defencemen
Adam Clements, Trenton Golden Hawks
Ryan Dasilva, Stouffville Spirit
Brennan Roy, Cobourg Cougars
Jacob Panetta, Wellington Dukes
Justin Bean, Wellington Dukes
Kyle Locke, Aurora Tigers
Goalies
Daniel Urbani, Trenton Golden Hawks
David Richer, Kingston Voyageurs
Daniel Mannella, Whitby Fury
Some thoughts:
How do you pick a team that isn't full of Trenton Golden Hawks? Well, I did my best. I really like Hunter Fargey on Trenton a lot, for example, so excluding he and Kevin Lavoie, was really hard. I also think Nic Coric of Whitby has a ton of skill, and keeping a 20-goal scorer out of an all-star game is hard too. Chris Sekelyk did a lot of his damage for Pickering, and while I know he's on North York in the other conference now, I decided to cheat and let him play for the Northeast. Todd Winder has put up solid points to lead Newmarket, and he's a good player for sure, but when I'm watching the Hurricanes, it's Rozanov making more magic. I surprised myself by not putting more Markham Royals on the squad, especially a hard-nosed guy in Marco Azzano who scores a lot of goals with his speed and tenacity. Azzano is probably my first honourable mention, with a real reliable and intelligent Jon O'Hara from the Whitby Fury right beside him.
Southwest Conference
Forwards
Zach Evancho, Buffalo Jr. Sabres
Cameron Wright, St. Michael's Buzzers
Jack Jacome, Georgetown Raiders
Devin Pearce, Milton Icehawks
Scott Docherty, Mississauga Chargers
Michael Siddall, Toronto Jr. Canadiens
Grayden Gottschalk, North York Rangers
Josh Kosack, Oakville Blades
Christian Rajic, Oakville Blades
Jack Jeffers, Orangeville Flyers
Keegan Blasby, North York Rangers
Jeremy Pullara, Toronto Patriots
Defencemen
Willy Paul, Burlington Cougars
Matthew Cairns, Georgetown Raiders
Tyler Currie, North York Rangers
Patrick Kudla, Oakville Blades
Derek Topatigh, Orangeville Flyers
Mario Ferraro, Toronto Patriots
Goalies
Andrew Masters, Georgetown Raiders
Nicholas Latinovich, Orangeville Flyers
Jacob McGrath, St. Michael's Buzzers
Some thoughts:
I can already hear Greg Walters telling me "how do you not have Brendan Jacome and Josh Dickinson on this squad!", and he might be right, but there are a lot of great forwards in the Southwest and I felt I needed to spread it around. That being said, I'd love to have both those guys on my team any day of the week. I have a ton of respect for the talent of Ted Hunt, Nick Campoli, Jeremy Szabo, and Michael Morgan on North York (and obviously know them extremely well), and they all are having nice years, but to pick from the Rangers' riches is tough. The other battle I had is: what to do with the Toronto Jr. Canadiens. There is no doubt in my mind that Michael Siddall is an all-star, but they have an assortment of guys that I like a lot - including, but not limited to, Nick Ursitti, Connor Beck, Andrew Mullen, Sal Filice, and Nicky Jarzabek. Finally, Oakville has a lot of riches up front too. Ryan Garvey has been great all year, and I am a big fan of his, but just missed the cut. Tyler Rollo is in a very similar boat, so what can you do? The whole "need to have someone from every team" rule I put on made it tougher, but that's the nature of it I guess!
So there you have it...feel free to call me crazy if you want!
Friday, January 29, 2016
Thursday, January 14, 2016
Post-Trade Deadline South Division Notebook
As of midnight on Jan. 10, the Ontario Junior Hockey League's trade deadline had passed, and the picture of the stretch run of the regular season has finally come into some sort of clarity. How will the new players fit? How will teams react to staying put and not adding? These are the questions that will be answered in the coming two months.
Here is a team-by-team outlook, solely from my opinion, as we head down the final 20 games or so of the season in the wild OJHL South.
Standings as of Jan. 14
Oakville Blades
The Blades certainly would have liked to add a defenceman, but it would be hard to argue that they have the best Top 6 forward group in the conference. Christian Rajic is healthy, Tyler Rollo and Josh Kosack do not appear to have any World Junior 'A' Challenge hangover, and the versatility of guys like captain Ryan Garvey and Merrimack commit Jackson Bales really gives Coach Mike Tarantino and company a ton of options to move a guy like super-rookie Bryce Misley up and down the roster. A whole paragraph, and I have not even mentioned Patrick Kudla, who I would argue is the most talented player in the league with the puck on his stick (51 points 39 games as a D! Are you kidding me?). If goaltending can hold the Blades in it, they are most certainly deep enough to take the Buckland (especially if whoever wins the Northeast is beaten up by the time they get there). Watch out for Kosack to be an absolute monster in the playoffs, because he plays like he is in the post-season all year...so he has plenty of practice.
St. Michael's Buzzers
You have to give Coach Rich Ricci and his Buzzers credit: they have a re-building plan, and they are sticking to it. With no less than 11 quality 1998 and 1999 birth years in his line-up, and no in-coming transactions at all this season, they are building a club from the ground up. That isn't to say that they have no 'right-now' quality at St. Mike's Arena, because they certainly do. The biggest gun the Buzz have is certainly Michigan Tech commit and 20-year-old Thomas Beretta, but I like a bunch of their kids to make a lot of noise real soon. My favourite of the young Buzzers is Cameron Wright, a hard-nosed yet skillful forward with a great attitude and a nose for the net with 17 goals already this year. His running mates on the so-called '98 line' (called because they are all 1998 birth years) are both well-thought of Ontario Hockey League prospects in Cameron Searles and Colton Trumbla, and together that unit is already a force. In net 16 year-old Jacob McGrath is as capable as any goaltender in the league already, and I would be shocked if he was not a full-time member of the Sudbury Wolves next year. On the back end, the loss of Sam Hunter to the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada of the QMJHL has to be a hit, but young Mark Paolini continues to show plenty of promise in his wake. I predict that St. Mike's has the weaponry to climb even as high as seventh in the conference, though they have been entrenched in eighth for a while now; and with the parody in the league at the moment, who knows what kind of upset this group can pull.
Here is a team-by-team outlook, solely from my opinion, as we head down the final 20 games or so of the season in the wild OJHL South.
Standings as of Jan. 14
| South Division |
| TEAM | GP | W | L | T | OTL | PTS | PCT | GF | GA | PIM | HOME | AWAY |
| Oakville | 39 | 24 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 51 | .654 | 157 | 128 | 595 | 12-4-2-0 | 12-8-0-1 |
| Toronto Jr. Canadiens | 39 | 20 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 46 | .590 | 127 | 124 | 593 | 11-8-1-1 | 9-5-2-2 |
| North York | 40 | 19 | 14 | 2 | 5 | 45 | .563 | 136 | 124 | 586 | 9-6-1-3 | 10-8-1-2 |
| St. Michaels | 36 | 18 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 37 | .514 | 114 | 116 | 499 | 13-5-0-0 | 5-12-1-0 |
| Toronto Patriots | 38 | 14 | 19 | 1 | 4 | 33 | .434 | 123 | 150 | 534 | 9-7-0-2 | 5-12-1-2 |
| Mississauga | 41 | 7 | 32 | 0 | 2 | 16 | .195 | 106 | 209 | 908 | 3-17-0-2 | 4-15-0-0 |
Oakville Blades
The Blades certainly would have liked to add a defenceman, but it would be hard to argue that they have the best Top 6 forward group in the conference. Christian Rajic is healthy, Tyler Rollo and Josh Kosack do not appear to have any World Junior 'A' Challenge hangover, and the versatility of guys like captain Ryan Garvey and Merrimack commit Jackson Bales really gives Coach Mike Tarantino and company a ton of options to move a guy like super-rookie Bryce Misley up and down the roster. A whole paragraph, and I have not even mentioned Patrick Kudla, who I would argue is the most talented player in the league with the puck on his stick (51 points 39 games as a D! Are you kidding me?). If goaltending can hold the Blades in it, they are most certainly deep enough to take the Buckland (especially if whoever wins the Northeast is beaten up by the time they get there). Watch out for Kosack to be an absolute monster in the playoffs, because he plays like he is in the post-season all year...so he has plenty of practice.
Toronto Jr. Canadiens
If you take the 2015-16 season in isolation, the Jr. Canadiens won the trade deadline by a country mile. Nabbing Nick Ursitti, Connor Beck, and Michael Siddall from the Toronto Patriots gives them scoring, depth, and - perhaps most importantly - championship experience. No less than five JRC forwards played at least one game for the Pats in their Buckland winning season in 2014-15, including Ursitti, Beck, Nico Gonzalez, Lucas Colallilo and George Novachis - though the last two were APs (on a side note, Novachis actually scored for the Pats against JRC). Michael Siddall is as hot as anyone in the league right now, and is the most complete player of the three, but watch for Ursitti in the playoffs, as he probably played the best hockey of his junior career in the 2014 RBC Cup in Vernon, B.C. A veteran forward group, an elite and mature defence corps anchored by the two-headed monster known as Andrew Mullen and Sal Filice, and an infusion of recent championship experience; this JRC group has all the weaponry it needs to go deep, especially with the imminent return of captain Justin Maolino. I also love the grit and underrated skill that Anthony Trujillo brings - he is a true playoff-type warrior. Whether this group will gel, and how Daniel Lopapa will do in his first run as the No. 1 at Scotiabank Pond, are the two key questions that should determine how far Coach Mario Cicchillo's troops will go.
North York Rangers
Would the real North York Rangers please stand up? There are times that the really-quite veteran Rangers are world beaters, and times that they are pretty ordinary, even over the span of 60 minutes. The likes of dynamic veterans Ted Hunt, Keegan Blasby, Michael Morgan, Tyler Currie and Jeremy Szabo, and elite youngsters Nick Campoli, Ryan Hunt, and Grayden Gottschalk give North York a load of depth, but there are times that they still appear to get overwhelmed against determined opposition. The solid additions of Chris Sekelyk and Shawn Tessier appear to hand Coach Brent Hughes' club the trade deadline silver medal behind JRC, and with a veteran D-corps that looks to have very few holes, North York should be a club to be feared by all. The only thing holding them back is consistency, as with the exception of the excellent energy line formed by Nick Zanette, Kyle Clarke, and Louis Kereakou, they have struggled to find that. Consistency has also plagued Gianluca Baggetta in net, though he is capable of being high quality, if not elite. Rookie speed demon Josh Dame continues to grow up as well, with few paying too much attention to him, so if this group gets it together, it will be a fascinating fight to the finish in the South division. The 20-year-old Currie, who the Rangers paid a steep price for earlier in the year when they sent Jake Harris to the Patriots, has Buckland, Dudley Hewitt, and RBC Cup experience, and that pedigree will most certainly be leaned on by Coach Hughes and company. Captain Szabo has been nothing short of brilliant for most the season on the North York blue line, and might be the most underrated player in the league.
St. Michael's Buzzers
You have to give Coach Rich Ricci and his Buzzers credit: they have a re-building plan, and they are sticking to it. With no less than 11 quality 1998 and 1999 birth years in his line-up, and no in-coming transactions at all this season, they are building a club from the ground up. That isn't to say that they have no 'right-now' quality at St. Mike's Arena, because they certainly do. The biggest gun the Buzz have is certainly Michigan Tech commit and 20-year-old Thomas Beretta, but I like a bunch of their kids to make a lot of noise real soon. My favourite of the young Buzzers is Cameron Wright, a hard-nosed yet skillful forward with a great attitude and a nose for the net with 17 goals already this year. His running mates on the so-called '98 line' (called because they are all 1998 birth years) are both well-thought of Ontario Hockey League prospects in Cameron Searles and Colton Trumbla, and together that unit is already a force. In net 16 year-old Jacob McGrath is as capable as any goaltender in the league already, and I would be shocked if he was not a full-time member of the Sudbury Wolves next year. On the back end, the loss of Sam Hunter to the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada of the QMJHL has to be a hit, but young Mark Paolini continues to show plenty of promise in his wake. I predict that St. Mike's has the weaponry to climb even as high as seventh in the conference, though they have been entrenched in eighth for a while now; and with the parody in the league at the moment, who knows what kind of upset this group can pull.
Toronto Patriots
At the beginning of the year, many left Coach Justin Teakle's troops for dead after a brutal start; but with some of that old Westwood Arena magic in tow, they managed to make themselves respectable and begin to challenge for the last playoff spot around early-to-mid December. Now, with their unloading of the aforementioned Ursitti, Siddall, and Beck, the question of how much pressure can this squad put on St. Mike's or Orangeville for that final spot is really up in the air. New captain Jeremy Pullara - who replaced Siddall - has been absolutely outstanding all year (Division I outstanding, in my opinion), while his deputies on the back end Mario Ferraro and Louis Di Matteo certainly have what it takes to be elite on a given night. Young Jake Harris has also shown flashes of brilliance since coming over in an early-season deal from North York, while there is certainly evidence of former high school superstar Nick Stuckless taking big steps forward for the two-time defending champs. All that being said, this club will now have to really come together and be more than the sum of their parts to make noise the rest of the year with a brutal schedule coming up. Rookie goaltender Jacob Standen was unbeatable at times for the Hill Academy U18s last year, and has proven to be a capable Junior 'A' goaltender, but can he make enough saves to give this team a shot on a given night? Newcomers Eric Eremita and Lee Lapid are both young, and both will get a chance to prove themselves with bigger roles than they had on the Jr. Canadiens.
Mississauga Chargers
It has been another tough year for Coach Joe Washkaruk and the Chargers, but big Scott Docherty has certainly stepped up in his second year in the league. When in the line-up and not busy in the OHL, Daniel De Sousa and Thomas Lattavo have certainly been capable and contributors.
At the beginning of the year, many left Coach Justin Teakle's troops for dead after a brutal start; but with some of that old Westwood Arena magic in tow, they managed to make themselves respectable and begin to challenge for the last playoff spot around early-to-mid December. Now, with their unloading of the aforementioned Ursitti, Siddall, and Beck, the question of how much pressure can this squad put on St. Mike's or Orangeville for that final spot is really up in the air. New captain Jeremy Pullara - who replaced Siddall - has been absolutely outstanding all year (Division I outstanding, in my opinion), while his deputies on the back end Mario Ferraro and Louis Di Matteo certainly have what it takes to be elite on a given night. Young Jake Harris has also shown flashes of brilliance since coming over in an early-season deal from North York, while there is certainly evidence of former high school superstar Nick Stuckless taking big steps forward for the two-time defending champs. All that being said, this club will now have to really come together and be more than the sum of their parts to make noise the rest of the year with a brutal schedule coming up. Rookie goaltender Jacob Standen was unbeatable at times for the Hill Academy U18s last year, and has proven to be a capable Junior 'A' goaltender, but can he make enough saves to give this team a shot on a given night? Newcomers Eric Eremita and Lee Lapid are both young, and both will get a chance to prove themselves with bigger roles than they had on the Jr. Canadiens.
Mississauga Chargers
It has been another tough year for Coach Joe Washkaruk and the Chargers, but big Scott Docherty has certainly stepped up in his second year in the league. When in the line-up and not busy in the OHL, Daniel De Sousa and Thomas Lattavo have certainly been capable and contributors.
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