October 1, 2010
OUA MEN'S HOCKEY PREVIEW
OUA men’s hockey kicks off tonight with two games. The Nipissing Lakers host the Ryerson Rams (TV Cogeco, live) and the Brock Badgers play host to the York Lions.
The Lakers are at home for the first game of the season after finishing seventh in the East last year with a record of 12-15. This year is made up of first and second years, apart from three players. Nipissing looks to build their team from two rookies that had a shining season last year. Forward Andrew Marcoux (Rockwood, Ont.) who won the Rookie of the Year award in the East, was selected as a Second-Team All-Star, and had a place on the All-Rookie team. Defenceman Josh McKinnon (Brackley Beach, P.E.I.) was also part of the All-Rookie team in the East. Nipissing brings in rookie Conor O’Donnell (Hamilton, Ont.) from the Jr. A Guelph Storm as well.
The first team Nipissing faces this season is the Ryerson Rams. Ryerson made a surprise run in the playoffs last season after finishing sixth in the East and beating out third place Toronto in the first round. Ryerson lost to the L'Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) Patriotes in the East semi-finals. Although Ryerson has lost some significant players including Kevin Day (Toronto), Stew D’Eall (Toronto) and former captain Kevin Krasnowski (Pickering, Ont.), the Rams look to second-year forward Matt Schmermund (Calahoo, Alta.). He ended the season last year with 15 goals and 14 assists. Michael Paolo (Mississauga, Ont.) finished ninth in the league for defensive scoring at four goals and 16 assists and will lead the Rams’ defensive charge.
Also headlining the weekend’s opening games is the York Lions. They travel to St. Catharine’s to play against the Brock Badgers. The Lions finished sixth last season in the West but did not make it past the first round of playoffs. York will look to last year’s rookie standout Jesse Messier (Keswick, Ont.) to lead the team on offence. Messier was named to the 2010-11 West All-Rookie Team.
The Brock Badgers finished ninth in the West in the 2009-10 season. Among the important returning players Brock boasts scoring leader Derek Brochu (Welland, Ont.) and defenceman Isaac Smeltzer (Estevan, Sask.). The Badgers will host York at 7:15 p.m. ET.
OUA reigning champs the McGill Redmen will look to defend their title against some tough teams including the Lakehead Thunderwolves, UQTR Patriotes and the Western Mustangs. These top teams proved to be stiff competition for the Redmen in the 2009-10 regular season as well as playoffs and are all vying for the championship title in the 100th anniversary of the Queen’s Cup.
In action next weekend includes reigning champs McGill. The Queen’s Cup champs are a tough act to follow after beating out Lakehead at home for the title. OUA top scorer Francis Verreault-Paul (Mashteuiatsh, Que.) will lead the Redmen into the 2010-2011 season as a third year veteran. The First-Team All-Star and East Most Valuable Player of the Year finished last season with 25 goals and 29 assists for a total of 54 points. He was also named to the CIS All-Canadian team. The forward will be joined by CIS Defenceman of the Year Marc-Andre Dorion (St. Hubert, Que.). Dorion will be returning for his third season as a Redman and was also a First-Team All-Star and named to the CIS All-Canadian team. The list doesn’t stop there. The Redmen will lose no significant players and will have a roster similar to last year including third ranked goalie Hubert Morin (St-Georges-du-Beauce, Que.) who is set to return as well as Alexandre Picard-Hooper (Boucherville, Que.) who led the league in assists and was a First-Team All-Star.
The Redmen begin their season in Toronto against the Varsity Blues on Friday, October 8. Last season the Blues were only one spot behind the Redmen in the OUA East but lost out to the Ryerson Rams early in the playoffs. Forward Byron Elliott (Burlington, Ont.) will continue to pace the offence up front for the Blues this year. Elliott was fourth in the league in scoring last year with a total of 44 points and was a Second-Team All-Star. Toronto will have two significant losses this season. First-Team All-Star defenceman Eddie Snetsinger (Ajax, Ont.) will be leaving Toronto to play professional hockey in Europe and Second-Team All-Star Brendan Sherrard’s (Etobicoke, Ont.) five years are up.
The Lakehead Thunderwolves lost out in the finals at the CIS championships last March but look to redeem themselves in OUA as the hockey season kicks off. Although the Thunderwolves will not have Second-Team All-Star Scott Dobben (Drayton, Ont.) returning on offence, forward Victor Anilane (Gothenburg, Sweden) will be only in his second season coming off an impressive rookie year. Anilane was chosen for the All-Rookie team in the OUA West. Lakehead will also have a returning goalie in Kyle Moir (Calgary, Alta.), a fourth-year veteran with lots of experience.
Lakehead will take on the Waterloo Warriors in their season opener at Fort William Gardens on Friday, October 8. The Warriors finished second in the West last year just one point away from Western. Waterloo boasts four returning All-Stars from last year. West Defenceman of the Year Kyle Sonnenburg (Waterloo, Ont.) was a First-Team All-Star and will be returning for his fourth season to command the defence along with Second-Team All-Star defenceman Steve Whitely (Petrolia, Ont.). Goalie Keaton Hartigan (Kitchener, Ont.) was named the First-Team All-Star netminder in the West and will be on the ice this season for the Warriors. Most importantly, West MVP, CIS All-Canadian and First-Team All-Star Chris Ray (Kelowna, B.C.)will be looked upon to redeem the second place finishers after an upset by the Windsor Lancers in last season’s playoffs.
The UQTR Patriotes came third in OUA last year and led the entire league with 48 points on the season. Finishing first in the East, UQTR lost in the semi-finals to the reigning OUA champs in the first two games in a best-out-of-three series. The Patriotes boast Francis Charland (Victoriaville, Que.). The centre was just one goal away from tying with Verreault-Paul from McGill as leading scorer in OUA and made it as a First-Team All-Star in the East. UQTR’s other star player is goalie Jean-Christophe Blanchard (Trois Rivieres, Que.). Blanchard only allowed 2.28 goals per game on average, the lowest in the league, and was the First-Team All-Star goalie. UQTR will face Nipissing in their first regular season game on Friday, October 8.
The Western Mustangs, champs from 2008-2009 finished at the top of the West with 42 points but it wouldn’t be enough to defeat the Thunderwolves in the semi-finals last year. The strong Mustang team had five different award winners, and have four of them returning. Western will lose defenceman Ryan Martinelli (London, Ont.) Second-Team All-Star but will still have a strong defence with First-Team All-Star Geoff Killing (Embro, Ont.) and All Rookie Scott Aarssen (London, Ont.). Aarssen was also named to the CIS All-Freshman team. Up front the Mustangs will still have First-Team All- Star Keaton Turkiewicz (Brantford, Ont.), and Second-Team All-Star Aaron Snow (Windsor, Ont.) as their key forwards. Turkiewicz and Snow both finished the season with 43 points, tied for fifth in OUA.
The Guelph Gryphons will host the Western Mustangs on Thursday, October 7in their home opener. The Gryphons have promising talent in the ranks. Defenceman Tim Priamo (Guelph, Ont.) will be coming into his second year after being named to the All-Rookie team in the West and Thomas Kiriakou (Richmond Hill, Ont.) will lead the offence. Kiriakou was named to both the CIS All-Freshman team after his impressive rookie season and was also part of the OUA All-Rookie team. Lastly, goalie Scott VanBommel (Norwich, Ont.) will be returning in net as a fourth ranked goalie in OUA last year only allowing 2.5 goals per game.
Be sure to catch the first game of the season airing at 7:00 p.m. ET on TVCogeco, North Bay Region to see the Ryerson Rams in action against the Nipissing Lakers. Find out when your team plays by checking the OUA website’s broadcast section at http://www.oua.ca/broadcast/television/.
October 1
7:00 Ryerson at Nipissing
7:15 York at Brock
October 7
7:30 UOIT at Wilfrid Laurier
7:30 Western at Guelph
October 8
7:00 Windsor at York
7:00 Queen’s at Ottawa
7:00 UQTR at Nipissing
7:00 Carleton at RMC
7:15 Guelph at Brock
7:30 McGill at Toronto
7:30 Concordia at Ryerson
7:30 Waterloo at Lakehead
October 9
2:00 Windsor at York
2:00 Carleton at Ryerson
4:00 McGill at Nipissing
7:00 Ottawa at RMC
7:30 Wilfrid Laurier at UOIT
7:30 Waterloo at Lakehead
7:30 UQTR at Toronto
8:30 Concordia at Queen’s
