The discussion of minor midget AAA hockey in northern Ontario is not a new one. For each of the past six or seven years, a local group has championed the cause of implementing a level of play that exists in all other parts of the province, other than the realm of the Northern Ontario Hockey Association (NOHA).
With little or no success in formalizing a pure minor midget AAA team in the north, locals have contented themselves with the next best option — carding a team of first year midgets at the AA level, applying for entry into top end minor midget AAA tournaments and trying to encourage draft eligible teens to stick with the program.
In years gone by, these goals have been achieved with varying degrees of success. Yet the 2010-2011 edition of the Sudbury Minor Midget Wolves are different, for a couple of notable reasons.
First, no group in recent NOHA history has enjoyed the type of success provincially, that the core group of players in this age bracket have seen. The team medaled at the all-Ontario championships in both peewee AAA and bantam AAA events.
The opportunity is there for kids down south to choose between playing major midget or minor midget hockey. All we are asking is that the same opportunity be presented in northern Ontario.
Darryl Moxam,
coach, Sudbury Minor Midget Wolves
Secondly, no previous group has been able to maintain the numbers, attracting players to the program, at the level of this particular squad. For better or worse, only two members of the 2009-10 Bantam AAA Wolves team have moved on to play Great North Midget League hockey this year.
While rookie coach Darryl Moxam is a newcomer to this particular collection of talent, he is certainly not new to the world of minor and junior hockey. The former OHLer coached the Northern Wolves a few years back and he maintains, like many others, that the primary reason of pursuing minor midget AAA hockey in Sudbury is to create a level playing field.
“The opportunity is there for kids down south to choose between playing major midget or minor midget hockey,” Moxam said. “All we are asking is that the same opportunity be presented in northern Ontario.
“It is the way it is right now, and the fact is that the top draft eligible kids play minor midget hockey down south.”
All of these arguments have been heard before, though perhaps they are ringing louder these days after back-to-back OHL drafts that saw local hopefuls shutout until the ninth and 11th rounds respectively.
“If you look at the past few years, we’re not having as many kids drafted between the fourth and tenth round,” Moxam said. “I’m not saying the kids are any less prepared playing in the Great North Midget League — I came from it, and I believe in it. The problem is that they are not being seen as often, by as many scouts, playing in the Great North Midget League.”
Getting noticed should not be an issue, whatsoever, with the 1995-born lads who lace up the skates for Moxam and company.
Already on the radar-screen provincially, the Minor Midget Wolves only became stronger over the summer with the addition of Iroquois Falls native Ryan Kujawinsky. The prospective first-rounder turned some heads at the season opening tournament in Toronto, scoring in all four games.
Yet he is far from being the only kid likely to attract some attention. Moxam said there are a few factors, both on and off the ice, that have paved the way for the success this group has enjoyed.
“I’ve never seen a group of kids work as hard as they do, or have the willingness to want to succeed, either individually or as a group,” he said. “They are very gifted offensively and skate as fast, if not faster, than any team I saw at our first tournament down south.”
While Moxam brings a fresh set of eyes to the ’95 crew, the same cannot be said for team manager Adrian Gedye, who has essentially filled that role since this team was first assembled some five years ago.
“I can’t get over how close-knit the players are,” Gedye said. “Outside of hockey, they’re all very close friends.”
Fully aware that there are local hockey people who favour the top-end minor midget players suiting up with Great North Midget League entries, Gedye noted that it’s not just the additional exposure that enters into the debate.
Sudbury Wolves second-round pick “Brody Silk was beat up a lot last year,” the team manager said. “He took a lot of abuse playing in a top-end minor midget league against 16 and 17-year-olds.”
Still, the fact that the Minor Midget Wolves have secured entry into top level tournaments in Toronto, Waterloo, Peterborough and Oshawa, not to mention the Silver Stick Invitational, certainly didn’t hurt his cause.
And while it seems likely that the talented teens that comprise the ’95 group will survive all of the back-room meetings and fighting over the players involved, future groups may not be so lucky.
All the more reason for those involved on both sides of the debate to hammer out a solution that benefits young hockey players in northern Ontario.
Randy Pascal is the founder of SudburySports.com and a contributing sports editor for Northern Life.
