NEWS

Christos Rodis scored in his return to the Pickering Panthers’ lineup Saturday. He last played for the Panthers in March of 2020. (File photo by Shawn Muir / OJHL Images)

BY RON VALENTINE

Five games started off the New Year in the Ontario Junior Hockey League after several contests had to be postponed near the end of 2021 due to COVID-19 protocols. 

Several teams have added players to their active rosters ahead of the Jan. 10 roster deadline. Those moves paid immediate dividends for the North York Rangers and Pickering Panthers.

SATURDAY - Getting 2022 off to a start were the Pickering Panthers and the Spirit in Stouffville and this one would be keyed by a 19-save shutout performance by Zachary Roy as the visitors took the contest by a 5-0 count. Three of their goals came on the power play. Christos Rodis made his season debut for the Panthers. In the 2019-20 season, Rodis had 37 points in 36 games for the Brampton (now Caledon) Admirals before being traded to the Panthers where he had a further 28 points in 22 regular season and playoff contests. Other goal scorers for the winners were Jake Partridge, Myles Perry, Dustin Hutton and Ian Martin. Perry had two assists and Lucas Rowe three. Christos on his return: "It was a great start and I was happy to get back to where I left off. I was able to skate and keep going as much as I could before my return. We're looking forward to keeping the momentum going against the Raiders on Sunday." (That game was postponed due to a burst pipe at the Pickering arena, the Chestnut Hill Developments Recreation Complex.)

SUNDAY - The Toronto Junior Canadiens, who paid their first ever visit to Minden on Dec. 17, were back in cottage country for a matinee performance against the Huskies. Oliver Tarr scored his 24th goal of the season in the middle of period two and that one would stand up until the third when Matthew Wilde tied the game with a power play marker. Toronto’s Christian Catalano then scored his sixth game winner of the season, assisted by Wilde and Tyler Fukakusa, just past the 12 minute mark for the 2-1 final tally.  A 10-game points run for Fukakusa in which he has tallied 16 points. Selby Warren made 42 stops for the victors. The J.C's remained three points behind North York atop the South with three games in hand.

At the Herb, the host North York Rangers took on the Trenton Golden Hawks who had new signing Tanner McEachern from the GOJHL's Niagara Falls Canucks and Jackson Barnes for the Blind River Beavers of the NOJHL in their lineup. The Rangers would win their 23rd, tops in the OJHL, in posting a 7-1 decision. Playing in his their games since being traded from the Mississauga Chargers, Daniel Baldassarra and Nick Cordeiro each had a goal for the home team and 16-year-old AP Kei Hagiwara had his first in the league as the Rangers built up a 4-0 advantage before Dalton Bancroft got the 'Hawks on the board midway through the contest which ended 7-1 in favour of the Rangers. James Gray, in saving 39 Trenton shots, recorded his 16th win of the campaign.

A matinee also at the Gretzky, with the Aurora Tigers, winners of seven of their last 10, in town. Blueliner William Moore's first period score was the only one of the game's first forty minutes. Easton Wainwright, who recently signed a contract with the OHL's Sarnia Sting, scored a shorthanded goal early in the third to tie things up. It was his 20th on the campaign. Not to be outdone the Tigers got a shorthanded score of their own courtesy of Hollander Thompson and that turned out to be the game winner. Ethan McFarland, on the powerplay, and Justin Biraben tallied insurance markers to make the final score 4-1 to the visitors. Goalkeeper Nolan Boyd posted win No. 11 in 14 games played since he joined the club from the Grand Falls Rapids of the Maritime Junior Hockey League. 

In Milton it did not take newly-acquired Burlington Cougar forward and former Stouffville Spirit captain Bailey Kirwin long to make his mark for his new team, scoring the game's opening goal in the first period but that lead was negated by two goals from Holden Rogers (his 20th. and 21st.) to give the Menace a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes. Matt Zebedee, with his 19th, tallied the only goal of the second period to even the contest. In the third frame Rogers quickly claimed the first hat trick in the franchise’s three-year history since moving from Newmarket. But less than two minutes later it was Zebedee with his second and it's tied at threes. The game winner came off the stick of ex-Niagara Ice Dog Ethan Sims with his fourth in a Menace uniform. Holden and captain Jordan Stock drew assists. Final: 4-3 Milton who with the victory moved to second spot in the West, six points behind the Cougars with a game in hand. 

Follow Ron Valentine on Twitter @ronandlynda