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With 2019 quickly finding itself in the rear-view mirror, the calendar year produced some interesting and fun stories on the local sports scene.
From looking back at an impressive Ontario Hockey League career to familiar faces changing places, here are five of my most memorable stories from 2019, in no particular order.
In the final days of the Ontario Hockey League regular season, players are coming to the end of the road in their OHL careers and are more reflective on their time in the league.
On the final weekend of the 2018-19 regular season, former Soo Greyhounds forward Morgan Frost was named the team MVP for the season.
After earning the honour, Frost had plenty of good to say about his time in the Sault.
The Philadelphia Flyers forward said that his time in Sault Ste. Marie brought him “way too many memories to account for.”
It was a time of change for Team Jacobs in the spring of 2019.
The team announced in mid-March that longtime third Ryan Fry was leaving the team at the end of the season, ending a run of seven seasons together.
Brad Jacobs was candid in discussing the decision at the time.
Jacobs said the change was a “fresh start.”
“We had a conversation and mutually agreed that all four of us needed a fresh start,” Jacobs said. “We all agreed that our team had reached its expiry date, and that was it.”
Just weeks after announcing Fry would be leaving the team at the end of the season, Team Jacobs announced that Marc Kennedy would be joining the team in his place.
Kennedy, who filled on for Fry during a Curling Canada event earlier in the season, said at the time that he “was a bit surprised to get the call.”
Joining Team Jacobs meant a return to the sport after taking a year off from competitive curling.
A two-time Olympian, Kennedy said there were a lot of factors that went into his decision to return.
“That’s a big reason for me joining this team is knowing these guys have been there and they know what it takes to win and the drive that they have to get back,” Kennedy said at the time. “Those are all important factors in me coming back and joining these guys. In a way, it doesn’t give us an edge because there are a lot of teams that have won a lot, but we do know what it takes. I can tell by talking to them that they want to get back to the Olympics and so do I. It’s the most fun event in all of sports. We have that incoming and I look forward to seeing what this team can accomplish.”
Moving into the fall, the high school football season was in full swing.
They were the top two teams in the city high school football loop at the junior level and it was fitting that they met in the city final.
Powered by a run game that featured big days from Dean Breton (214 yards on 30 carries), Caidan McLeod (75 yards on 11 carries), and Gabe Barkley (40 yards on 14 carries), the Superior Heights Steelhawks beat the Korah Colts 21-0 in the city final.
The Steelhawks win ended a three-year run as city champs for the Colts in junior football.
Superior Heights proceeded to cap off the season with a 63-3 win over Sudbury’s St. Charles in the Northern Ontario Secondary Schools Athletics (NOSSA) final.
New players joining the Soo Greyhounds isn’t uncommon.
Players joining the team from western Canada is another story.
Adding goaltender Bailey Brkin has been a positive for the Greyhounds after he joined the team in mid-November after spending time in the Western Hockey League.
Brkin has had a positive impact on a Sault team that was struggling at the time of a deal with the Kingston Frontenacs, who claimed him off waivers before dealing him to the Greyhounds.
A well-spoken Canadian Hockey League veteran, Brkin spoke candidly of what it was like playing in the WHL and making the jump to the OHL in what was a whirlwind stretch for the netminder.
Honourable Mention: Being in attendance for the Memorial Cup every year is something that I look forward to.
Watching the tournament final when the host team makes it to the final day gives the game an added excitement.
I don’t know that I’ve been in an arena quite as loud as Scotiabank Centre in Halifax with the Mooseheads facing their Quebec Major Junior Hockey League rival, the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in the 2019 tournament final in May.
The only rink that may have exceeded the decibel level was Shawinigan in 2012 when the host Shawinigan Cataractes beat the OHL’s London Knights in overtime to win the event.
The Mooseheads fell to the Huskies in the final but being there and live updating the game for SooToday partner HalifaxToday was well worth it.