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NOJHL NOTEBOOK: Four area teams busy with player signings and other summer business

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It is late June, which is still early in the junior hockey off-season.
In fact, the start of the 2020-2021 Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League season is at least three months away — and maybe longer.
But neither the warmth of the summer sun nor the COVID-19 pandemic can put a halt to off-season hockey business.
To be sure, some teams in the NOJHL have re-opened for the business of signing players — returning and incoming — ahead of the 2020-2021 campaign.
Following is a Sault This Week reprise of signings, commitments and other assorted notes from four area NOJHL teams:

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BLIND RIVER BEAVERS
Beavers coach-general manager Kyle Brick has confirmed the signing of multiple incoming players with northern roots.
Under Brick, the Beavers are fresh from four straight winning seasons including a 37-15-4 mark from the 2019-2020 campaign.
At any rate, crackerjack coach Brick has acknowledged the addition of five rookies from the midget ranks — goalie Gavin Disano, defencemen Mason Berthiaume and Teegan Dumont, center Devin Mauro and right winger Blake McNally.
All of the players have 2003 birth dates with the exception of Mauro, who was born in 2004.
Disano (Soo Jr. Greyhounds), Berthiaume (Timmins Majors), Dumont (Sudbury Nickel Capital Wolves) and Mauro (Soo Jr. Greyhounds) all played in the Great North Midget Hockey League in 2019-2020.
The 6-foot-2, 200-pound McNally, meanwhile, played midget hockey in Blind River in 2019-2020 and also got into eight NOJHL games with the hometown Beavers, scoring three goals, two assists, five points in impressive fashion.
As a goalie, Disano played in 19 games totaling 912 minutes for the Jr. Greyhounds in 2019-2020 and had a 2.56 goals against average.
Berthiaume, a 5-foot-10, 190-pound defender, showed an offensive side with Timmins in 2019-2020 with 12 goals, seven assists, 19 points.
And Dumont, who is a strapping 6-foot-2, 210-pound blue liner, also showed his offensive capabilities with the Sudbury major midgets by netting 11 goals, nine assists, 20 points.
Of note, Dumont has been invited to the Ontario Hockey League training camp of the London Knights as an un-drafted free agent.
As for Mauro, there is double trouble ahead in Blind River.
That is, the Beavers will have a brother act in place for the 2020-2021 season in that Devin Mauro will join his older sibling Justin Mauro in Blind River for the upcoming NOJHL campaign.
Devin, who has a 2004 birth date, finished second on the Great North Midget Hockey League scoring chart in 2019-2020 by netting 30 goals, 32 assists, 62 points in 38 games for the Soo Jr. Greyhounds.
A 5-foot-6, 150-pound forward, Devin was subsequently taken by the Sudbury Wolves in the 11th round of this year’s OHL priority selections draft.
Justin, meanwhile, has already played two full seasons in the NOJHL for Blind River and has totaled 26 goals, 54 assists, 80 points in 92 games.
A 5-foot-8, 150-pound forward with a 2002 birth date, Justin was picked by the Erie Otters in the 15th round of the 2018 OHL priority selections draft.
The Mauro boys are the sons of Tom and Rachel Mauro of Sault Ste. Marie.
Besides the newcomers, Beavers assistant coach/assistant general manager Craig MacDonald confirmed to Sault This Week that 13 players from the 2019-2020 team have signed up to return to Blind River for the 2020-2021 campaign.
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ESPANOLA EXPRESS
Hard working forwards with good character to match, Cole Delarosbil and Brennen Martel have confirmed a return to Espanola for a second season.
Delarosbil is from Sault Ste. Marie and Martel hails from Timmins. Delarosbil stands in at 6-foot-1, 190 pounds while Martel is 5-foot-8, 150 pounds.
Both players have 2001 birth dates.
Prior to becoming NOJHL rookies with Espanola in 2019-2020, the two were opponents in the aforementioned Great North Midget Hockey League — Delarosbil with the Soo Jr. Greyhounds and Martel as a member of the Timmins Majors.
Delarosbil produced six goals, three assists, nine points in just 27 outings in his debut season with Espanola.
And Martel got into 37 of Espanola’s 56 regular season games as an Express rookie in 2019-2020 and contributed three goals, three assists, six points as a relentless performer.
With general manager Jason Rapcewicz and head coach Dave Clancy at the helm, the Express improved from a 10-43-3 record in 2018-2019 to a 17-34-5 mark in 2019-2020, which was an increase of 16 points in the standings.
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SOO EAGLES
The Michigan-based Eagles have received permission from the Hearst Lumberjacks to talk to goalie Noah Zeppa relative to a potential transaction between the two NOJHL teams.
Eagles general manager Bruno Bragagnolo confirmed to Sault This Week that he has received the go-ahead from Lumberjacks coach-GM Marc Lafleur to speak with Zeppa.
Zeppa, who has a December, 2002 birth date, is coming off of a 2019-2020 season in which he played in only nine games because of concussion-related issues.
Zeppa, who is from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., has requested to be traded from Hearst so he can pursue his post secondary education closer to home.
Prior to last season, as a goalie for the lowly Soo Jr. Greyhounds of the Great North Midget Hockey League in 2018-2019, Zeppa was named the loop’s most valuable player.
He was subsequently taken by the Soo Greyhounds in the second round of the 2019 Ontario Hockey League under-18 draft.
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SOO THUNDERBIRDS
A big off-season move by Thunderbirds general manager Trev Zachary was the hiring of an all-new coaching staff.
In a shrewd show, Zachary brought in head coach Denny Lambert and a bench staff of assistants Jeremy Stevenson, Micky Sartoretto and Aidan Wright to take over a Thunderbirds team that registered a record of 30-19-7 in 2019-2020.
The 50-year-old Lambert, who played and coached with distinction in the OHL with the Soo Greyhounds and who is a warhorse of over 500 National Hockey League games as an overachieving left winger, will take the reins of the Thunderbirds from John Parco, who led the Soo squad to three successive winning seasons before a mutual parting of ways with management earlier this spring.
On the player side, Zachary as the GM has signed two rookie forwards from the major midget Soo Jr. Greyhounds in Michael Chaffay and Ty Zachary.
Chaffay was second on the Jr. Greyhounds in scoring in 2019-2020 with 34 goals, 19 assists, 53 points in 35 games.
And Zachary was a factor of his own with 11 goals, 28 assists, 39 points — numbers that were fourth highest among Jr. Greyhound skaters.

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