Lucas Punkari
A pair of Fort Frances hockey players will be going up against the top 1997 birthdate players in all of Ontario in two weeks.
Thunder Bay Kings’ goalie Brandon Bodnar and Fort Frances Muskie defenceman Carter Brown will be playing for Team HNO at the OHL Gold Cup tournament, which runs May 9-12 in Kitchener.
“I’m pretty much ready to go right now and I think everyone on the team can say that,” the 15-year-old Brown enthused.
“I’m very excited about having an opportunity to play for this team, and it’s going to be an awesome experience with a great group of guys,” echoed Bodnar.
Brown and Bodnar made the final 20-man roster with their showings at the main camp in Thunder Bay, which took place on the first weekend of April.
“I just went out and tried to have fun out there while also playing my game,” explained Bodnar, who also is 15.
“I was able to stop the puck the entire time that I was there, which was obviously a huge thing, and I was also being aggressive in goal, which worked out quite well for me,” he added.
“I felt like I did really well in the corners and in moving the puck along the boards,” said Brown.
“I was just trying to grind it out down low during the camp, and I also felt that I played well both offensively and defensively,” he noted.
The OHL Gold Cup—a new tournament for this season—features eight teams from six minor hockey associations from around the province (Alliance, GTHL, HNO, NOHA, ODHA, and OMHA), allowing the top under-16 players in the province to showcase their skills ahead of this summer’s Team Ontario training camp.
That main camp will help determine the final roster for the annual World Under-17 Challenge tournament, which will be held Dec. 29-Jan. 4 in Victoriaville and Drummondville, Que.
“While there will be a winner from this tournament, the main focus is for everyone to have equal playing time on each of the teams and to give them a chance to impress the scouts and evaluators that are in attendance to determine the roster for the main training camp,” said Wayne Strachan, who is head coach of the HNO team.
“Brandon will be a big part of the team as he had a successful season with the Thunder Bay Kings, and goaltending is always a key in any game that you are involved with,” Strachan added.
“This event will also be a great opportunity for Carter to showcase himself in front of people that may not know that much about him, especially since the Muskies didn’t have a chance to go to OFSAA this year.”
The majority of the HNO roster comes from the Thunder Bay Kings’ organization, which is something Bodnar and Brown feel will be a big benefit heading into the tournament.
“We have a lot of chemistry together, and we are all good buddies both on and off the ice,” Bodnar explained.
“I got the chance to meet a lot of the guys on the Kings when I went to a tryout there, and I had a lot of fun with them as they are all players that I got to know and I like right away,” said Brown.
One of the biggest challenges for Brown is the fact he’ll be going up against many of the top players in the province for the first time, including forwards Travis Konecny and Dylan Strome, who were the top two selections in this year’s OHL Priority Selection.
“It will be a new experience for me as I haven’t really played that fast pace of hockey,” Brown conceded.
“The Muskies play at a good pace, but the U16 teams are at a high intensity so it’s going to be a challenge.
“But it’s something that I am looking forward to,” he stressed.
Going up against the top players in the province is something that’s quite familiar for Bodnar, however, as he and the Kings competed at a number of events over the season.
“We have played in four tournaments in the Toronto area this season, so it’s something that we’re used to already,” he remarked.
While Bodnar and Brown are wanting to have strong individual performances at the OHL Gold Cup, both mainly are focusing their intentions on helping the team compete to its fullest.
“We all want to go and do the best we can [but] as long as we can stick together, it doesn’t matter whether we do good or bad,” Bodnar reasoned.
“If we represent the region well as a team, I think it’ll be a successful week,” agreed Brown.
