The Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League is in its Christmas Break with action resuming next Thursday, Jan. 4.
Commissioner Robert Mazzuca says he’s thrilled with competition shown and it feels like playoff time every night. He adds the off-season move of the Cochrane franchise to Iroquois Falls has gone well.
“They’re battling for a playoff spot. It will probably go down to the final game I believe,” he said. “Things are going well with Tyler and Tom Nickolau running the operations. It’s gone as expected. Iroquois Falls has a rich tradition in the NOJHL and so far so good.”
The Storm sits in the fourth and final playoff spot in the East Division one point ahead of Kirkland Lake.
Mazzuca expects a decision on the Elliot Lake Vikings franchise in January. The Vikings are playing out of Massey due to arena problems in Elliot Lake. He was told that the town of Elliot Lake will spend the necessary funding to repair the facility.
He adds that attendance numbers are also on the rise.
“We’re up year to date comparable to last year, previous year with the exception of COVID,” he said. “It’s a 27 to 30 per cent increase on average across the whole league.”