Espanola works to recruit
Espanola Paper Kings are a small market team in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. But despite a northern location — Espanola is about 40 miles northwest of Sudbury — the Paper Kings have been able to recruit multiple players from other parts of Ontario and into New York ahead of the ’25-26 season.
While Espanola has stayed in its area to sign nine players from the north region for the ’25-26 season, no less than seven others are from all over the province — while another is an American.
Thanks to the recruiting efforts of Paper Kings general manager Marc Gagnon and a committed ownership under head coach Jason Rapcewicz, those who will venture hundreds of miles from home to play in Espanola this coming season include goalies Jack Helkie (Aurora) and Logan Vale (Belleville), defensemen Nolan Garrard (Owen Sound) and Liam Shaw (Brantford) and forwards Callum Millar (Aurora), Joseph Coates (Belleville), Graydon Guthrie (Bracebridge) and Jason Galante (Buffalo, N.Y.)
Quite a testament to a northern team in a small town.
Meanwhile, a Paper Kings grad of note is 2006 birth year defenseman Conor Walton of the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League. A Toronto product, Walton spent the ’22-23 season in the NOJHL with Espanola before moving up to Windsor and the OHL.