BELOW THE C’S: HURRICANES ONLY OJHL TEAM WITH HOME, AWAY CAPTAINS
A series of stories on the team captains in the Ontario Junior Hockey League during the 2017-18 season:
By Ron Valentine
The NEWMARKET HURRICANES are the only OJHL club to name a 'home' and 'away' captain this season.
Wearing the 'C' on home ice is veteran CHRISTIAN DEDONATO (Photo by Tim Bates / OJHL Images) and on the road it will be OWEN RAMSAY. (Owen' bio appeared in a previous post). Christian has appeared in 203 regular season games prior to the start of this one, perhaps the most in the league. He is used to responsibility being a captain in midget hockey.
He has scored 61 regular season goals in the last two terms but is not overly concerned about the club's modest goal output to date as the coach has been stressing the need for a defense-first style, and it has paid off since they are challenging for first overall in the North/East Conference.
Not overly vocal in the room, he says what needs to be said. Assistant captains on the club this year are veterans Alex Ierullo and Ryan Hunt. He looked forward to the games this season against local rivals the Aurora Tigers, who are be much more competitive this time around and are eager for the top spot in the North.
The 'iron man' says he wants to continue playing hockey after junior at either the U Sports or NCAA D3 level in the U.S.
Christian has high hopes for rookie blueliners Adrian Nabuurs and Robbie Cranston and praises the “superhuman” efforts of Fraser Kirk in the Hurricanes' net.
