Braydon Garnhart will be back between the pipes for the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners’ 2023/2024 season. PHOTO/Thomas Perry THOMAS PERRY/THE DAILY PRESS jpg, KW, apsmc
Brad Sherratt – Kirkland Lake Northern News
With the 2023/2024 Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League season just around the corner, the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners have made several moves.
To this point, three players from last year’s team will be back in the fold. Goaltender Braydon Garnhart, forward Nolan Rosko-Fong and defenceman Cameron Allen.
Last season, Garnhart played in 33 games for the Gold Miners. He had a record of 5-23-1 with a goals against average of 5.19 and a save percentage of .879. The Roscoe Illinois product played a total of 1757 minutes in the 2022-2023 season.
In his first full season last year Kirkland Laker Rosko-Fong played 31 games where he picked up one goal, one assist and 20 minutes in penalties.
Sudbury’s Allen is also entering his second season with the Gold Miners. Last year in 49 games he picked up one goal and five assists for six points with 14 minutes in penalties.
In terms of new signings, the club has signed goaltender Connor Davis. The 5’ 11”, 172 pound 17-year-old, from Belle River, Ontario played last season for the Windsor Jr. Spitfires U18 AAA. In 22 games he had a 1.53 goals against average with three shut outs. He also played one game for the LaSalle Vipers of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League where he had a G.A.A. of 3 with a save percentage of .917. He also attended the Ontario Hockey League’s Saginaw Spirit 2023 developmental camp.
The club has also signed forward Ryan Greco. The 6’0” 165 pounder from Cavan, Ontario played with the Peterborough Petes U18 AAA program last year. In 50 games last season, he picked up 8 goals and 7 assists for 15 points with 12 minutes in penalties.
The club has also signed centerman Jonah McIndoo. The 16-year-old Windsor product played last season for the A21 Academy U18 program, where in 40 games he garnered 21 goals and 18 assists for 39 points and 16 minutes in penalties.
The club also inked forward Jared Gull- Georgekish. The 18-year-old is listed at 5’9” and 141 pounds and is from Waswanipi, Quebec. Last year he played for the CIHA Voyageurs U17 prep team where he had 3 goals and 3 assists in 9 games.
The club has also signed defenceman Michael Dominic –Robertson. The 18-year-old resident of Mashteuiatsh, Quebec is listed at 5’9” and weighs in at 192 pounds. Last year he played with AAA Jonquiere and the Roberval Sabers Junior B.
Meantime the team has parted ways with three members of last year’s team. On June 7th it was announced the Gold Miners traded blue-liner Charlie Fowler to the OJHL’s St. Michael’s Buzzers in exchange for a player development fee.
Fowler, a 6-0, 185-pound, 2004-birth-year right hand-shooting defender from Innisfil, Ont., started the 2022-23 season with the West Division’s Soo Thunderbirds (12, 0-0-0, 8) before being acquired by the Gold Miners (28, 2-4-6, 12) in exchange for a player development fee on Nov. 11.
The Gold Miners have also released John Paul Scaringi and Aaron Burtschinger. Over two seasons with the Gold Miners, Scaringi played a total of 82 games, the Woodbridge, Ontario product scored 45 points on 15 goals and 30 assists.
Burtschinger played in 12 games last season for Kirkland Lake. The Winnipeg product picked up one goal and four assists for five points.
Gold Miners’ vice president of hockey operations Landon Lavictoire says he is excited by the signings and notes that more player signing announcements are expected to come shortly.
-With files from Thomas Perry
