Brown, Jones trying to make OHL jump

by Rob Benneian

Two players from the LaSalle Vipers are looking to break the mold and beat the odds by making their way to the OHL.

The majority of young men playing in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League will never get a chance to compete at a higher level.

This is the reality of being a junior hockey player in North America. There are simply too many players who are better, stronger and faster.

One look at the point leaders from the 2011-12 GOJHL season sheds light on this fact.

Of the top 10 scorers just one has ever been a regular player in the Ontario Hockey League. Remove the 133 games played by Ben O’Quinn with the Sarnia Sting from 2007-10, and the GOJHL’s point leaders last season have a combined 38 games of OHL experience to their records.

These players are the absolute best of the best at their level averaging better than a point-and-a-half per game and they can’t make the jump to the OHL.

Tecumseh’s Blake Jones and Kingston, Ont. native Graeme Brown, both 16, are honing their skills with the Vipers while making a great enough impression to earn an OHL call-up.

Jones is the son of former Windsor Spitfires coach Bob Jones and was drafted in round 14 of the 2011 OHL Priority Selection by the Erie Otters. A hard-hitting forward out of the Sun County Panthers AAA hockey program, Jones said he is trying to adjust to the speed of junior hockey.

“Get faster, getting used to playing with faster, stronger guys, that’s why they sent me down here to develop,” Jones said.

Brown, a slick-skating defenceman, was a third round pick by the Spitfires in 2012. Windsor is currently carrying eight defenceman on their roster and John Bowen, the team’s eighth blue liner, has yet to see game action. With a number of players blocking his path to the OHL, Brown is biding his time with the Vipers. He said when he gets his opportunity he will take advantage of it.

“I think I’ve got a chance to make it (permanently onto the Spitfires this season),” Brown said. “I think if I go up there, play a few good games, I’ve got a good shot at doing it.”

Goaltender Jordan DeKort, defenceman Jordan McNaughton and forward Sam Studnicka are the only three members of the Spitfires who were primarily GOJHL players in 2011.

If Brown and Jones are going to achieve their goal of playing in the OHL, they are going to have to defy the odds.

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