Hudson Chitaroni focused on next season in Sudbury, playing pro hockey
With the Sudbury Wolves pushing to solidify their playoff position, an untimely injury to overage centreman Kocha Delic could have sent the team tumbling down the OHL standings.
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Encouraged by the play of their rookie forwards, however, head coach Scott Barney and company were hopeful players such as Hudson Chitaroni would make the most of their opportunity for more ice time and lead the club to a strong finish.
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Moving into Sudbury's top six, Chitaroni responded with his strongest stretch of the season with 11 points in 10 games, including three goals and three assists during a pivotal five-game winning streak through early March that secured a sixth-place finish in the Eastern Conference.
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'It's always nice to put up numbers and what not, but I'm a guy who always believes in himself and I believe in my abilities,' said the 17-year-old Sault Ste. Marie resident, reached in his hometown earlier this week.
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'With Delic out, somebody needed to step up. I was given that opportunity and ran with it and I ended up doing pretty well for myself.'
Despite suffering his own late-season injury that surely hampered his contributions during the first round of the OHL playoffs, which saw the Pack eliminated by the Kingston Frontenacs in four games, the Soo Junior Greyhounds minor hockey product surely didn't lose any stock with big-league scouts for a lack of effort. Indeed, it's Chitaroni's commitment and character, as much as the impressive skill set that yielded a total of nine goals and 16 assists in his first year of major junior action, that have made the 5-foot-10, 178-pounder one of the Wolves' best hopes for a pick in the NHL Entry Draft this weekend.
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Round 1 of the annual draft goes Friday at 7 p.m., followed by Rounds 2-7 on Saturday at noon.
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'Obviously, getting drafted would be cool, but it's not really my main focus,' Chitaroni said. 'It's an invite to the dance. If I don't get drafted, it's not a big deal. I want to play pro one day and I just have to keep working and to keep listening to my coaches and doing everything I can to really improve and to just focus on myself as see how I do.'
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One of three sons of former Wolves captain Terry Chitaroni to become major-junior draft picks, between defenceman Mason and winger Brock, Hudson Chitaroni became Sudbury's third-round choice in the 2023 OHL Priority Selection after a stellar 22-goal, 26-assist season with the Junior Hounds in the Great North Under-18 League. He was also a standout for Team NOHA at the 2023 OHL Cup showcase in Toronto, managing to hit the score sheet despite battling an illness that might have forced other players out of the lineup.
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As Gia Rocca attempts to make a play on the football field at Sudbury's James Jerome Sports Complex, her female teammates cheer her on. It's a new feeling for the 15-year-old quarterback to be playing with other women football players. Until this year, Rocca's only played against boys, but she now plays for the Sudbury Spartans women's tackle team, after the organization added an Under 16 and an Under 19 team to its football program this spring. "It's been awesome. The girls are so awesome and the coaching staff, they're always willing to help us," said Rocca. Rocca started playing tackle football in Grade 8 when she joined the local Joe MacDonald youth league. Although the league is co-ed, Rocca was only one of two girls on her team. "A lot of girls want to play and they've been looking for an opportunity to play," said Rocca. "But…it's really hard to play on the boys football teams for school, and it's scary to try to do that because it's really intimidating." Tackle football has been a staple in Sudbury for decades, with the men's Sudbury Spartans having teams since the 1950s. Over the last few years, there's been a quiet, steady growth of women's tackle football in northern Ontario emerging from the shadows. The sport is becoming increasingly popular amongst high school girls looking to try something new. Sudbury's St. Benedict's Catholic Secondary School started a women's tackle football team in 2021, the only program of its kind in the city, while other schools continue to have girls flag football. "High schools had 478 girls playing flag football on 25 teams in Sudbury in the fall. So there's girls that want to play football, and they want to play tackle," said Gord Goddard, who's been coaching the men's Spartans for over 30 years and now coaches the women. It's been a historic summer for women's tackle football in northern Ontario 3 hours ago Recognizing the sport's popularity, the Spartans organization created the U16 and U19 women's teams this year, in partnership with the Ontario Women's Football League (OWFL), with over 50 girls between the ages of 12 and 19 suiting up for the Spartans in the inaugural season. "It was time to have it. It was time to do it," said Goddard. Goddard said the OWFL currently plays in a 6 vs. 6 format, but is looking to expand to a 9 vs. 9 and then eventually the standard 12 vs. 12 format the men's league and Canadian Football League play. The Spartans weren't the only new team joining the league. The North Bay Bulldogs also added a U19 team this year after seeing demand rise in that city. "We're kind of like, paving the way for future generations to be able to play this," said 17-year-old Caileigh Ryan. "We're making history. Girls tackle football is becoming a lot bigger and I'm happy that it's come to Sudbury too." Along with playing for the Spartans, Ryan also suits up for the St. Benedict's high school team and the Team Ontario provincial women's tackle team. She said it's been great to watch the sport expand into northern Ontario and have a lot of fans supporting the girls. "Really grateful that people actually want to come watch girls tackle. It means a lot actually to have that support," said Ryan. Fans had a lot to cheer about when watching the women's Spartans play. In the first season, the U16 women's team made it to the league's semi-finals, while the U19's went all the way to win the Tier II Championship title in July. 15-year-old Robin Price is from Sault Ste. Marie and played on the Korah Collegiate junior boys tackle team last year before also joining Team Ontario. She moved mid-school year to Sudbury to play for the Spartans, being billeted by a local family to have the chance to play girls tackle, since her city doesn't have a team. "I think it's really good for developing more football in the north, because mainly football is down south for females especially, so now North Bay and Sudbury having a team is helpful," said Price. "It would be nice if the Soo had a team though."
