On February 25th, 2020, the CCHL announced the sale of the Kanata Lasers franchise to new owners Jim Seyers and Ryan Leonard. Playing their first full season in their new home of Renfrew, the Jr. A club is a top 4 team in the league and tied 1-1 in their semi-final series with the top seeded Ottawa Jr. Senators.
Born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie, Ryan Leonard stated that hockey is in his blood. Leonard was a point per game player in the NOJHL and spent 17 seasons coaching Jr. A in Northern Ontario following his playing career.
“I was building programs year after year in Northern Ontario because of the high turnover with players getting recruited and moving elsewhere,” said Leonard. “My wife and I saw a good opportunity in becoming part owners of a CCHL franchise and ran with it. We love the community here; Renfrew is definitely a hockey town.”
Leonard’s role includes being the team’s Head Coach as well as the General Manager. His team has seen instant success, finishing 4th place with a 35-17-3 record in the regular season. The Wolves followed up the regular season by defeating the Kemptville 73’s in 6 games to advance to the league semi-finals.
“Becoming a contender is all about recruiting players with the right character. We know we have to bring in guys that are experienced and gritty. We like to make sure we have four good lines that we can rely on and that is how we build our program. We build from the back out, our goaltender (Will Craig, ’02, Ennismore, ON) is solid and we have great defense.”
The Wolves opened the series against the Jr. Senators with a 3-1 win on Saturday night. “I liked our poise in Game 1,” said Leonard. “We came out hard and took it to them, got an early 2-0 lead and were able to hang on.”
Renfrew were outshot 18-8 in the first period of Game 2 but were able to enter the first intermission tied 1-1. Ottawa regained the lead two minutes into the 2nd period and held a one goal advantage until there was under five minutes left in regulation. Jr. Senators forward Vincent Velocci (’02, Toronto) scored his 5th of the playoffs in the 1st overtime period to even the series.
“Tonight we looked a little tired and sluggish early, but as the game went on we got better and better,” said Leonard. “From Wednesday to Sunday we have a stretch of 4 games in 5 days and it is going to be some tough hockey. It is going to be a good series for sure, and we are looking forward to it.”
Remaining Schedule:
Game 3 – Wednesday, April 27, 8:30pm @ Jim Durrell
Game 4 – Friday, April 29, 7:00 @ Ma-te-Way
Game 5 – Saturday, April 30, 7:30 @ Jim Durrell
Game 6 – Sunday, May 1, 6:00 @ Ma-te-Way
Game 7 – Tuesday, May 3, 8:30 @ Jim Durrell
Other Score: Hawkesbury 4 Brockville 3 (2OT) (Hawkesbury lead series 1-0)
