By Matt Stefano
A former T-Bird is getting into the Spirit!
The Ontario Hockey League’s Saginaw Spirit have announced on Monday that they have hired former Soo Thunderbirds forward Nick Tassone as the club’s Northern Ontario Scout for the 2022-2023 season.
“It feels good to join the Spirit organization in a scouting capacity,” said twenty-eight-year-old Tassone. “I’d like to thank head scout Greg Hammel and general manager Dave Drinkill for entrusting me with this opportunity. This is something I have wanted to do for quite some time, and to begin with such an amazing organization is truly an honour.”
Tassone, who is from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, played two seasons with his hometown Soo Thunderbirds from 2013-2015, where he recorded 50 goals and 60 assists in 106 games played.
In his final season with the Soo Thunderbirds in 2014-2015, Tassone also helped the Thunderbirds win a Copeland Cup McNamara Trophy followed by a Dudley Hewitt Cup title.
“The Soo Thunderbirds were a big part of my life for two years and I’ve made some lifelong memories and relationships playing for them,” Tassone said. “Our Dudley Hewitt Cup winning team in 2014-2015 is something that I will never forget and I’m proud that a number of my former teammates and staff still keep in touch and are still friends to this day.”
FACT
Twenty-eight-year-old Nick Tassone is the latest Saultite to join the Ontario Hockey League’s Saginaw Spirit.
DID YOU KNOW?
The Saginaw Spirit currently have one Sault-born player on their roster in Calem Mangone.
Mangone, who is about to enter his second season with the Spirit, had 13 goals and 21 assists in 47 games with them as a rookie in 2021-2022.
THE MOORE THE BETTER
Sticking with Sault ties, this season the Saginaw Spirit will also have former Soo Jr. Greyhounds forward Lincoln Moore.
Moore, who is from Garden River, Ontario, was selected first overall in this year’s Ontario Hockey League Under-18 Draft, after spending last season with the Great North Under-18 Hockey League’s Soo Jr. Greyhounds, where he led the league in scoring with 37 points in 24 regular season games.
Last season, the Garden River, Ontario product also helped the Jr. Greyhounds win the Great North Under-18 Hockey League championship.
(Photo of Nick Tassone with the Soo Thunderbirds credit to Jim Egan)
