Touré follows former Hawks head coach Dorval to Sudbury
Towering Hawkesbury Hawks defenseman Djibril Touré is following former Hawks head coach Rick Dorval to the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).
The Sudbury Wolves announced last week that Touré was one of four players who have committed to the hockey club for the 2022-2023 OHL season, following the end of the Wolves’ training camp on September 2.
Touré from Dorval, Québec, is a 6’7, 196-pound, 19-year-old defenseman. During his 2021-22 campaign he played for the Carleton Place Canadians and the Hawks in the Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL), registering 2 goals and 12 assists through 45 games played.
“With Djibril, he was a free agent invite and he’s a guy that came in and made his presence felt right away,” said Rob Papineau, Sudbury Wolves Vice President and General Manager in a press release from the team. “I think anyone that was in the arena during any of the scrimmages was able to identify him very quickly. He’s a 6’7, right-shot defenseman with a very strong physical element to his game.”
Papineau was impressed by Touré at the Wolves training camp, and said Dorval’s recommendation was what brought the skilled rearguard to the Wolves attention.
“(Touré) skates extremely well and shoots the puck very hard. He was one of the top defenseman in the CCHL last season and had a really good playoff run in Hawkesbury,” Papineau said. “Our Assistant Coach Rick Dorval knows Djibril very well and we were excited to bring him into camp and even more excited to sign him.”
Chenier returns to Hawks as goaltending coach
The Hawks added another piece to the coaching staff with the hiring of Mathieu Chenier as the team’s goaltending coach.
Chenier played 39 games with Hawkesbury in 2019-2020, sporting a 24-12 record, along with a stellar 2.68 Goals Against Average and .916 save percentage.
Prior to his time with the Hawks, Mathieu played with the Faucons of Ecole Secondaire Le Sommet.
Chenier is extremely happy to rejoin the Hawks’ organization, saying, “I am honoured and excited to be part of this amazing organization again. Looking forward to a great season!”
Welcome back to the Nest, Mathieu!
Hawks exhibition season underway
The Hawks got their exhibition season underway with a game against the Rockland Nationals on Tuesday September 6 at the Rockland Arena (score unavailable at press time).
The two teams are scheduled to face off again on Wednesday evening (September 7), beginning at 7 p.m. at the Robert Hartley Sports Complex in Hawkesbury.
The Hawks continue a busy pre-season week with a game in Cornwall against the Colts on Thursday (September 8) and then play the Colts again in Hawkesbury on Friday evening (September 10). Game time is 7:30 p.m.
Next week the Hawks will face Rockland at home on Tuesday, September 13, at 7 p.m. and then play Cornwall at the Robert Hartley Sports Complex on Friday, September 16 beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Known as Vankleek Hill’s Sports Authority, Mackenzie Hinton writes regular sports updates on his popular Facebook page. Mac is the statistician for the Vankleek Hill Cougars, Hawkesbury Hawks, and Alexandria Glens Junior hockey clubs. His column appears weekly in The Review.
