By Paul Svoboda
The Deseronto Bulldogs and Tweed Oil Kings both ushered in the new year with victories in their first games of the 2026 portion of their respective 2025-26 regular season schedules in the Northern Premier Sr. A Hockey League last weekend.
Deseronto, 9-0-1 in its last 10 outings, tripped the hometown Tamworth Sabres 8-2 while the Oil Kings grounded the Durham Hawks 7-3 in Tweed. The other local squad in the NPHL, the Wellington-based PEC Royals, dropped a 7-3 road decision at Lindsay to the Barncats.
BULLDOGS 8, SABRES 2
Deseronto led 4-1 after 20 minutes and never looked back. Luc Brown, Jordon Cannons and Ian Harrison powered the Bulldogs attack with two goals each while Dorian Overland contributed a solo marker.
Deseronto outshot the hometown Sabres by the whopping margin of 53-15, including 20-5 in the second stanza. Corey Kuypers posted the W in net for the Bulldogs.
WHERE THEY STAND: Bulldogs (11-3-2) padded their first-place lead atop the Highlands Division and now lead second-place Durham by five points.
ON DECK: Durham at Deseronto, Saturday at 6:30 p.m.
OIL KINGS 7, HAWKS 3
Up by a pair after 40 minutes, hometown Tweed outscored Durham 3-1 in the final frame to notch the win. Colin Doyle (2), Jacob Vreugdenhill (2), Jakob Brahaney, Trent Schutt and Nathanial Burrelle scored for the Oil Kings.
The two teams combined for 95 shots (Tweed 49, Durham 46) with Evan Morrison between the pipes for the Oil Kings.
WHERE THEY STAND: It’s a two-horse race atop the standings of the Heritage Division with the Smiths Falls Rideaus (15-1) and Tweed (10-5-1) running away from the Westport Lumberjacks (5-9) and Tamworth Sabres (1-16).
ON DECK: Tweed at Lindsay, Saturday, Jan. 24 at 7:30 p.m.
BARNCATS 7, ROYALS 3
Justin Arnold, Jon Samis and Malcolm Hurd scored for visiting PEC which outshot the home team 44-43. Lindsay goalie Steven Tierney made the difference, chalking up 41 saves and earning First Star honours. Christian Kristalyn suffered the loss in goal for the Royals, making 36 stops.
WHERE THEY STAND: The County crew is last in the Highlands Division at 3-12-1.
ON DECK: Westport at PEC, Saturday at 7:30 p.m.


