Hometown boy hammered the Hounds — but it's hard not to cheer for him

He certainly helped break the hearts of hockey fans in his hometown this season.

But if you can get past the initial sting of the Hounds' second-round playoff loss, it's easy to cheer for a player like Calem Mangone — a late bloomer who has worked hard for every opportunity that's come his way.

The Sault product is a standout with the Ontario Hockey League’s Saginaw Spirit, scoring a pair of game-winning goals as his team beat the Soo Greyhounds in seven games to advance to the OHL’s Western Conference final.

All told, the 19-year-old has five goals and 10 points through 13 playoff games this year, which comes after the veteran forward had a career-year offensively during his third season in Saginaw, with 22 goals and 63 points over 62 games.

For Mangone, things didn't always look so promising. Let’s flash back to the spring of 2021.

Mangone had been passed over in the OHL Priority Selection by all 20 teams the previous spring, but used that rejection as motivation to prove everyone wrong.

And prove them wrong, he did.

The forward was ultimately selected second overall in the OHL’s Under-18 draft by the Spirit the following year, then stepped into the Spirit lineup and had an impact right away with 13 goals and 34 points in 47 games in his rookie season in Saginaw.

“My motivation was as high as it’s ever been,” Mangone said after signing with the Spirit following the draft.

“I was always thinking about the teams passing on me and proving them wrong in the next year and in the future,” he added.

At the time, Spirit general manager Dave Drinkill said Mangone continually caught his eye as he scouted northern Ontario-based players for the main draft in the spring of 2021.

“What really sparked our interest this year and really ramped it up was, we were watching a lot of video of [Cooper] Foster and [Alex] Pharand playing each other up in the Sault and when we were watching that video, Calem kept jumping out,” Drinkill said.

After making the Spirit, Mangone has showed a continual improvement from season to season, culminating with career highs offensively this season for a team set to host the Memorial Cup next month.

Last season, with a Spirit team that began adding veterans in hopes of securing the hosting rights for the tournament, Mangone said playing with older players was a big learning experience.

“I learned so much here from the older guys,” Mangone said at the time. “I learned a lot from different older guys on what to do in different situations and it helped out with scoring and with us winning games.”

Soo Thunderbirds general manager Jamie Henderson, who coached Mangone with the Soo Jr. Greyhounds U18 team, called the Sault native “just one of those kids you root for” after he was drafted.

“He had an unbelievable summer and true to his word, he’s not letting anyone stop him.”

Mangone tallied an assist in Game 2 of Saginaw's Western Conference final against the London Knights, but the Spirit trail 2-0 in the series heading into Game 3 tonight.