If the playoffs were to start today (Friday January 10, 2025), both the Trenton Golden Hawks and Wellington Dukes would not only find themselves in the playoffs, but both would have home ice advantage in the first round.
Friday was the trade deadline in the Ontario Junior Hockey League and both Dukes Coach/GM Kent Lewis and the GHawks Derek Smith were very busy.
The Dukes made a total of three moves, acquiring Jayden Levesque from the Georgetown Raiders, Zennon Edwards from the Pickering Panthers, and Vince Albanese from the Lindsay Muskies (free agent).
Lewis talked to Quinte News about his acquisitions. “With Levesque, he is a young player who is smart, has offensive upside and strong awareness. With Albanese, I see a young man who is going to be a role player that will provide energy when we need him. With Edwards, he is a guy we have been watching for a bit. He could play throughout our lineup. He plays hard.”
Lewis continued, “I have an expectation of my players. I want them to work hard and I want them to have fun. We are excited for the second half of the season and I fell we are a better team than we were 24-hours ago.”
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Head Coach Kent Lewis of the Wellington Dukes (Photo by Amy Deroche / OJHL Images)
The Golden Hawks acquired five players and shipped one out. Going to the Montreal Rangers was Kayson Un Yi. Coming to Trenton were Isaiah Shantz from the Moncton Wildcats, Jonathon Pylypuik from the BCHL, Dylan Woulds from Calgary in the Alberta league, and from the Lindsay Muskies Owen McKinnon and Nate Taylor.
Shantz, Woulds, and Pylypuik all have spent time in the Canadian Hockey League as well, with Pylypuik and the Oshawa Generals going to the OHL final last spring.
Derek Smith spoke to Quinte News
“It’s been an exciting first half, we have a very good start to the season. The guys we brought in the last couple of weeks bolstered the depth of our group, it’s going to also add something. We’ve brought some guys in that play with a lot of energy, they’re hard to play against, play playoff hockey.”
“We’ve been close the last couple of years as an organization, but we’ve seen what’s happened though the league the last couple of days and couple weeks. A lot of teams have added a lot of good hockey players and the depth of organizations has gotten stronger. We’re happy where we’re at, now what we have to do is continue to push each others.”
The regular season wraps up for both teams on Friday February 28, 2025.
