Best-of-7 opens Saturday in Trenton before moving to Milton for Game 2 Monday
BY RON VALENTINE
Who will book a ticket to Calgary?
The Ontario Junior Hockey League’s 2025 Championship Series final, featuring the East Conference champion Trenton Golden Hawks and the West Conference winners, the Milton Menace, begins Saturday night in Trenton.
The OJHL champs will qualify for the Centennial Cup national championship tournament May 8-18 at the Max Bell Centre in Calgary.
In the 2024-25 regular season:
- Trenton finished first in the East with 47 wins in 56 games and a total of 97 points for a winning percentage of 0.875. The team was ranked second overall in the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s final Top 20 regular-season rankings.
- Milton ended third in the West with 77 points and were, surprisingly, unranked in the nation.
To get to the final the Golden Hawks defeated Pickering, Stouffville and Haliburton with all the best-of-seven series going to five games.
The Menace swept Burlington in four before beating the defending champion Collingwood Blues and Leamington, both in five games.
The Golden Hawks made it to the Championship Series final the past two years, falling 4-2 to Collingwood on both occasions. This season is their third in a row as East Conference champs.
It’s just season No. 5 for the Menace in Milton who moved from Newmarket in March of 2019. They had a club-high 85 points since moving in 2023-24.
The Golden Hawks were born when the Port Hope Predators moved to Trenton and were renamed in 2009. OJHL champions in the 2015-16 season, they won the Dudley-Hewitt Cup Central Canada Championship in 2016 in Kirkland Lake and 2017 as the host team.
It’s 224 km from Duncan McDonald Memorial Community Gardens – often referred to as the ‘Hangar’ – in Trenton to the Milton Memorial Arena, better known as the ‘Mad House’ on Thompson Road in Milton. Expect full houses at both rinks during the 2025 OJHL Championship Series.
The two clubs did meet once in the regular season, on Sept. 24 at the OJHL Governors’ Showcase at the Gale Centre in Niagara Falls with the Menace coming out on top 5-1. Fourteen players in that game from each team are on the playoff rosters.
“A trip to Calgary (host of this year’s Centennial Cup) would be awesome but there is a lot of work to be done before we can think of that. I’m looking forward to the energy in both rinks as the fan bases are really strong. It’s going to be a fun one.”
THE NUMBERS
Leading pointgetters for the Golden Hawks in the postseason are captain Corbin Roach with 21 points, followed by Taeo Artichuk with 16 and Cooper Matthews at 14, including a team-high 10 goals. Thomas Kuipers has seven goals and 14 points and Isaiah Shantz, who started the season with the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats, has nine. David Fournier, who has played in just 10 of his team’s 15 postseason games; blueliner Jaxon Broda and Devin Mauro have eight each.
In net, Ryan Sanborn, from Brookfield, CT, won his first 17 games after joining the team in November. In the playoffs, he has a goals-against average of 1.91, a save percentage of .938 and one shutout.
In the regular season Fournier finished second overall in OJHL points with 92. Artichuk, in third place, had 89.
The Menace have five players in the top 10 of OJHL playoff scorers, led by Luke Johnston with 12 goals and 24 points. Madden MacDougall has 11 goals and 24 points. Defenceman and club captain Graeme MacAuley is at 23 followed by Justin Dezoete with 18 and Ivan Fabjan on 17.
Johnston had a 72-point regular season campaign, including 22 points for the Toronto Jr. Canadiens and 50 in just 28 games for Milton.
In goal, Carter Bickle has posted a 1.86 GAA with a .943 save percentage during the playoffs. Bickle, who joined the team from the King Rebellion in mid-December, has two shutouts in the postseason.
Backup goalies are Brady Spry (2.60 GAA and a shutout in the regular season) for Trenton and Austin McKillop (2.63 GAA and a shutout) for Milton.
On the powerplay front, the Menace have a 36.2 percent record while the ‘Hawks are at 13.8. In penalty killing, Trenton is at 92.3 percent and Milton comes in at 87 percent The ‘Hawks have scored four shorthanded goals and Milton two, both by MacDougall. In game winners, the Menace’s Ivan Fabjan leads the way with six while Artichuk, the former OHLer, has three for Trenton.
The third period has been particularly good for Trenton in the playoffs. They have outscored their opposition 22-11. In their 15 playoff games they have scored 53 times while allowing 33. Milton, in their 14 games, have found the back of the net 58 times while conceding 27.
TRENTON ‘READY’
The Golden Hawks’ Kuipers is ready: “I’m expecting a fast paced, physical series. They are a strong detail-oriented team and we will have to be ready. They beat us in our only matchup this season so we are going into the series with an extra chip on our shoulders and I’m confident that we will be ready. We have continued to get better every game in the playoffs. A trip to Calgary (host of this year’s Centennial Cup) would be awesome but there is a lot of work to be done before we can think of that. I’m looking forward to the energy in both rinks as the fan bases are really strong. It’s going to be a fun one.”
Captain Roach wants his final junior season to be a memorable one. He is in his second season in Trenton following two campaigns with the arch-rival Wellington Dukes: “We had a tough playoff series with the Huskies following our games against Stouffville. We are ready for a physical series – no-one hits harder than the Spirit. The Menace’s powerplay is obviously very good but we have a great PK group. We have been strong in the third period and that’s due to our amazing training staff. We are treating every game as a Game 7 and it’s working. We have had some injuries to key players lately but we have been lucky to have people like (Caledonia Jr. B call-ups) Ethan Quick and Sami Douglas-Najem to call on. Quick has played over 100 games in this league (with Wellington) and Douglas-Najem is a big, strong defenceman who has played over 70 games with us over a couple of seasons. It’s going to be different playing a team from the other conference but we have seen video and I’m confident we can adapt quickly.”
Golden Hawks Head Coach and General Manager Derek Smith, the ex-NHLer: “We’re very excited for the opportunity to play for the Buckland Cup. Milton has been playing great hockey for months now. They are an extremely hard-working team that plays at a high pace. They have depth in all positions to complement their high-end talent. We are looking forward to the challenge.”
‘UNDERDOG’ MILTON
Jason Tryfon,the Menace owner and is very proud of his team: “It’s been pretty amazing being an underdog story. There is something about this group, it’s a team with one dream, playing for each other and their town. With our coach, Dan Del Monte’s leadership, we sat down as a team this past August to chart out our goals and put the steps in place each day to get there. We’re not done yet, there’s more work to do.”
“Collectively as a team from our front office, through to the concession stand, authentic therapists, bench staff, equipment personnel and a town chomping at the bit rallying behind their underdogs you have quite a machine. I wouldn’t want to play us, that’s for sure.”
“We have been an underdog story throughout and continue to be. We enjoy being in that spot because, when you’re an underdog you have nothing to lose. It’s a lot of pressure on you when you’re the favorite that’s for sure. The lights are bright, the crowds are loud, the fan base expects quite a bit from a favourite. We don’t have that pressure and we feel it’s quite a competitive advantage when we get the opportunity to get on the ice and do what we do best… without expectations. This team is locked in. I’ve never seen a more tight-knit, one-goal focused group than this one that Dan has put together. Collectively as a team from our front office, through to the concession stand, authentic therapists, bench staff, equipment personnel and a town chomping at the bit rallying behind their underdogs you have quite a machine. I wouldn’t want to play us, that’s for sure.”
Milton Captain Graeme MacAuley is confident: “We’re super excited for the series. Trenton have been one of the top teams all season and both teams are different from the Showcase when we beat them so that result doesn’t play into our mindset for the final. We are very confident going in as we have been able to knock off some top-ranked teams so far in the playoffs. There is no reason we can’t keep that momentum going and book a trip to Calgary. We have had a number of guys step up on given nights and we will look to keep that going.”
The Menace’s Luke Johnston, who played in the Centennial Cup last season with the host Oakville Blades, would like a second shot in the national championship tournament: “We have great chemistry on this team. I feel we are really peaking at the right time. We have an older group. We have been getting great secondary scoring and top-notch penalty killing, especially in the series against Leamington. We were really happy to beat the defending (OJHL and national) champions (Collingwood) and that gave us a lot of confidence as a group. We are not worried about playing on the road. Trenton likes to play a physical game as do we, so we will be looking at initiating good contact without retaliation. One of the main reasons we are where we are is because of our defence corps with unsung players like Cole Semeniuk and my former teammate in Oakville, Marco Costante. Both are poised players who are good with the puck. If we need any more motivation you could say it comes from not being ranked in the Top 20 teams in Canada (by the Canadian Junior Hockey League).”
THE GOALIES
First, the Menace’s Carter Bickle who switched from forward to goalie as an 8-year old in a Silver Stick tournament. The former Oshawa General from Brooklin really enjoyed it and has stayed in that position ever since: “Intensity always ramps up for the playoffs. Our coach has been instilling in us how important it is to play for each other. Like most goalies I’m very superstitious and I have my routines on and off the ice and the playoffs are no different. Communication is the key between myself and my great defence corps and it will be especially important against Trenton as we are not used to what their players can do. If I can make a big save at a key part of the game it gives me a real boost and hopefully it’s the same for my teammates.
Additional Bickle: “What we have to do to be successful is to stick to the systems we have in place, what we have been doing has been working, we have to keep focused. Our powerplay has been great but we know that Trenton is a strong team, No. 1 (in the OJHL) for a reason. We really appreciate our fans in Milton but it’s important for me to zone out reactions when we are on the road. My goalie teammate, Austin, is a great guy and a really good person who is always supportive and we always try to help each other. I’ve learned a lot playing in the OHL and QMJHL but this is the place to be and we look forward to going all the way.”
At the other end of the ice, Ryan Sanborn, who became a goalie at age 12. He took a circuitous route to Trenton via The Hill prep school in Pennsylvania, the BCHL (Prince George Spruce Kings) and short stints in the NAHL and NCDC: “I’ve bounced around quite a bit but I’m really enjoying it in Trenton. Brady (Spry) and I split games this season and he is a really supportive partner, we get along well together. I’ve learned a lot from our goalie coach, Mike Murphy, and I’m looking forward to the series with Milton. It will be a new experience for me playing in their arena. I know the Menace are really playing well and their special teams are good, plus they have top-of-the-line forwards. But I feel we have been learning and improving in our playoff games so far, we have found all types of ways to score goals. I am working on what I can control. We are a very deep team who can adjust to any situation and we are happy to be one of the two teams left standing.”
Follow Ron Valentine on X @ronandlynda
