By John Humphrey, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Lakeshore News Reporter
Provincial Junior Hockey League (PJHL) teams looking for the defending Schmalz Cup champion Lakeshore Canadiens to be a soft touch or less talented group in the 2024-2025 season are in for a big disappointment as the defending Schmalz Cup champs are as talented and as experienced as ever.
“We have 15 players back that won the Schmalz Cup this past spring and eight players who have won two Schmalz Cups,” said Canadiens General manager Mark Seguin. “Our starting goaltender, Boe Piroski, is back and the success of our team going forward starts with him.”
“We have seven very talented defencemen, including five returnees, and we made a trade to pick up Kyle Kelly, who has been around the league with Wheatley for a few seasons,” he added. “So we are very talented on the back end.”
And while there is a new head coach at the helm of the Canadiens this season, the transition will be seamless, said Seguin.
Following the departure of former head coach, Anthony Iaquinta, to the LaSalle Vipers of the Junior B Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League (GOJHL) in late summer, Seguin conducted a quick but thorough search for a new head boss and assistants after Milan Dobric and Jack Bowler also moved to the Vipers.
“Brent Walker is our new head coach and JJ Percy, who played with us for four seasons and who had been coaching the U18 team in Belle River, will be our associate head coach,” Seguin proudly announced. “Colin Moore is our new assistant coach too.
“It’s a great staff and they are young, ambitious and skilled and we are very happy to have them on board with us,” he continued. “Our players are also excited.”
Seguin then identified his long-tested game plan for the ongoing success of the Lakeshore Canadiens.
“We start with strong goaltending and a strong group on the blueline and we do have a lot of talent up the middle at forward this situation like we usually do,” he claimed. “We will be able to roll four lines and rotate our defencemen and we are going to wear a lot of teams down.
“With the experience and ability that we have up and down our roster we will be able to play any type of game you want to,” he continued, matter-of-factly. If you want to skate, we’ll be able to skate with you and if you want to play a high scoring up and down game or a close-checking and tight defensive game we will be able to do that too.
“We will be able to play any type of game that you want to,” Seguin offered. “We will be able to adapt quickly to however you want to play.”
The Canadiens opened their 2024-2025 PJHL with a 5-2 win over the Amherstburg Admirals following a pre-game ceremony that saw three more championship banners raised to the rafters of the Atlas Tube Centre that also included championship rings being handed out.
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