The Trenton Golden Hawks are heading west Tuesday.
The G-Hawks rolled out of the Duncan McDonald Arena around 3:00 a.m. with a date at the Centennial Cup starting later this week.
Quinte News sat down with coach and GM Derek Smith.
He says the team has played 21 playoff games so far.
Audio Player“We’re the only league representing Hockey Canada here that has four rounds of playoffs. It gives us an extra round, which means that we’re really battled tested. It also means that we’ve played a lot more hockey than everybody. It’s a tough trophy to win because it’s going to be three months of playoff hockey.”
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The Trenton Golden Hawks celebrate in Milton their Game 6 win of the Buckland Cup (Photo: OJHL Images)
This was the third straight trip to the league championship, losing in 2023 in Game 5 and 2024 in Game 6 to Collingwood.
Smith says that experience helps
Audio Player“Looking at the Game 6 in Milton. The joy in guys’ faces and how much fun they had. Then you look down the other side of the rink and you see Milton. You feel for them, they gave it everything they had and we’ve been in that position before.”
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Collingwood Blues Landon Wright skates with the Buckland Cup in Trenton in April 2024, after the Blues defeated Trenton in Game 6 (Photo by Ray MacAloney / OJHL Images)
Smith says the team that is heading to Calgary is battle tested and looking for a national title.
Audio Player“We were built to hopefully win a championship this year. That was our goal. Our goal was the national championship, but we still only have eight guys returning from last year’s team. It might have taken a little bit in the playoffs for us to find our footing, but there was a lot of guys in this room that haven’t played playoff hockey, or won any playoff rounds, or had success. Once we got rolling, the guys really started to figure out what it takes to be successful this time of year. It all came together pretty nicely.
Trenton’s first game is the tournament’s opening match on Thursday afternoon (2:00 p.m. EST), when they meet the Northern Manitoba Blizzard.
The team is organizing watch parties, with details expected to be released Tuesday or Wednesday.
You can listen to the full chat with Derek Smith below.
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