News

By: Sean Reinhardt

In many young hockey player’s careers there is a time when they must make the jump to a higher and more competitive level of play. More specifically, from minor hockey to junior hockey.

The OHL Gold Cup is a key contributor to the success of minor hockey players making the leap to a bigger stage. The event showcases the best players from the three Hockey Canada branches in Ontario: Hockey Eastern Ontario (HEO), Hockey Northern Ontario (HNO) and the Ontario Hockey Federation (OHF). HEO and HNO each send one team to the Cup, while the OHF has representation from its four minor member partners: Alliance Hockey, the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL), the Northern Ontario Hockey Association (NOHA) and the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA).

This year marks the 4th annual OHL Gold Cup, the inaugural event was held in 2013. Since then, 200 participants have gone on to play in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) including four teammates from the Kitchener Rangers.

Jacob Cascagnette played for Team Alliance in 2013, Adam Mascherin was a part of Team GTHL Red in 2014, while Joseph Garreffa and Nick McHugh played for Team GTHL Blue and Team HEO, respectively, in last year’s tournament.

All four say they shared similar experiences throughout their OHL Gold Cup appearances, with a major part of the tournament being focused on team bonding and getting to know new teammates.

“We had a bunch of team building when the tournament started just to get to know each other” recalled Jacob Cascagnette. “I know Team Alliance, they put a bunch of posters around the room explaining yourself, just so guys got to know a little bit of the background of you, so I think it’s really special.”

Meeting new players was seen as a big adjustment, but getting to play with people you don’t normally was also seen as a benefit.

“I had some buddies on other teams that I got to play with and we obviously had some chemistry so that was nice as well,” said Adam Mascherin.

Taking the next step in a hockey player’s career requires learning from past experiences but also being open to more experiences. The OHL Gold Cup provides a background for players on what the next level may be like for them.

Nick McHugh explains how he learned the scheduling of being a high level player, “We were on a strict schedule there, sleep and meals. It’s kind of like when you’re on a road trip, you’ve always got a schedule. It helped prepare and also we played against all the best of the best teams at the OHL Gold Cup. So it just helps you prepare on the ice here (Kitchener Rangers) and who we play against.”

On the other hand, being able to deal with more people watching the game is also something a player can learn.

“I think just learning how to deal with the pressure of being watched by people that make important decisions. You’ve got to deal with that and say I’m going to give them something that they want to say, like ‘I am going to pick this guy’,” said Adam Mascherin, when describing what he took from the OHL Gold Cup to playing for the Rangers.

The tournament is intended to bring out the best in players, which creates a strong competitive nature to the games.

“It got pretty competitive because you know a lot of the boys too and it got intense through the games. I just wanted to beat them,” said 2015 participant Joseph Garreffa. “Also you are trying to play to get to the Under 17 camp because they pick a lot of the guys. But I was just playing to beat the other GTHL team so you got bragging rights on the guys and beat your buddies on the other leagues.”

From the similar experiences described by these four teammates, there is no doubt the OHL Gold Cup provides a great experience for minor hockey players looking to learn what it will take to get to the next step of their careers.

The 2016 event takes place May 4th-8th.