Overview of the Tigers-Junior Canadiens Six-Player Trade

November 30, 2023 · 0 Comments

The Tigers traded away OJHL veterans Lopes and Lindsay—both born in 2003—for 2006 rookie forward Josh Frenette (4 assists for JRC) and 2006 rookie defenseman Carson Littlejohn (2 goals and 11 assists for JRC).

The Junior Canadiens also provided Aurora with two picks in the 2024 Draft in June.

Lopes and Lindsay go to a contender while Frenette and Littlejohn will figure prominently in the Tigers’ plans as delineated by Jim Thomson.

“Our goal in the trade was to get younger and develop. We’ve dialed it back this season with ten rookies in our lineup. We want to make the playoffs this year and give our team valuable experience going forward. Frenette and Littlejohn project as three-year Tigers.”

Five former Aurora players, rostered as a Tiger over the last fourteen months, are among the top 150 point-getters currently in the 688-player OJHL. They include four former Tiger Captains: Connor Van Weelie, Lucas Stanojevic, Peter Lopes, and Ethan Lindsay.

All four Captains were traded by Aurora to the Toronto Junior Canadiens: Van Weelie early in the 2022-23 season; Stanojevic prior to the start of the 2023-24 season; and Lopes and Lindsay last week. Carter Real was a Top 6 Tiger forward in 2022-23.

This is how “The Former Five” are ranked in the 24-team league:

#28: Ethan Lindsay [C]—Toronto Junior Canadiens—8 goals and 22 assists for 30 points in 27 GP;

#34: Connor Van Weelie [C]– Toronto Junior Canadiens—16 goals and 12 assists for 28 points in 29 GP;

#38: Carter Real—Georgetown Raiders—11 goals and 17 assists for 28 points in 27 GP;

#121: Lucas Stanojevic [C]—Toronto JC/Cobourg Cougars—5 goals and 12 assists for 17 points in 26 GP;

#141: Peter Lopes [C]—Toronto Junior Canadiens—2 goals and 14 assists for 16 points in 30 GP.

Stanojevic is currently playing for his third OJHL club in ’23-24 as he orchestrated a trade two weeks ago to leave JRC to join the Cobourg Cougars. All five players were born in 2003 and are in their final year of OJHL eligibility.

The Top Five Tigers After the Blockbuster

Assistant Captain Ryan Evenhuis has retained his Top Ten scorer status in the OJHL for much of the season, and the Canada East all-star is currently ranked #10 in points. Here are the top scorers on the Tigers’ revamped roster that now features ten rookies:

Ryan Evenhuis—17 goals and 21 assists for 38 points;

Frank Castiglione [R]—7 goals and 15 assists for 22 points;

Keegan Decaluwe—8 goals and 9 assists for 17 points;

Luke Hampel—8 goals and 7 assists for 15 points;

Carson Littlejohn [R]—2 goals and 11 assists for 13 points.

The young Tigers hosted the North York Rangers in an afternoon game on Tuesday with a crowd that was set to include 900 school kids filling the ACC to cheer on the home side.

Thomson is looking forward to “The biggest crowd in the ACC since I’ve owned the team. Sierra has done a great job coordinating our Schools Game. It’s a must-win game. If we want to get in the playoffs, we need to beat the teams below us in the standing and play games like we did against Markham on Friday. These are the kinds of Tigers that need to show up.”

By Jim Stewart