{"id":38508,"date":"2026-07-09T14:20:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T18:20:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=38508"},"modified":"2026-07-09T14:20:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T18:20:36","slug":"junior-tigers-trade-leading-scorer-cayden-smith-to-cobourg-for-auroras-nic-ferrante","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/junior-tigers-trade-leading-scorer-cayden-smith-to-cobourg-for-auroras-nic-ferrante\/","title":{"rendered":"Junior Tigers trade leading scorer Cayden Smith to Cobourg for Aurora\u2019s Nic Ferrante"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s a cooling thought to contemplate the Tigers\u2019 upcoming OJHL season on a stifling 44C Humidex day in Aurora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Junior A Club jumped back into the Town\u2019s consciousness amid a heat wave and World Cup fever by engineering a significant early-summer trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Tigers dealt last season\u2019s leading scorer Cayden Smith to the Cobourg Cougars (formerly the Haliburton County Huskies) for Aurora resident Nic Ferrante.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Smith\u2014the team\u2019s on-ice and off-ice leader\u2014tallied 20 goals and 32 assists in 49 games for the Tigers, including 8 PPG, 8 PPA, and 3 GWG.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His gritty, consistent play was a constant for the OJHL club that missed the playoffs in 2025-26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ferrante, who split 44 games between the Markham Royals (5) and the Huskies (39), notched 6 goals and 17 assists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On paper, it would appear that the Huskies-turned-Cougars got the better of the deal, but Tigers\u2019 owner Jim Thomson offered a rationale for the trade: \u201cFirst and foremost, Cayden\u2019s agent said if he didn\u2019t stick in the OHL with the Erie Otters, Cayden was heading to the BCHL so I had to get something of value.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cCayden\u2019s going to be a depth forward with Erie, but, if he returns to the OJHL, his preferred destination was with a contender like Haliburton\u2014now Cobourg. It\u2019s similar to the Howard brothers not coming back last year and that\u2019s why we traded them to the Patriots for three really good young players. That\u2019s the backdrop for this trade.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The former NHLer extolled the qualities that Ferrante brings to the Junior Tigers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe\u2019s a cultured veteran\u2014an experienced 20-year-old and an asset to the organization. I think he\u2019ll have a really good offensive season in his last year of Junior hockey and he\u2019s a local boy\u2014an Auroran\u2014who\u2019s coming home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ferrante played his rep hockey with the AMHA Tigers for twelve seasons and also skated for the SAC Saints for two years at the AAA and PHL levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A key factor for Ferrante, according to Thomson, was the desire to complete his Junior hockey career in his hometown where \u201cI get to finish where it all started\u201d after playing in Markham and Haliburton last season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Huskies\u2019 transfer to Cobourg from Haliburton earlier this Spring filled a void in \u201cOntario\u2019s Feel Good Town\u201d after the struggling last place Cougars pulled up stakes, rebranded as the Toronto Warriors, and &nbsp;re-established the franchise at the Scotiabank Pond in Downsview for the 2026-27 OJHL season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ferrante will miss all the franchise transfer complications and growing pains in Cobourg and Toronto.&nbsp; Instead, he\u2019ll be back in Aurora leading a young Junior team in his hometown.&nbsp; There\u2019s nice circularity for Nic in this transaction and he\u2019ll be on the ice on July 12 when the Tigers re-open summer camp at the ACC.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>By Jim Stewart<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\r\n<a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-facebook nolightbox\" data-provider=\"facebook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers-online.com%2Fauroran%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F38508&amp;t=Junior%20Tigers%20trade%20leading%20scorer%20Cayden%20Smith%20to%20Cobourg%20for%20Aurora%E2%80%99s%20Nic%20Ferrante&amp;s=100&amp;p[url]=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers-online.com%2Fauroran%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F38508&amp;p[images][0]=&amp;p[title]=Junior%20Tigers%20trade%20leading%20scorer%20Cayden%20Smith%20to%20Cobourg%20for%20Aurora%E2%80%99s%20Nic%20Ferrante\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Facebook\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/facebook.png\" \/><\/a><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-twitter nolightbox\" data-provider=\"twitter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share on Twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers-online.com%2Fauroran%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F38508&amp;text=Like%3F\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"twitter\" title=\"Share on Twitter\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/twitter.png\" \/><\/a><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-mail nolightbox\" data-provider=\"mail\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share by email\" href=\"mailto:?subject=Junior%20Tigers%20trade%20leading%20scorer%20Cayden%20Smith%20to%20Cobourg%20for%20Aurora%E2%80%99s%20Nic%20Ferrante&amp;body=Like%3F:%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers-online.com%2Fauroran%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F38508\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"mail\" title=\"Share by email\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/mail.png\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s a cooling thought to contemplate the Tigers\u2019 upcoming OJHL season on a stifling 44C Humidex day in Aurora. The Junior A Club jumped back into the Town\u2019s consciousness amid a heat wave and World Cup fever by engineering a significant early-summer trade. The Tigers dealt last season\u2019s leading scorer Cayden Smith to the Cobourg [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[24,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-sports","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-a16","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-20 05:47:41","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38508"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38509,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38508\/revisions\/38509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}