Five Peterborough minor Petes in Muskies lineup
Watson, Curran, Maunder, Trolley and Goan begin OJHL play tonight
LINDSAY — The Lindsay Muskies will feature a strong Peterborough connection this season.
The OJHL club’s management team has strong Peterborough ties as new general manager Scott Donato, assistant general manager Alex Pickford and director of player personnel Matt Riel are all Peterborough natives. Head coach Dan West is a Petes alumnus.
The Muskies will ice five Peterborough minor hockey grads. They’ve signed minor midget Petes grads Kalvyn Watson and Logan Maunder, who Donato coached in Peterborough last year.
Minor Petes grad and OHL Petes third-string goalie Blake Curran is expected to carry the bulk of work in net.
Curtis Trolley returns for a second year and Pat Goan joins the lineup.
The Muskies begin their season 7:30 p.m. Friday when they host the Brampton Admirals (former Orangeville Flyers) at the Lindsay Recreation Complex.
“We recognized when I took this over that we’re more than a City of Kawartha Lakes team,” said Donato, named GM in the spring.
“We’re a county team. We have that triangle going where we have a strong contingent of players from Peterborough, the City of Kawartha Lakes and Durham Region.”
Donato is taking a long-range approach in building a team but he expects the Muskies to be competitive after two years finishing in the basement.
“We wanted to have more local kids which we think we’ve done. We’ve added some high-end skilled players. We recognize we play in, maybe, the toughest division in all of tier II junior A hockey. Our division the last two years produced the Royal Bank Cup champion and runner-up. We believe we’ve put together a team that will be able to compete on a night-in and night-out basis. We’re a bit younger than other teams in our league but we hope to get better month after month.”
Watson, a Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds draft pick, and Maunder, an Erie Otters selection, are the team’s two 16-yearold players.
“Coach West has a great track record of working with 16-yearolds like Josh Wainman, Cedric Ralph, Logan DeNoble, etc. of getting them ready not only to play our level but the next level,” Donato said.
Curran was just returned to Lindsay by the Petes.
“We’re excited to have Blake,” Donato said.
“He had a really strong finish for the Muskies last year and we want him to play at the highest level he can. We want to try to push him onto the next level.”
Trolley was a 2017 Erie pick.
“Curtis is a player we’re really excited to have back. He’s going to open up a lot of eyes in the NCAA and OHL. He skates extremely well and has a high, high compete level. He was hurt for half the year last year, his 16year-old year, so I think he has a lot to prove this year. He will be a huge part of our team.”
Goan is an area boy who played with the Central Ontario Wolves major midgets last season.
“He has a high-end skillset and we expect him to step up and play some big minutes for us,” said Donato.