By Jim Mason/OJHL Communications
Tucker Lyndaker has what many of his peers in the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Zach Hyman Prospect Series are pursuing.
Committed to NCAA Division I Vermont, the 17-year-old first hopes to play next in the Ontario Hockey League, where he was a fourth-round pick of the Flint Firebirds in the 2024 U16 draft.
For now, he’s thriving with the OJHL’s lone American franchise, the Buffalo Jr. Sabres. Lyndaker scored two goals to lead Team Black to a 7-3 win over Team Orange in Game 5 of the six-game round-robin at Milton Memorial Arena Monday afternoon. In tribute to Hyman, the former OJHL star and 10-year NHLer now with the Edmonton Oilers, the Orange squad wore royal blue and orange.
The new series features the top 2008- and 2009-born players from across the 24-team league. Scouts from across the hockey universe, including the NHL, OHL and NCAA, have been in attendance.
The round-robin portion of the series winds up Dec. 29 when White plays Orange in Mississauga.
The East vs West championship final goes Jan. 6 in Brantford at the TD Civic Centre, hosted by the OHL’s Brantford Bulldogs. Tickets are on sale via: https://am.ticketmaster.com/bulldogshockey/
On the season, Lyndaker has 32 points (17 goals/15 assists) in 26 games in his first season with the Jr. Sabres.
Lyndaker came to Buffalo from Watertown, NY three years ago to play prep school hockey and study at Nichols School. The big city agrees with him.
“I love Buffalo. It’s basically my home now,” he said wih a laugh during an a video interview. “Not too much going on in Watertown, NY!”
The Firebirds have kept in touch,
“(Flint has told me) to use this as a development year,” Lyndaker told the OJHL postgame. “This is a very good league and, in my opinion, underrated. It’s been great so far. I’m really enjoying my time and I feel I can develop here as a player.”
Jake Brown (Buffalo), a native of Manhattan Beach, California, put on a playmaking clinic with four assists as Team Black stormed back from an early deficit.
Ben Trebicky (Burlington) opened the scoring at 14:05 of the first period, converting on a feed from Brown to give his side an early 1-0 advantage heading into the intermission.
The middle frame exploded with offensive fireworks as both teams combined for four goals in a frantic final three minutes. Lyndaker doubled the lead at 1:59, finishing off another Brown setup with an assist also going to David Greene (Niagara Falls). But the Orange side answered quickly with back-to-back goals in a 23-second span.
Orange Player of the Game Owen Barfoot (Mississauga) cut the deficit in half at 16:11 on a play set up by Ivan Bazunov (Toronto), before Bodhi Ryan (Toronto) knotted the score at 16:34 with helpers from Owen McGuckin (Toronto) and Bazunov.
The Black squad regained control before the period expired. Trebicky notched his second of the game at 18:49, once again assisted by the red-hot Brown, then Mickey Liu (Mississauga) pushed the lead to 4-2 just 40 seconds later with Gavin Wang (Georgetown) and Landon Pickersgill (Leamington) picking up assists.
The third period saw both teams trade opportunities before Xavier Rowe (Caledon) brought the Orange team back within one at 3:06, capitalizing on work by Mississauga Charger teammates Tyler Hinde and Jonathan Herrington. But Lyndaker’s second goal of the contest at 15:14, assisted by Brown for his fourth helper of the game, restored the two-goal cushion at 5-3.
Pickersgill added a shorthanded empty-net tally at 17:15 to seal the outcome before Brown capped his impressive performance by lighting the lamp himself at 19:19, with Trebicky returning the favor with an assist.
The game featured eight different goal scorers and plenty of momentum swings before the final horn.
In the Team Black goal, Owen Scott (Buffalo) stopped all 20 shots he faced while made Connor Haffner (Burlington) made 20 saves on 23 shots.
The Zach Hyman OJHL Prospect Series schedule and scores:
Nov. 4 East – Red 9, Grey 3 – Duncan McDonald Memorial Community Gardens, Trenton, ON
Nov. 11 East – Red 7, Yellow 6 – Cobourg Community Centre. Cobourg, ON
Nov. 17 West – Black 7 vs White 2 – Milton Memorial Arena, Milton,
Dec. 2 East – Grey 12 vs Yellow 4 – Cobourg Community Centre, Cobourg, ON
Dec. 15 West – Orange 3 vs Black 7 – Milton Memorial Arena, Milton, ON 12:30
Dec. 29 West – White vs Orange – Port Credit Memorial Arena, Mississauga, ON 6:30
Jan. 6 Championship Game – TD Civic Centre, Brantford, ON 7:30 Tickets: https://am.ticketmaster.com/bulldogshockey/
The Format
The Prospects Series features six teams competing in a round-robin format followed by a championship game. Selected players are playing on three teams representing OJHL East and three teams representing OJHL West. Following the round robin, the top two teams will advance to the championship game at the TD Civic Centre, hosted by the OHL’s Brantford Bulldogs.
About the OJHL – “League of Choice”
The Ontario Junior Hockey League is the largest Junior ‘A’ league operating under the auspices of the Canadian Junior Hockey League with 24 member clubs. A proud member of the CJHL and Ontario Hockey Association, the OJHL was originally named the Ontario Provincial Junior ‘A’ Hockey League and it was formed out of the Central Junior ‘B’ Hockey League in 1993-94. With a long and storied history of developing players for the next level, including U SPORTS, the NCAA, CHL, minor pro ranks and the NHL, the OJHL had more than 135 commitments in 2024-25, including 54 to NCAA Division 1 and 29 to the Ontario Hockey League. In addition, the OJHL had 39 OHL Affiliate Players who played 152 OHL games. Thirty OJHL alumni are on NHL rosters this fall.
