Three-year Ontario Junior Hockey League player Alton McDermott outside the Canisius College dressing room at LECOM Harborcenter in downtown Buffalo.
By Jim Mason/ OJHL Communications
Alton McDermott was more than a casual spectator taking in a game from the bleachers during the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Governors’ Showcase in Buffalo Wednesday morning.
McDermott, 22, is in his third-year studying business and playing NCAA Division I hockey at Canisius College in the border city.
McDermott and his teammates arrived at LECOM Harborcenter early for a noon workout, just in time to watch his old junior team, the Oakville Blades, play in the three-day showcase.
The twin-rink is home to the Canisius Golden Griffins. It’s also the practice facility of the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres who play across the street at the KeyBank Centre.
A Canisius player directed his teammates’ attention to the big video board at the rink when an OJHL highlight package featured footage of the Blades hoisting the OJHL championship trophy, the Buckland Cup, in 2019.
“It was one of the two or three greatest seasons of hockey I’ve ever had,” McDermott told the OJHL. “It was so much fun. I got really fortunate to be with the guys we had. I was surrounded by great individuals.
“I can’t say thank you enough to the Blades organization, from Mike Tarantino (the head coach who is now GM in Collingwood) to (president) Jamie Storr and everyone involved, for the development I had there. Very fortunate to have those years and to make that run.”
McDermott played three seasons with the Blades, after skating with the OJHL’s Milton Icehawks as an affiliate from the Oakville Rangers U18 squad the previous year.
Jack Lyons, another member of that junior championship team in Oakville, is a senior defenceman on the Canisius roster. Other former OJHLers on the squad include Oliver Tarr (Haliburton County, Whitby), Ethan Robertson (Cobourg), Erik Urbank (Buffalo) and Hudson Lambert (Brampton, Orangeville).
Head coach Trevor Large played at Brampton of the OJHL.
McDermott’s a big fan of his school, of course, and the city.
“Buffalo is a great city,” he said. “It’s tough to be bored here. There’s a ton of sports teams, the food is great and there’s a lot of things to do.
“The hockey has been great, too. I was fortunate to get in the lineup in my freshman year.”
He shone and was named the team’s rookie of the year in 2022.
McDermott is rehabbing from a back injury incurred in February, with hopes of returning to play early this fall.
An interview isn’t complete without asking McDemott about his grandfather, Canadian hockey legend Paul Henderson, only the scorer of the biggest goal in the nation’s history.
“Honestly, it was one of the big pulls with me committing here,” he said, his smile growing as he speaks. “Our family is really tight-knit and that was one of things: I really wanted my grandparents to be able to watch me play hockey. Every home weekend, they are down here (from the GTA).”
“They’ve got a spot right up there, between (sections) 9 and 10,” McDermott says, pointing across the Harborcentre ice. “And I was really fortunate last year when (Paul) was able to drop the puck. That was up there with winning the league last year. That was really special, to spend that time on the ice with him.”
A finance major, McDermott was named to the conference all-academic team in each of his first two seasons.
He plans to “play hockey as long as it’s feasible.”
And after that, he and his brother, Logan, who attends Fanshawe College in London, hope to team up for careers in commercial real estate development.
Their sister, Brynley, is a sprinter on the track team at the University of Iowa who has run for the Canadian national team.
