Aiden O’Toole of the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s St. Michael’s Buzzers has confirmed his commitment to join U SPORTS’ Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks in Waterloo, ON beginning with the 2026-27 season.
The 6-foot-2, 194-pound forward from Mississauga easily led the Buzzers in scoring this season, with 79 this season. Five of his 28 goals were game-winners.
He signed the Toronto-based Buzzers i 2024 after captaining the Toronto Marlboros U18 team.
“My experience with the Buzzers has been nothing but amazing since Day 1,” the 19-year-old told the OJHL.”I came in my first year more as a depth guy and got a feel of how everything plays out. My second year, the coaches gave me a chance right away and trusted me right from game one. It definitely helped with my confidence, and I used the opportunity that the coaches gave me, to the best of my ability.”
“I think we are a great team this year and have a very good chance of being a great underdog in the playoffs and surprising a lot of people.”
The Buzzers will play the Stouffville Spirit in the first round of the OJHL playoffs beginning next weekend in Stouffville
“I think we are a great team this year and have a very good chance of being a great underdog in the playoffs and surprising a lot of people,” O’Toole predicted.
His coach is a big fan of the big man.
“Aiden has had a great season with us this year,” Rich Ricci, St. Mikes’ veteran GM and Head Coach, told the OJHL. “We asked him to go away last summer and commit to more intensive cardio and speed work. He did really well and came back a different player, a fast and heavy sniper.
“He’s an intimidating player on the ice with a pretty good tool box. He has improved his point tally by 65-70, not an easy thing to do. He’s an intense player that wants to win, he’ll have a great U SPORTS career.”
OJHL grads on Laurier’s roster this season included: David Paglia (Stouffville Spirit), Tristan Malboeuf (Oakville Blades), Callum Chisholm (Pickering Panthers, Newmarket Hurricanes), Dylan DiTomaso (Georgetown Raiders, St. Michael’s), Anthony Francella (St. Michael’s), Ryan Pryce (Georgetown Raiders), Sam Williamson (Trenton Golden Hawks), Brenden Andersen (Toronto Jr. Canadiens, Brantford 99ers), Lucas Chard (Leamington Flyers), Tyler Hunt (Cobourg Cougars), Thomas Lenart (Burlington Cougars), Kallaway Mercer (Cobourg Cougars), Justin O’Donnell (Milton Menace), Ty Petrou (Haliburton County Huskies), Ryan Schaap (Wellington Dukes, Markham Royals, Mississauga Chargers) and Bryce Sutherland (Collingwood Blues, St, Michael’s, Georgetown).
Former OJHL coach Kevin Forrest is Laurier’s head coach and manager of operations. Ex-NHLer Jerome Dupont, who coached Aurora to OJHL and national championships, is an assistant coach.
Congratulations to Aiden and best of luck in the NCAA!
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 were on NHL rosters at the start of the 2025-26 season.
Check out all our current commitments here: https://www.ojhl.ca/committments/
