A TALE OF TWO OHL TRAINING CAMPS FOR THE 2026-27 SEASON
With OHL training camps wrapping up and exhibition season beginning, all 20 teams have expectations of some sort. Two teams at the opposite end of the expectation spectrum are the front running Guelph Storm and the perennially rebuilding Niagara IceDogs. They both have visions, but to say that they are drastically different might be an understatement.
GUELPH STORM
The expectations are high for the team located up Highway 6. That tends to happen when you earn the right to host the Memorial Cup like the Guelph Strom did. The Storm, somewhat surprise winners of the Memorial Cup bid, beat out the favoured Kitchener Rangers who channeled their disappointment and built a team that ran roughshod not only through the OHL but also the rest of the Memorial Cup field. It is an accomplishment the Storm hope to duplicate, thus becoming the 3rd straight OHL team to win the Memorial Cup.
Before training camp began there was some concern in the Royal City about the strength of the roster. Last year's edition of the Storm stumbled their way through much of the 2nd half of the season and bowed out quietly in four straight to Windsor. GM George Burnett needed to hit not one, but several homeruns in the off-season when it came to putting together a championship worthy roster.
Burnett, who has been around the block a time or two, did just that adding F's Ryan Roobroeck, Ethan Czata, Owen Griffin Timothy Kazda, and Adrien Bartovic along with D Vladimir Dravecky and G Ben Hrebik. When you factor in draft eligible prospect F Jaako Wycisk, Maple Leafs pick Tyler Hopkins and Lightning draftee D Grant Spada, the Storm have constructed an imposing roster filled with veteran stars. The trading of 1st round OHL pick and towering D Declan McNally replenished the draft cupboard with six picks. That means Burnett and the Storm still have the wherewithal to add more players should the need arise.
Before all of these trades, the most important acquisition Guelph had made was a brand new scoreboard to replace the embarrassingly antiquated one that if you squinted closely, you could almost seen the rabbit ears coming out of it. Now adding the likes of Griffin, who scored 16 playoff goals in 21 games for Oshawa in their 2025 playoff run and Roobroeck, who potted 99 goals, 25 of which were on the PP means that scoreboard will be lit up even more.
NIAGARA ICEDOGS
The Garden City of St. Catharines lies in the heart of the vast Niagara Region and has housed the Niagara IceDogs since they moved from Mississauga in 2007. It's been turbulent and tumultuous in Niagara as the team has burned through coaches and GM's and has been in a constant cycle of tearing down to the studs and rebuilding. The expectations for the team are cautious and measured and DeGray himself said that this year is not a "go for it year" at a recent town hall.
While the Guelph Storm are trying to forge a winning identity, the IceDogs, well, they are just at the beginning of that process. 40 goal F Riley Patterson has graduated to the pro ranks and the aforementioned Ryan Roobroeck and Ethan Czata were shipped to Guelph for futures and young players like towering 6'7 D Zack Naish draft picks and F's Layne Gallacher and Will McFadden, a couple of depth veterans expected to play larger roles than they would have in Guelph.
The IceDogs do have a handful of talented forwards to complement the two former Storm players. F Ryerson Edgar is a potential 1st round pick for the 2027 NHL Draft and 3rd round Anaheim pick Noah Read is expected to have a big season. The rest of the roster might be talented, but many are new to not only the IceDogs but also the OHL. The two things we know about the IceDogs is that D will be big and the goaltending seems set. the 6'7 Naish is joined by 6'6 ex Flint Firebird Christian Colosimo and 6'5 German Import Tobias Kramer. Belarus import Vladimir Yermolenko is a returnee who expects play the lions share of the games in net. Will they score? How well will they defend? Can the young players acclimatize to the OHL? All those questions and many more remain to be seen.
In Guelph success will be defined by the endgame of trying to match what the Kitchener Rangers did last year in winning the OHL and then the Memorial Cup. In Niagara the process, not the endgame, will be the focal point. Both teams, in their own way, will be fascinating to watch.
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