Peterborough Petes Primed For Championship Run After Trade Deadline
/The Peterborough Petes are all in for an OHL Championship after making several moves prior to the trade deadline obtaining two current champions and two World Junior gold medalists.
(From left to right) Gavin White, Avery Hayes, Owen Beck and BRennan Othmann at a Petes press conference and will be in the team’s luneup simultaneously for the first time this Thursday. Photo by David Tuan Bui.
Brennan Othmann, Gavin White, Avery Hayes and Owen Beck are four new faces to the Peterborough Petes that were traded to the team and started the season on different clubs.
Othmann was obtained from the Flint Firebirds on Nov. 12, several months prior to the deadline. The Petes dealt Artem Guryev, two second-round and one third-round pick for Othmann. He has scored two goals and nine assists in 10 games with the Petes. He is fresh off a Team Canada World Junior goal medal won last Thursday. Othmann was drafted 16th overall by the New York Rangers in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.
“What I'm focused on this year and what I was focused on out there is showing my details, that I've built good details and good habits over the last few months and that's the biggest thing the Rangers are looking at,” he explained.
Othmann had two assists in the gold medal game against Czechia at the World Juniors. Photo by David Tuan Bui.
Hayes and White were pickups from the defending OHL-Champion Hamilton Bulldogs where Peterborough sent Nick Lardis, Sahil Panwar, a 2023 third-round pick and a 2026 conditional sixth-round pick on Saturday.
Both players made an immediate impact in their Petes debut in a 3-2 win over the Kingston Frontenacs on Saturday, the same day their trade was announced.
Hayes scored the first two goals for Peterborough including a powerplay goal, all in the second period. He was awarded the first star of the game for his efforts in his first game as a Pete. He had 27 goals and 14 assists in 33 games with Hamilton prior to the trade.
“The coaching staff just said 'go out there and play and don't worry about the system too much,’” explained Hayes. “The two goals were big but getting the win was most important. That's what we were brought here to do, to help the team win.”
White had two powerplay assists including Hayes’s second goal and Tucker Robertson’s late third-period game-winning goal. The defenseman had seven goals and 15 assists in 22 games with Hamilton.
“Me and (Shawn) Spearing, only had one game under our belt but I thought we worked really well together,” said White. “He's pretty shutdown and he lets me kind of do whatever I want ahead of that which is fantastic and we developed that chemistry a little more and keep it going here.”
White (left) and Hayes (right) won the OHL Championship with the Hamilton Bulldogs last season and defeated the Peterborough Petes in a 4-0 sweep in the first round of the playoffs. Photo courtesy of the Peterborough Petes.
Beck was also a part of Saturday’s trade frenzy, obtained from the Mississauga Steelheads in exchange for Jack Van Volsen, Justin DeZoete, Peterborough’s second and third-round picks in 2025, Erie’s second-round pick in 2025 and Peterborough’s fourth-round pick in 2026.
“I knew they (Petes) had done a good job up to that point, loading up for a big playoff push and possibly a championship,” said Beck. “To be a part of that and try and help out the team is going to be a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to it.”
Beck had one assist in three games in the World Juniors after being called up to the team on New Year’s Day. Photo by David Tuan Bui.
