Braves sign Sutherland Cup champion

The Tavistock Braves have announced the signing of Owen Yagar. The 21-year-old helped the Cambridge Red Hawks to a Sutherland Cup title in May. Contributed photo

By Lee Griffi

The newest member of the Tavistock Braves comes with some serious hockey swagger.

The Provincial Junior Hockey League (PJHL) team has signed Owen Yagar, a defenceman from Waterloo who spent the last three seasons with the Cambridge Red Hawks of the Greater Ontario Hockey League (GOHL). Yagar served as captain of the Red Hawks for the past two campaigns and helped the team win its first-ever Sutherland Cup just one month ago with a five-game victory over the St. Marys Lincolns.

“I have gotten to know Owen over the last year or so, as he is friends and lives with players on our team,” said Braves general manager Brent Lange. “I watched him back when he was on the U18 Kitchener AAA team and liked his play back then already. He is a very respectful young man who has loads of talent and is a proven leader on and off the ice.”

Lange added Tavistock was Yagar’s first choice to spend his last season of junior hockey.

“He wants to come here with his buddies he grew up with and wanted to play his final year here with them and play for a Schmalz Cup. He is in school and works three different jobs as well. You got to love a kid who has that much drive off the ice. We know he will play hard on the ice.”

He added Yagar will be a great fit in the locker room and winning Junior B’s biggest trophy won’t hurt either. Lange said his newest signing was also very well-coached in Cambridge.

“He was the captain of a fairly young team that looked up to him and was coached by Todd Bertuzzi, Nick Spaling, Rob Radford and Jeff Butt. That pulls a lot of weight as well, in my opinion, and there is a good chance he will be part of our leadership group.”

The Gazette reached out to the Red Hawks vice president and director of operations, who backed up Lange’s claim.

“How does your leadership not get stronger with a guy like Bertuzzi in charge?” said Eric Boissonneault. “Fifth overall NHL draft pick; 1,160 NHL games. There’s nobody out there in the GOHL who’s better at what he does.”

The Braves lost four key leaders to age after last season, including captain Marc Dionne, Carter Arseneau, Tyler Brezynskie and Ryan McKellar.

“Bringing in Yagar and knowing he is a proven leader and will be a great fit fills a big part of that void for us that we will be losing,” said Lange.

Yagar is described as a smooth-skating defenceman with a good offensive touch and a solid physical game.

“His being the captain of the Sutherland Cup Champions this past season is a massive thing for us. Anyone I talk to speaks highly of this great young man, and we know and see why. He will be instrumental to our back end this season,” added Lange. “We will have one of the deepest back ends this season, and likely one of the best in the league.”

“There’s no better kid on the planet. There’s no ego in him, and he does it for the right reasons,” said Boissonneault. “He walks into any changeroom, and you can tell he’s in charge. He does it with such poise, chivalry and patience, on and off the ice. You ask him to do something with the team, and he takes charge right away.”

Boissonneault also applauded Yagar’s family.

“His parents did an amazing job. I have never met a kid like him in my life, and I’ve been involved in this sport a long, long time.”

He added the fact Yagar raised the Sutherland Cup as the Cambridge captain speaks volumes about the kind of leader he is.

“Last year, he scored a bunch of goals. This year, we didn’t need him to do that, so he changed his role and earned every minute of ice time. We put him out there on the penalty kill, the powerplay, five-on-five, or three-on-three in overtime. It didn’t matter.”

The Braves potentially have five returning blueliners eligible to return from last season’s team that lost in the PJHL final to the Fergus Whalers. Tavistock has also signed Drumbo native Matthew Meyer, who played the last two seasons for the Woodstock Navy Vets.

Lange said he’s pleased with how the team is coming together.

“We don't have it fully picked yet as we still have some spots to fill upfront. Our back end is basically set, and we're still figuring out the goaltending situation with both able to return as well. All in all, pretty excited here to get back to where we left off and try to finish the job this time around.”

Yagar picked up nine goals and 34 points in 48 regular-season games and added a pair of assists in 17 playoff games.