Though their 2025-2026 season is now behind them, the Sudbury Wolves still managed to have a fairly busy week as we wander into mid-April.
Just days after it was announced that forward Jan Chovan had been signed to an amateur tryout agreement with the Ontario Reign of the AHL came the news that teammate Jean-Christoph Lemieux had been named to the Team Canada U18 Preliminary Roster.
And squeezed in between the two was the unveiling of the 2025-2026 individual award winners for the Wolves, celebrating a crew that showed countless positive signs for the future as the team remained highly competitive even after trading away top-end talents Kieron Walton and Nathan Villeneuve at the deadline.
A 6th round draft pick of the Los Angeles Kings in 2025, Jan Chovan finished his first OHL season with 55 points (28G + 27A) in 60 games, missing a little time over the holidays after he was selected to compete at the World Junior Hockey Championships, representing Slovakia.
Joining the Reign in California, Chovan is hoping to earn his AHL debut some time this month, his team now left with a pair of regular season games to play (April 17th vs San Diego; April 18th vs Abbotsford), with playoffs to follow as Ontario holds down top spot in the Pacific Division with a record of 46-19-3-2.
The AHL grouping he is now practicing with includes countryman Martin Chromiak, who sits tied with Cole Guttman and Nikita Alexandrov for the team lead in scoring, all at 53 points.
The recognition for JC Lemieux comes after a second half surge in which the talented 17 year-old forward and second round pick of the Windsor Spitfires vaulted from his 18 points in 33 games production with the Spits to a better than a point a game showing in Sudbury (25 points in 23 games).
A ative of Gatineau(PQ), Lemieux was the key piece acquired from Windsor when the Wolves shipped Nathan Villeneuve and Alex Pharand across to the Memorial Cup contenders.
The 23 player roster named by Hockey Canada yesterday will gather in Slovakia ahead of the 2026 IIHF U18 Men's World Championship being contested from April 22nd to May 2nd in Bratislava and Trencin.
Finally, it was a year for new faces to strut their stuff with the Wolves and that much was clear when the year-end award winners were announced.
First round Import selection Artem Gonchar (2025) was honoured as the Samuel Rothschild Most Valuable Player award as well as receiving the Pete Shields Most Assists Award (36) in his first year in Sudbury.
Jan Chovan captured both the Bill Plaunt Top Scorer Trophy as well as the Most Goals Award, while Brayden Bennett was presented the Bud Burke Top Rookie Honours.
Forward Rowan Henderson continued his steady climb of progress, earning the Leadership Award in addition to being singled out as the Best Defensive Player while frequent linemate Blake Clayton was selected for the Jim Pappin Memorial Award (dedication and contribution to the team).
Other award winners included Brady Smith (Scholastic Award), Gavin Ewles (Top Defenceman), Chase Coughlan (Joe Drago Players' Player Award and Top Plus-Minus) and Ethan Dean (Gord Ewin Most Improved Player Award).
