Late Bloomer, 4th-Round NHL Pick, Helping Purple Eagles Rise to Top in Atlantic Hockey
by Anthony Travalgia/ (@atravalgia)
Niagara’s Trevor Hoskin was 15-years old when he was told he was too small and too weak for the Quinte Red Devils, a Canadian AAA team — the very same program that Hoskin had spent the previous five seasons with.
That was all the motivation he needed.
“When someone doesn’t want you, that always resonates with you, it never leaves when you didn’t make a team. You want to prove those people wrong and yeah, today I still think about it,” Hoskin said. “I think the best feeling you can really have is proving somebody wrong and overcoming all that adversity.”
Hoskin found an open roster spot with Greater Kingston, another AAA team a few towns over. With Kingston, Hoskin was able to ditch the late bloomer label, growing in size and putting on more weight, inching him closer to the 6-foot-1, 175-pound frame he skates at today.
“I could totally tell the last couple years leading up to the [OHL] draft that I was gonna have to have a growth spurt or get in the gym and keep working hard and change some things,” Hoskin said.
“I was lucky enough to get a growth spurt and doing the right things off the ice, eating, sleeping and stuff, putting myself in the best position to grow and gain weight and strength and that kind of led me to where I am now.”
After being drafted by the OHL’s Owen Sound in 2020, Hoskin took his talents to the Ontario Junior Hockey League and the Coburg Cougars where spent three seasons. Hoskin’s final season with the Cougars was his best, a 42-goal, 100-point season that earned him league MVP honors.
Hoskin called the day he was cut from Quinte as one of the hardest days of his life. That difficult life moment, turned into motivation, certainly felt good when he was drafted in the fourth round of the NHL draft by the Calgary Flames this past June — the first player heading to Niagara to ever be drafted by an NHL team.
“Talk about the worst moments in your life, this is probably the best moment, other than committing to Niagara of course,” Hoskin said.
Hoskin had friends and teammates heading to the OHL, but playing college hockey was always the goal. Had Hoskin decided to play for Owen Sound, he’d still be eligible for…
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