#22 Garrett Pilon – Belleville Sens

With the 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs well underway and the Belleville Senators wading into the offseason, David Foot sat down with the players to reflect on a year filled with challenges, growth, and standout moments. In this exclusive series of year-in-review interviews, players open up about their personal journeys, team milestones, and what it meant to represent Belleville and the Bay of Quinte this season. From locker room highlights to on-ice battles, these conversations offer a behind-the-scenes look at the season that was — and a glimpse at what’s ahead.

Our final year in review is with forward Garrett Pilon. The veteran discusses his second season with the Senators (his first as Belleville’s captain) and chats about building more momentum into 2025-26 with a strong offseason.

DF: The theme this year seems to be disappointment in making the playoffs, but a lot of pride in what this group was able to accomplish and the work that was put in since October. Is that how you feel?

GP: Yeah, it’s obviously disappointing that our season is over, but looking at the past four weeks here and the stretch of games we had to go through to stay competitive and push for the playoffs, I think we did a great job. I’m definitely proud of the group for where we got to and the obstacles we had to overcome through the season. Super proud that we even got this close.

DF: It was your first full season as captain, and we’ve talked about it a bit through the year, but how did you find that role?

GP: It was definitely a learning experience. I’ve been in a scenario where I’ve been a leader on a team, but not necessarily the focal point wearing the letter and have that on my chest every night. I definitely wore it with pride and learned a lot. Going into next year, I think I’m a lot more poised for the season.

DF: On the ice, you had a career year with 48 points, one more than you had in your first season here last year. Were you happy with your on-ice play?

GP: I think there was a lot of off-ice stuff that was different, so I was proud of myself that I was able to put up points and let a lot of those other responsibilities not overwhelm me. But at the same time, I think I was given lots of opportunities to succeed, and that was kind of expected.

DF: This is a young team, too. How did you feel the rookies, or guys playing in their first full seasons, fared?

GP: I think there was a lot of growth. You look at guys like Jorian Donovan, Oskar Pettersson,…