Each year, graduating players say goodbye to the programs they’ve dedicated themselves to, and with that, those same programs must both mourn and replace the losses of their veteran student-athletes.
During this volume’s last edition of Aidan’s Angle, I’m going to hypothesize on whether the Queen’s Gaels, as a whole, can be expected to win as much as they did this past academic year.
To determine this, I’m going to look at which teams have several graduating players, especially those who make significant contributions towards their teams’ triumphs, and which teams are set to showcase familiar faces come next season.
Perhaps Queen’s most prominent and followed sport is rugby. Going into the next season, both the Men’s and Women’s teams find themselves in very different positions.
For one, the Women’s team has six graduating players, each starting consistently throughout the season. These rugby veterans played major roles in the Gaels’ success: Captain and U SPORTS All-Canadian Lizzy Gibson, ArtSci ’24, all-star Maggie Banks, Nurs ’24, Canadian National player Taylor Perry, ArtSci ’24, U SPORTS All-Canadian Carmen Izyk, Nurs ’24, flanker Siobhan Sheerin, ArtSci ’24, and fullback Jaden Walker, ArtSci ’24.
With over a third of their starting roster moving on—and taking their talent with them—the Women’s team has a lot of work to do next season if they hope to replicate this year’s success.
In of the Men’s Rugby team, OUA First Team All-Star and Captain Eric Godden, Sci ’24, OUA First Team All-Star Connor Hay, ArtSci ’25, and OUA Second Team All-Stars Daniel Svoboda, Kin ’24, and Adam Doyle, Kin ’25, are all returning next season to sport their tricolour.
While both Gaels Rugby teams have a fair number of graduating players, the Men’s team is retaining its prominent players. They should be expected to retain their form, if not improving on this year’s finish.
The Men’s Hockey team is an example of a Queen’s team finding themselves in quite a peculiar situation.
With OUA All-Stars such as Jacob Paquette, ArtSci ’24, and Jonathan Yantsis, ArtSci ’24, moving on to play professional hockey elsewhere, the Gaels must rely on returning talent, such as OUA East First Team All-Star Dalton Duhart, ArtSci ’26, and OUA All-Rookie East’s Derek Hamilton, ArtSci ’27, to take on a bigger workload next season.
The Gaels seem to have their goaltending situation figured out with Christian Purboo, ArtSci ’25, who posted a 1.94 goals against average (GAA) this season. He’s been a strong figure for the Gaels, as in many situations it’s up to the goaltender to determine how high their team climbs or falls in the standings.
Two more teams absorbing blows to their roster next season will be the Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams.
The Gaels will be losing key figures Cole Syllas, Sci ’24, and Julia Chadwick, MIR ’24, both of whom were critical to the Gaels’ success throughout the season and during their playoff pushes.
While losing student-athletes is tough, their losses are met with opportunity for growth. In the context of basketball, the loss of Syllas and Chadwick provides the opportunity for fresh meat to get their shot at cementing themselves in the Gaels glory books.
I believe each of the Gaels teams has been built to adapt to ever-changing rosters. There’s a lot of hope moving into the next season, with young prospects such as Rugby players, Jacob Merkur, LifeSci ’25, and Rachel Cullum, ArtSci ’26, ready to explode, or Basketball players Michael Kelvin II, ArtSci ’25, and Mikayla Mcfarlane, Kin ’25, who are ready to take on larger roles in the face of their veteran’s absence.
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