It’s well-established that the revolving door of U SPORTS eligibility poses serious challenges for teams, requiring them to always stay one step ahead within their recruitment programs. Recently, however, it hasn’t been the athlete’s age that has forced them to depart from Queen’s, but higher opportunities south of the border.
Earlier this month, Queen’s Athletics and Recreation (A&R) announced two offensive juggernauts from the men’s varsity basketball and hockey teams would be saying goodbye to Queen’s to chase their dreams in the United States.
Dalton Duhart, ArtSci ’26, signed a professional contract with the Bloomington Bison of the East Coast Hockey League. Most recently, Duhart led the team with 44 points in 28 games, ranking him among the top five in the Ontario University Athletics division (OUA) and seven points above the nearest Gael.
Head Coach of the Men’s Hockey team, Brett Gibson, reflected on what it means to see his players further their careers through the hockey program here at Queen’s.
“It’s not bittersweet for me at all. Actually, I’m happy for them. No one signs a life contract when they come to Queen’s. That’s the best thing about it. In any sport, really, these players move, and what it means is you just can’t stay stagnant as a coach is. I’m going to miss those players,” Gibson said in an interview with The Journal.
Although the loss of Duhart, amongst other primary contributors, calls for change within the Gaels’ roster, Gibson sees this as an opportunity rather than a setback.
“I’m excited the opportunity opens up for a second-year player that now gets to try those minutes. You think about Duhart, the example of him; I think he only had eight points this first year, and then he explodes for 45. The exciting part for me as a coach is who is [asking]: who is that guy this year?” Gibson said.
The hockey coach preached confidence in the depth of his roster, naming Nolan Hutchison, ArtSci ’25, as a player to watch and expecting players like Derek Hamilton, ArtSci ’27, to continue along their upward trajectory.
On the basketball court, Mikey Kelvin II, ArtSci ’25, recently transferred to Oklahoma State University to play NCAA Division 1 basketball on an athletic scholarship. Kelvin played a large role in the Gaels’ deep playoff run last year, averaging just over 10 points per game, 5.5 rebounds, and a block while maintaining a 38 per cent field goal percentage from beyond the arc.
Stephan Barrie, head coach of the Men’s Basketball team, commented on the recruiting power that U.S. teams have with the addition of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) rights.
“The world down in the U.S. is changing very rapidly with NIL and it has become more like a professional league. The amount of money they have down there is probably more than most people understand, its big money, big stakes,” Barrie said. “We knew that there was a possibility they might start to come and poach players from us, but we didn’t know when, or how many.”
For a player like Kelvin, who was raised playing in Kingston basketball circuits and got to play for his hometown team, there’s no doubt it was a difficult decision to make.
“At the end of the day for Michael, he wanted to stay here, but the reality is, the opportunity when the finances were part of this, there was no way that any logical person could turn down that opportunity,” Barrie said.
While the early departures of two campus stars could be seen as a loss, they are best viewed as a testament to the strength of Queen’s athletic programs. Coaches Gibson and Barrie, alongside their coaching and development teams, have proven that Queen’s holds up their end of the bargain, doing everything in their power to make each student-athlete that enrolls here a better student, athlete, and human.
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