Second Time is the Charm for Donovan at Memorial Cup

Senators prospect Jorian Donovan has been crowned a champion after his Saginaw Spirit downed the London Knights in the Memorial Cup final Sunday night. The Sens 2022 NHL draft pick played a crucial role in the Spirit win when with just under 27 seconds left in regulation he gloved the puck down at the blue line before providing the assist on the game-winning goal by Josh Bloom.

In his third season in the OHL, Donovan's tenure with the Spirit has been short but impactful. After being traded by the Brantford Bulldogs, the team that drafted him sixth overall in the 2020 OHL Draft, to the Spirit midway through this season, Donovan finished the season with 13 goals and 33 assists for 46 points across 66 games.

The Spirit finished the regular season with 102 points, the second most in the OHL. A hard fought playoff campaign saw them sweep Owen Sound in the first round before being taken to the brink by the Soo Greyhounds in the second round, needing all seven games to advance to the OHL Semi-Finals. In the third round the Spirit ran into eventual OHL champions London Knights who won in six games, however the Spirit as Memorial Cup hosts had already booked their ticket to the tournament.

Through out the OHL playoffs Donovan played a key role for, minding the top defensive pairing en route to three goals and six assists for nine points over their 17-game run. Most notable in that run was Donovan finishing +13 while shouldering a big load of the ice time.

Donovan showed real maturity throughout the Spirit's Memorial Cup run once again anchoring a solid defensive core while scoring once and adding three helpers including the aforementioned game-winning assist.

Of course, this isn't Donovan's first chance at the Memorial Cup having gone all the final. After the Hamilton Bulldogs won the OHL Championship in 2022, they made it all the way to the Memorial Cup final before falling to the Saint John Sea Dogs by a score of 6-3. It seems the second time was the charm for Donovan this time around.