Brandon Caputo
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Ethan Miedema was the 109th selection in the 2023 National Hockey League Entry Draft by the Buffalo Sabres in the fourth round, but the 19-year-old is enjoying early success this 2024-25 Ontario Hockey League season with the Kingston Frontenacs, his third season with the major junior hockey club.
The Cobourg, Ontario native, now a junior hockey veteran in his fourth OHL season, says that his early success (holding a current .90 points per game average) can be attributed to the offseason acquisition of experienced forward Cedrick Guindon from the Owen Sound Attack, as the pair have built a strong chemistry early on.
“Honestly, I think a little bit has to do with my line mate; I’m starting to build some chemistry with Guindon, a good pick up from Owen Sound and had some solid seasons over there and being a draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens,” Miedema said.
“He’s able to open some room up for me. A perfect example the other night in Brantford, he brought two or three guys to him and fed me a good pass on a platter to finish off for the goal,” Miedema added. “I give my teammates a ton of credit but also as I get older in the league, I’m starting to get more comfortable and experienced so it’s a mix of those two things that have helped.”
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Miedema was originally drafted to the OHL by the Windsor Spitfires, fourth overall in the 2021 Priority Selection. He was able to learn the right way as a rookie from a very talented veteran group that season, a team who won the Western Conference’s Wayne Gretzky Trophy and lost to the then Hamilton Bulldogs (now Brantford) in the OHL Championship Series.
“In my first year I was on a loaded Windsor team with guys who are playing in the NHL now like Wyatt Johnston, Will Cuylle and even Matt Maggio currently playing in the American Hockey League, those are all pro hockey players,” Miedema said.
“Now it’s looking at them as veterans and try to translate that to my game and now with Kingston. You’ve got to bring the consistency with whoever your line mates are as you get older, to set an example.”
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Thanks to being drafted by an NHL organization, the 6’4 forward has been able to spend time down at the Buffalo Sabres Development Camp and Prospects Challenge over the past few seasons in Buffalo, New York, taking experience from how an NHL organization operates and the consistency tenancies of what it takes to be a professional hockey player. Last season under then AHL coach Seth Appert, this season with Michael Leone.
“I learned quite a bit from them even thought I was only there for a couple of weeks at a time with Development Camp and Main Camp but you soak in everything you can to be a sponge while you’re there,” Miedema said.
“It’s crucial because you go away for a couple of weeks while my Frontenacs team was still here practicing and you try to bring back new things that you can add onto your game and learning from pros,” Miedema said. “It sounds cliché, as you grow up and get older in the league, you start to grab onto new things and bring those back to your current club.”
Being a bigger player in stature, Miedema spoke about trying to use that size to his advantage in taking a step as a power forward player in all 200-feet of the ice and shielding the puck with his large reach to make him even more dangerous of a player going forward. Something that his coaches in Kingston and the Development Coaches in Buffalo have both helped with.
“I think you said it bang on, being a bigger player, you have to be able to protect pucks along the walls, whether it’s in the offensive zone, defensive zone, behind the net or anywhere on the ice as something as the development staff with the Sabres have helped me try to pinpoint and work on,” Miedema said.
“That’s definitely one thing of many that I have to work on before getting to profesional hockey but that’s one thing that’s been really helpful. They’ve sent me clips or even just sometimes the development guys will help on the ice to pick up pucks along the wall.”
Micheline V photo
Miedema also spoke about how nice it has been for the coaching staff in Kingston and the Development Staff in Buffalo both being on the same page as far as what they want to see from him this season and how they want him to improve during his growth as a player with the little details.
“The coaching staff here in Kingston and the development staff in Buffalo seem to be on the same page with everything they’re wanting me to work on and really trusting the process, especially with the Sabres guys,” Miedema said.
“My head coach Troy Mann has a very good track record with games coached in the American League, which is where I want to be eventually. You have a longtime pro coach here so you try to take in everything he says and really implement what he’s trying to get across.”
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Miedema, who has goals in five of his last seven games and nine points overall through 10 games this OHL season, closed by talking about the high expectations he’s setting for himself and his Kingston club this season without putting exact numbers on those projections.
“I don’t want to set a number on anything but I have really high expectations for myself and the team this season because there are some special players here and we have a good mix, being a really close team,” Miedema said. “Coming back to the fact that Troy returned as our head coach, given that he’s played so many games in the pro’s, he only makes us better as a collective and as individual players.”
Miedema accumulated 18 goals and 41 points in 68 games for Kingston last season, along with a goal in 5 games during their first-round playoff matchup but is confident that bigger things are on the horizon for him personally and the group this season, for what will be another long learning lesson of a 2024-25 OHL season.
“We’re not setting a placement in the standings or point totals but I don’t see why we can’t be one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference this season,” Miedema ended. Kingston currently sits eight in the OHL Eastern Conference standings but have lost only three of their 10 games in regulation this season, currently holding a 3-3-4 record with many games ending in extra time.
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