Jax Duggan: A Biography (Cause fuck your prospect overview)


Jax Duggan was born in Guelph, Ontario. A small but ever growing town just south of Toronto and rich with hockey history. As a kid Jax dreamed of being a pro hockey player like the men he idolized growing up. The first step for him was the OHL. Having grown up in Guelph, the number one hope was being drafted, and playing for his own Guelph Storm™, but that reality came crashing down as he was drafted in the second round by the rival Kitchener Rangers. Reluctantly he paved his way as a dominant offensive defencemen, using his size as a means of overpowering the enemy.


At the age of 18 Jax was informed that his hopes of playing for his hometown Storm were going to come true. Despite his dominance on the blue line the Rangers had been struggling in net, and as such were out of playoff contention, that's when the Guelph Storm™ offered a trade to the Rangers. Due to recent troubles with one of their own top tier blue liners, the Storm had to part ways with Ryan Merkley, leaving them vulnerable in their defensive depth. In his last year of OHL play Jax would get to not only play for his hometown dream team, but also help push them towards a Memorial Cup in the process.


Going against some of the best prospects, such as Ja’Aj Coitus-Wagg, Mike DiPietro, Nick Suzuki, and others, the Storm had a rough path. The Storm seemed down an out in the division finals against the London Knights, but thanks to an overtime rocket from Duggan, they managed to squeak into the Memorial Cup. Although they lost the memorial cup finals to the Kamloops Blazers, it was a hard fought battle. Duggan was quoted as saying “Although it does hurt coming this far and going home empty handed, the Blazers pushed that little bit harder than us, and they deserve this”.


Though many believed Jax would take the next leap into the big leagues playing in the NHL, he has decided to go with the equally as challenging rout of the SHL. With the SMJHL draft coming up, it will be interesting to see where he ranks among his fellow SMJHL prospects. Two players he has noted as wanting to follow are his teammates on his SMJHL prospect tournament team Tony Ford and Wibbly McButternutz. Due to his delay in joining the tournament thanks to his late run in the Memorial Cup, Duggan has a lot of proving to do, having missed the first 8 games, but being paired with McButternutz, good things are sure to happen for the talented players going into this years rookie draft.


Word count: 456 2x SMJHL Media Week