Ryan Buchanan

Official twitter account of Monkton Ontario's Ryan chubs Buchanan

[Ryan Buchanan @chubs168]

Maxy and the U13 OASA Avengers had a great weekend of ball. 8 games in 2.5 days, playing some of the best teams in Ontario. Avengers take home the Gold with a 6-4 win over Napanee. #wilmotspringshowcase

[Topher Scott @HockeyThinkTank]

Following up on this as there’s some discourse saying everything’s fine in Canada and if they had the likes of Celebrini and a few other NHLers they would have won and we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

And they’re right. Canada would’ve had a much better shot at gold if they had their full arsenal to work with.

But two things can be true at the same time. I feel like that argument is just putting lipstick on a pig.

Every year Canada is missing top players. Yet in its history they’ve still fared way better than this 3 year stretch where they haven’t played in the championship game. It’s not just about this year. It’s about the big picture and what could be ahead if things stay the same.

I also don’t think we should judge a country’s development model solely on how they do in best-on-best competition. It’s a part of it for sure, but there are other things like growth and retention rates and other metrics that tell a more complete story.

If you think that everything is fine in Canada because the best players weren’t at World Juniors, I don’t think you’re looking deep enough at the systemic failure of the youth hockey model in the country.

Literally tens of thousands of less boys playing the game than a decade ago. Costs out of control. Winning over development. Super teams over TEAM teams. Ego over process. Fast track over patience.

We’re taught to look at process over result. So let’s forget about the result of World Juniors. Do you think the way youth hockey is delivered is the right process?

Every elite player I know has one thing in common.

They LOVE the game.

Do you think that the youth hockey experience is growing a love for the game more today than when you played? With the amount of pressure that is being put on kids and their families to dive into the crazy younger and younger every year?

I get messages from parents and coaches daily. We collaborate with a ton of youth organizations. The stress and FOMO is real. And the membership numbers are hard data to back it up.

The issues are real. Results aside, it’s imperative that hard conversations need to be had about youth hockey in the country. For better results in competition. For better development. For better mental health for the kids. And for the game we all love.

[Ryan Buchanan @chubs168]

Had the privilege to coach this amazing U15 Elma team this season. Unbelievable experience to coach them to 7th in Canada. Got goose bumps watching my boy pitch the best ball so far of his career. Finishing up the tournament in 2nd for top pitcher with a 3.64 era and 35 k's.

[Ryan Buchanan @chubs168]

Maxes U13 Elma Avengers OASA team had a great weekend in Jarvis at their Provincial Tournament finishing up 4th.

[OASA Softball @OASASoftball]

Fastball revival: Sport making comeback in rural southwestern Ontario communities

https://t.co/17h4cvP9cN

[Ryan Buchanan @chubs168]

Thank you to everyone who was able to help support our boys. We will be leaving in two weeks.

[Ryan Buchanan @chubs168]

Well these boys made it official today. CANADIANS bound! The Avengers will be Ontario #4. Heading to Winkler Manitoba in August. #proud @OASASoftball

[Ryan Buchanan @chubs168]

Cullen came in to close game one on Saturday @oasa qualifers. He followed that up with a complete game master piece immediately after that game. Only allowing 2 runs and no walks as the boys mercied Wilmot Minor 9-2 pushing them to top six in Ontario. This was his last out.

[Ryan Buchanan @chubs168]

Elma Avengers are officially in the top 6 teams in Ontario, looking to make a splash Sunday morning trying to get to Canadians. Untracked territory for any past Elma Teams.

[OASA Softball @OASASoftball]

U15 Eliminations in Napanee

Game 20
Elma 9
Wilmot Minors 2

Game 21
Tavistock 11
Wilmot Majors 6

[Ryan Buchanan @chubs168]

After day one at the U15 OASA Qualifiers. Elma beat Innerkip 7-5, hard-fought loss(2-2 going into bottom of 6th)5-2 to the Tara MPM twins. Waiting on the winner of Springbrook and Peterborough for our next game. Cullen pitched 5 full innings against Tara only giving up 2 runs.

[OASA Softball @OASASoftball]

U15 Eliminations in Napanee

Game 1
Haldimand 4
Wilmot Minors 1

Game 2
Elma 7
Innerkip 5

Game 3
Campbellford 7
Peterborough 1

Game 4
Tavistock 11
Springbrook 0

[Ryan Buchanan @chubs168]

Last weekend Cullen got his first experience of helping out another team. He got asked to play with the Tavistock Minor team and helped them to a gold medal at the Wilmot Spring showcase. Both Tavistock teams brought home gold.

[OASA Softball @OASASoftball]

Below is the list of affiliated teams for OASA in the U15 category and older for 2025. For any questions, contact Karen our Registrar at [email protected].

[Topher Scott @HockeyThinkTank]

The more I dive into and try to learn about what it takes to be a great hockey player, it's becoming clearer and clearer that there's a specific moment in a kid's life that is so incredibly important.

That moment is the conversation a player has with their parent when they hit their first adversity.

Whether it's getting cut, dealing with a hard coach, getting hurt, or anything else - how that parent approaches that conversation is a potential make-or-break moment on their kid's journey.

This weekend I heard two stories that exemplified that.

One was a pitch for Andrew Ladd's 1616 Project (which is awesome). He talks about getting cut around 14-15 but his parents had great perspective...he went and killed it on the "B" team and then he became a fourth overall first round NHLer. I also heard a story about Jake Guentzel not getting selected for Minnesota's High Performance final camp at around the same age and he's one of the best players in the game right now. His dad is a former college coach and I have to believe he allowed Jake to go through it.

So many parents today fight their kid's battles or make excuses for them. They'll jersey shop around until they hear what they want to hear if things aren't going their kid's way.

If you do that, you are 100% handicapping them. Guide them through their adversity, help them through it, but let them feel it. Let it motivate them to work harder to be better. By fighting their battles you're instilling a victim mentality where they'll think the world is out to get them and everything isn't fair rather than getting to work, building the mental toughness, and understanding that more is in their control than they think.

Everyone goes through it, especially the great ones. Help kids understand it's a necessary part of the journey. Don't let it handicap them with excuses.

[OASA Softball @OASASoftball]

U11 Provincial B
Elma
Silver medalists

[OASA Softball @OASASoftball]

U11 Provincial B

Gold - Elmira Martin

Silver - Elma

Bronze - Peterborough

[Ryan Buchanan @chubs168]

Incredible weekend with this U11 Elma Avengers team. Provincial Silver Medalists. Lost 8-5 to Elmira. So proud of these boys, great work.

[Ryan Buchanan @chubs168]

U11 Elma Avengers beat Wilmot 15-0 in the semi finals. They play Elmira or Peterborough for the Provincial Gold medal in Southhampton. @OASASoftball #Sundayball

[Ryan Buchanan @chubs168]

U11 Elma Avengers win game two 10-0 vs Wilmot. Pitching has been lights out, no runs scored and have only gave up 2 hits. Sunday ball is earned boys, let's go!

[Ryan Buchanan @chubs168]

U11 Elma Avengers take game one over Peterborough 9-0. @OASASoftball Going to be a wet day, but nowhere I'd rather be than the ballpark!