Brantford flips the script
Call it a dogged pursuit. Brantford Bulldogs general manager Spencer Hyman has instigated an aggressive approach to the next Ontario Hockey League season. Hyman and the Bulldogs have now signed four younger — and American born — National Collegiate Athletic Association commits to play in the OHL come the ’26-27 season.
They are highly regarded forwards Nathan Hauad, Owen DeGraff, Xavier Lieb and Jason Musa. Hauad, DeGraff and Lieb have 2008 birth dates while Musa was born in 2007.
Hauad, who is from Chicago, has a future commitment to UConn and DeGraff and Lieb are both Penn State recruits, Meanwhile, the year older Musa, who was originally slated to play in the NCAA at UMass in ’26-27, has instead signed an OHL card with Brantford. DeGraff and Musa are both Florida products while Lieb hails from Pennsylvania.
Notably, all four players starred with teams in the Tier 1 junior level United States Hockey League in ’25-26.
Whether any of the foursome plays more than a single season with Brantford or not, Hyman and the Bulldogs have at least partially flipped the script on Division 1 NCAA schools who have been raiding the OHL of some of its young stars dating back to last year and continuing on into this one.
The Bulldogs are coming off of a splendid ’25-26 OHL season in which they finished atop the overall standings. Brantford then won two rounds of playoffs only to lose in heart breaking fashion to Barrie in seven games in the Eastern Conference finals despite out-playing the Colts for the majority of the series.
The addition of the four NCAA forward commits to Brantford for the upcoming season comes at a crucial time for the Bulldogs, who stand to graduate as many as 10 top end players to the pro ranks in ’26-27.
Despite the exodus of so many graduating players, Brantford does have several up and coming youngsters with valuable OHL experience who are expected to advance their game in ’26-27.
Those players include 2008 forward Nik Rossetto from Sault Ste. Marie. Despite shoulder surgery a year ago, Rossetto has already played in 121 OHL games — playoffs included — and scored 16 goals in what has been mainly fourth line duty for the Bulldogs.
