The Brantford Bulldogs have high expectations heading into the 2025-26 season.
Brantford finished last year with the fourth best record in the Ontario Hockey League and were the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference with a 44-19-5 record.
After getting by the North Bay Battalion in five games in the first round of the playoffs, the Bulldogs ran into the defending Eastern Conference champion Oshawa Generals in Round 2, where they fell in six games.
Having had the taste of success ripped away from them, Jake O'Brien and the Bulldogs are looking to take the next step in becoming an OHL powerhouse.
"Our goal is to win it," O'Brien told TSN on Friday. "We're really keen on succeeding this year and doing something special. I think we have a really deep lineup [this year] and I feel like that's maybe what we lacked a bit last year.
"I think we're going to be able to make a run just with the team on paper and just how close we are already."
O'Brien was one of the top players in the OHL last season, finishing tied for seventh in league scoring with Philadelphia Flyers prospect Porter Martone, recording 32 goals and 98 points in 66 games.
His play helped him get selected eighth overall by the Seattle Kraken in the 2025 NHL Draft and he was named captain of the Bulldogs this off-season after last year's captain, Patrick Thomas, graduated from major junior to join the Washington Capitals organization.
Brantford is a team with its leadership in transition as veteran core pieces like Chicago Blackhawks prospect Nick Lardis and Ottawa Senators prospect Tomas Hamara also joining their NHL clubs along with Thomas.
As O'Brien develops as the new leader in the locker room, he says he is using Thomas' example from last year as a guide.
"The things I took away from Thomas last year was just how hard he works," said O'Brien. "He would always be in the gym right away when he got there and before everyone else. He was pretty quiet in a way, but he just let by example on the ice and pushed himself every day, and was always great to everyone.
"Being the captain of Brantford this year, I'm just trying to be a role model for [both] the younger guys and even the older guys. I'm just being very nice to everyone, introducing myself to the new guys coming in, and inviting the younger guys to hang out after practice. I always appreciated that from the older guys when I was young."
O'Brien also recognizes the changing landscape of the Canadian Hockey League with players now having the option to move over to the NCAA. Winger Cole Brown left the Bulldogs for Notre Dame this season after recording 33 goals and 70 points in the OHL last year.
O'Brien was in the same boat as Brown with NCAA schools circling after he was drafted by the Kraken. However, the 6-foot-2 centre elected to sign his entry-level contract with the Kraken and continue his development in the OHL.
"I just thought it was the best for my development," said O'Brien. "The OHL has a very good system where you play 68 games [as opposed to] playing around 30 in the NCAA. I'm just so comfortable [in Brantford] and I wanted to win and be a leader on the Bulldogs, so it was a pretty easy decision for me.
"I think it's just where you are in your development and how you want to live out [your development years]. If you dreamed of going to a D1 school when you were younger, a lot of guys will push that way. But it's where you're comfortable in playing and what your NHL team thinks is the best for you."
The Toronto native had his first taste of professional action this fall when he took part of the beginning of the Kraken's training camp. He appeared in the Kraken's pre-season opener against the Vancouver Canucks before being returned to Brantford on Sept. 24.
O'Brien used the experience to watch closely how the NHL players prepared themselves on a day-to-day basis and getting an understanding of how much work he needs to put in to be at the same level.
"It was a really positive experience – just seeing what the NHL players do and how hard they work," said O'Brien. "Going there and seeing how good everyone is, [it told me] how hard I have to work in order to get there. Hopefully I'll get a chance next year [to make the team]."
O'Brien says there were a number of players that made him feel welcome at Kraken camp, but he took particular interest in watching centre Matty Beniers work.
The 18-year-old was using him as a visual example of what he can do to improve his game in order to get to the next level. Beniers is entering his fifth season with the Kraken and recorded 20 goals and 43 points in 82 games last season.
"Watching him entering the zone calmly with speed and making plays really quick was a big thing for me," said O'Brien. "Being able to have speed even when the D have good gaps on him, I wanted to learn how he does it and bring it back to junior this year."
O'Brien has appeared in one game since returning to the OHL, recording an assist. The Bulldogs take on the Peterborough Petes on Friday night on TSN+.
Aside from trying to make Brantford a Memorial Cup-contending team, O'Brien also has eyes on cracking Canada's World Junior squad as they try to return to medal contention for the 2026 edition of the tournament in Minnesota.
O'Brien previously won gold with Canada at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup and was invited to Hockey Canada's junior showcase in the summer.
Despite it being a dream of his to represent his country on the World Junior stage, he doesn't want to dwell on the thought too much so it might affect his production.
"[Representing Canada] was a cool experience and playing with the best players in my age group was pretty cool," said O'Brien. "Obviously, the World Juniors is another step with the pressure, but while I'd say you feel it a little bit, you just kind of try to keep to yourself and play your best hockey at the end of the day.
"Obviously it's been a goal and dream of mine [to make the World Junior team] since I was little, but I feel like thinking too much about it makes me play worse. I'm just letting myself do the work, playing my best hockey, and then see what they think of me when the time comes to select the team."
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