by John Humphrey
The conclusion of another stellar Provincial Junior Hockey League (PJHL) season for the Lakeshore Canadiens has also coincided with the end of the tenure of the team’s talented goaltender with the club.
After finishing second in the PJHL’s Stobbs Division during the 2025-2026 regular season with a 30-10-2-0 record, the Canadiens’ lengthy playoff run saw them eliminate the Dresden Jr. Kings, Blenheim Blades and the Essex 73s in succession, then defeat the Mount Brydges Bulldogs in the Western Conference final before ultimately losing to the Tavistock Braves in six games in the Schmalz Cup semi-final.
A 7-1 loss to the Braves on April 29 also marked the end of the Canadiens’ talented group of overage players, including forwards Aedan Sullivan, Brandon Leblanc and Nicolas Graniero, defenceman Landon Prince and netminder Boe Piroski.
Two weeks after the season- and career-ending loss to the Braves, the 22-year-old Piroski candidly admitted that it hadn’t yet sunk in that his junior hockey career was over.
“No, it hasn’t. Right now I feel like I do at the end of every season,” he claimed. “I think it will (sink in/hit him) when it I see some of the guys that I have been playing with for years in Lakeshore getting ready for another season while I won’t be.”
Piroski, who joined the Canadiens for the 2024-2025 PJHL season after being selected by the Ontario Hockey League’s Niagara IceDogs in the 2023 Under 18 Draft, played for the Leamington Flyers of the then-Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League (now Ontario Junior Hockey League). He played single games for both the OHL’s Flint Firebirds and Erie Otters before landing in Lakeshore and was quick to summarize his three-season career with the perennial PJHL powerhouse team.
“We were always successful with the Canadiens because not only did we have a deep and talented lineup, but we were a tight-knit group too,” he offered. “We also had a lot of success because of great coaching and a great general manager.”
Piroski, who shared the Lakeshore crease with Nicolas Bolton during his rookie season with the Canadiens and with Hunter Welk during his second and third seasons, praised his fellow puck-stoppers highly.
“Nicolas was a great mentor for me, and he helped me settle into a new league and a new team,” he said. “And I like to think I was able to turn around and mentor Hunter during my final two seasons with the Canadiens. We worked well together and pushed each other.”
Piroski, who was consistently ranked among the PJHL goaltending leaders during his time in Lakeshore, also had no difficulty identifying his style of play.
“I don’t think that I played just any one style,” he said. “I was a hybrid in net, for sure.”
Hybrid goaltenders such as Piroski like to combine traditional stand-up techniques with the butterfly style of netminding. Instead of dropping to their knees for every shot, goaltenders such as Piroski tend to rely on athleticism, skating ability, and quick reflexes to make reactive saves while adapting their body position to make a play or save.
The Cottam native also undoubtedly felt at home between the pipes for the Canadiens, partly because he lived at home during his PJHL days.
“It was usually a 20-minute ride to the rink,” he said. “It could take longer if the weather was bad.”
And while Piroski wouldn’t rule out a return to playing hockey sometime in the future, it won’t be this fall, as he will be busy working as an electrician – a lucrative career he has worked in for five years, including while he was playing for the Canadiens.
“It could be difficult at times to juggle my day job and playing with the Canadiens, but my boss at work was always super supportive and always let me leave early if I had a practice or a game, or if I needed to get home so I could get in my pre-game nap.”
Longtime Canadiens general manager, Mark Seguin, who now has the task of finding a top-flight goaltender to tandem with Welk for the 2026-2027 season, had nothing but praise for his now graduated goaltender.
“Boe has been one of the best goaltenders that we have ever had,” claimed Seguin, who added that there should be seven or eight roster spots available on the Canadiens in the fall “He has always been very popular with his teammates because he is very hard-working and competitive.
“Boe Piroski has been one of those guys who got better and better,” he continued. “And the bigger the game and the moment, the better he played.”
Although he will not be attending the Canadiens mini camp at the Atlas Tube Centre from June 16-18 or the team’s fall training camp, Boe Piroski will definitely be there in spirit.
“I want to thank the entire Lakeshore Canadiens organization and our amazing fans for helping make me not only a better hockey player, but a better person,” he said. “My three seasons in Lakeshore were the best times of my hockey career, and I have many wonderful memories that will stay with me forever.
“I wish the team and our fans nothing but the best of luck in the future.”