Kaden Dundas '21 Recruiting Profile

September 2020, I was signed with the Soo Thunderbirds Junior A Hockey Club of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League (NOJHL).  I was part of the 2023/24 team.  We went to the finals in the 2023 league playoff championship.  In 2021/22, our team won the league championship that sent us to the Junior A nationals at the Centennial Cup. It was a privilege and great experience to be a part of 10 top Junior A champion teams competing from across Canada.   

I am passionate about competing in hockey and I enjoy performing under pressure.  Since age 9,  I have played both AA and AAA  hockey with the Soo Greyhounds organization in the Northern Ontario Hockey Association (NOHA),  including AAA  Bantam Minor.  I played right defence position at larger tournaments like the North America Cup in Buffalo and Bauer World Invite in Chicago obtaining points in these tournaments.  At age 14 during the 2017/18 Bantam Major season, Sports Gold Rush statistics  include: 10 goals and 22 assists in 23 games played. I was given an opportunity to skate with the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) Soo Greyhound training camp during their summer of 2021 tryouts.  As a free agent  I was given strong support from the coaches regarding my goals to one day play college hockey. 

Back in 2018, during my 10th grade, I chose to attend high school hockey tryouts making the high school varsity hockey team.  I chose this path because it would be a challenge to skate with teammates that were 2 and 3 years older than me including many senior players who also had AAA hockey experience and some, Junior A hockey. They were looking to win the City High School Championship and go on to the regional championship. During that 10th grade as a junior, I moved from third line to first line playing right defence.  I was later appointed Captain of the Korah Colts High School team for the 2019/20 season during my sophomore year, 11th grade. I followed that with my first year of Junior A NOJHL play in 2020/21 until present.

Academically, I was accepted into the enhanced learning courses offered at Korah High School for students considering the IB program. I wanted to remain focused in school while still competing and improving my hockey skills.  The senior high school hockey team highly recommended playing for our school team and coach.  Many attending high school hockey tryouts were also academic honor students. 

At this time, I plan to obtain a degree in communication or business. I studied  12th grade at the university ’academic’ level in Canada.  I received high honors in my top 6 university academic preparedness 12th grade courses, earned a Specialist High Skills Major in Business and currently continue to play Junior A hockey while taking some college business courses.

Over the years, I have been asked to be a leader by my hockey coaches on and off the ice. I helped promote and  organize the high school spring hockey fundraiser, the Korah Cup 3 on 3  hockey tournament in 2019. As a veteran, I look out for rookies seeing that they feel a part of the team. Community involvement included reading buddies with local elementary school students and a learn to skate event for new comers to our city.

I also enjoy competing in golf. I have competed as a junior golfer at the Sault Ste. Marie Golf Club winning local Junior Subway Tournaments.  In 2019, I volunteered with the junior golf clinics, assisting with skills development and rules of play.  I was also employed as a student to work at the golf course during the summer of  2019 and was promoted to business operations in the Pro Shop in 2020, 2021 and 2022 seasons. While studying a fall semester of business courses at our local community college, I won the Golf Team MVP for 2021.

During the offseason, I have been a strategy, economic and marketing summer student employee for a large local corporation during the day and continue to train for the hockey season during weekends and evenings.

In general, I strive to be around others with a good attitude and work ethic.  I can be counted on to set the tone and to focus when it’s time to get to work. Thriving on pressure situations in games, I was awarded top defenceman on the NOJHL Thunderbird team in my 2022/23 season, was a league leader in playoff points by a defenceman and first overall in playoff goals by a defenceman in the league 2022/23.  In my current 2024 season, I broke a record for the Soo Thunderbird franchise all time points leader by a defenceman, with 97 points and obtained my 100th career point.