(Derek Smith, left, and Ryan Ramsay, right, pictured in this Cobourg Cougars graphic)
Jeff Gard/Today’s Northumberland
In an attempt to return to respectability, both locally and in the Ontario Junior ‘A’ Hockey League, the Cobourg Cougars are filling key staff positions with veteran hires.
The new head coach of the Cougars is Derek Smith, who has coached the past eight seasons in the OJHL with the Trenton Golden Hawks and Wellington Dukes. He has won two OJHL Buckland Cup championships, two silver medals with Canada East at the World Junior ‘A’ Challenge and a coach of the year award.
Smith previously played in the NHL with the Ottawa Senators and Calgary Flames along with stints in NCAA Division 1, the AHL, ECHL and NLA and KHL.
Meanwhile, Ryan Ramsay came to Cobourg from the Huskies franchise and is one of the new owners along with Paul Wilson. He will also serve as the Cougars president and general manager.
Ramsay has spent the past seven seasons with Haliburton as well as the Whitby Fury. The Huskies made the playoffs each season in Haliburton.
While as a player, Ramsay signed an NHL contract with the St. Louis Blues and played in the OHL, AHL, ECHL and seven seasons in the German DEL 1 League.
As previously reported, the Cougars had a tumultuous 2025-2026 season, plagued by poor ownership and numerous player and staff changes throughout the campaign. They finished with a third-worst 20 points in the league from just nine wins and 47 losses (two in overtime).
The future of the storied Cougars franchise was in jeopardy, but Cobourg ultimately retained an OJHL team due to simultaneous relocations of two member franchises.
The now former Cougars owners relocated to Toronto with a new Warriors franchise while the Haliburton County Huskies moved to Cobourg while retaining the Cougars branding. (https://todaysnorthumberland.ca/2026/05/29/cobourg-will-still-have-junior-a-cougars-due-to-simultaneous-ojhl-franchise-relocations/)
The Cougars have two exhibition games scheduled at the Cobourg Community Centre ahead of the 2026-2027 season; Sunday, Aug. 23 against the Wellington Dukes at 3 p.m. and Thursday, Sept. 3 against the Pickering Panthers at 7 p.m.
Author: Jeff Gard
