As the 2025-26 Ontario Hockey League (OHL) season winds down, teams are honouring their overage (graduate) players. While the Windsor Spitfires recognized their trio on St. Patrick’s Day during their final regular season home game, we can’t help but wonder what happened to previous graduates.
In the OHL, an “overager” is a 20-year-old player who’s in his final season in the league. Every team is allowed to dress three of them per game. This season, the Spitfires had forward Alex Pharand (Chicago Blackhawks), long-time goaltender Joey Costanzo, and defenceman Wyatt Kennedy. The trio has joined an impressive list of overagers the club has seen come through the halls of the WFCU Centre over the last nearly 20 seasons. It makes us wonder what happened to a handful that graduated in seasons past. Let’s take a look at four of them now.
Forward Oliver Peer
The story of forward Oliver Peer is fascinating. Here you’ve got a young kid who was passed up in the 2019 OHL Draft and the 2020 OHL Under-18 Draft, but never stopped believing. In the summer of 2021, Spitfires’ general manager Bill Bowler invited the Toronto Jr. Canadiens U18 AAA forward to camp to start 2021-22. Nobody really knew what to expect. However, they quickly found that the youngster had next-level speed and no fear, which is a dangerous combination in the OHL. He was signed out of camp, and the rest became history.
While he only had nine points in 50 games during the regular season, he made his mark in the playoffs with eight points in 23 games, including a huge goal in Game 1 of the OHL Championship against the then-Hamilton Bulldogs.
In 2022-23, Peer broke out for 67 points in 63 games and became a household name. If they needed speed or a big play, he was their guy. In 2023-24, while the club was rebuilding, he had 47 points in 37 games before being traded to the Flint Firebirds at the January deadline for multiple picks (none of which remain with the club). After the season was done, he moved on to the next stage in his career. What happened to him?
Peer promptly went to play for the Kalamazoo Wings of the ECHL but only saw one game before moving on. He spent the 2024-25 season with the University of New Brunswick (USports) where he had 16 points in 19 games. This season, he took advantage of the new NCAA transfer rule, where junior hockey players can join the NCAA ranks, and he’s playing for Bemidji State University (NCAA) in Minnesota. He has an impressive 36 points in 34 games.
Forward Remy Giftopoulos
Former Spitfires’ GM Warren Rychel loved his physical players. They didn’t have to be one-dimensional, but do a bit of everything. That’s where Remy Giftopoulos came into play.
The 6-foot-2, 205-pound Ancaster native was good for about 40 points a season, plus a few penalty minutes, bringing talent to the ice and the room. At the January 2013 trade deadline, Rychel brought him in from the Ottawa 67’s for multiple picks. It worked out well. Giftopoulos had 21 points in 29 games that season. They brought him back for an overage season (2013-14), and he finished with 24 goals and 48 points in 61 games. While they only saw four playoff games, he brought the intangibles to help the club. So, what happened to him?
From 2015-18, he joined Acadia University, where he had 87 points in 101 games. Following his schooling, Giftopoulos went to Europe, starting in Denmark with the Herlev Eagles in 2018-19. From there, he was a part of Cortina in Italy from 2019-21 before heading to Austria in 2021-22. His final season there, 2022-23, saw 56 points in 35 games for Sterzing/Lipiteno in the Alps Hockey League.
For the last three seasons, he’s been with the Wentworth Gryphins of Allen Cup Hockey, a senior AAA league in Southern Ontario. It’s the same team that includes former Spitfires Eric Diodati and Ryan Foss.
Forward Noah Morneau
This is one of those “feel-good” stories. Riverside, ON-native Noah Morneau came up through the Windsor Jr. Spitfires system in the late 2010s. He was chosen by the Spitfires in the 15th round of the 2020 OHL Draft. However, that’s when COVID-19 hit, and he lost a season of development.
In 2021-22, he joined the LaSalle Vipers Jr. B and put up a very promising 45 points in 39 games. Despite being a late pick, the kid had a huge heart and could do a bit of everything. Through his work ethic and never-say-quit attitude, he made the Spitfires in 2022-23 as the club was going for another championship run. That season, he had 25 points in 65 games and didn’t look out of place.
From there, he improved every season, going from 13 goals and 34 points in 2023-24 to a monster 32 goals and 73 points in 68 games in 2024-25. He was the epitome of what it meant to be a Spitfire. Unfortunately, the club lost a heartbreaking Game 7 in overtime to the Kitchener Rangers in the second round, ending his OHL career. It wasn’t the way the hometown favourite wanted to go out, but he had plenty to be proud of.
It begs the question – what happened to Morneau?
Since he graduated, he’s another one that’s taken advantage of the NCAA-OHL rules. Morneau enrolled at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. In 30 games so far, he has nine goals and 15 points.
Defenceman Djibril Toure
The story of defenceman Djibril Toure is an interesting one. The 6-foot-7, 203-pound Dorval, QC native went undrafted into the OHL, instead playing until COVID-19 with the Lions du Lac St-Louis of the Quebec M18 AAA League (for players under 18 years old). After hockey resumed, he played 2021-22 in the Central Canada Hockey League before getting a tryout in the OHL with the Sudbury Wolves for 2022-23.
He made an immediate impact, not only making the team but adding 16 points and 94 penalty minutes in 57 games. He was fun, energetic, and great in the room and community. Just before the 2023-24 season started, he signed a free agent offer with the Ottawa Senators. His hard work continued to pay off. He joined the Wolves for 24 games before Bowler came calling at the deadline. The Spitfires needed another overage player, and he was their guy.
Related: Senators’ 5 Most Interesting Prospects
While Toure wasn’t as offensive with the Spitfires, with six points in 21 games, he was a fan favourite and always had a smile on his face. Unfortunately, he was hurt in a late-season altercation, and that was the end of his junior career.
What happened to Toure after he left the OHL? Fortunately, his hockey was just getting started. Since he left the Spitfires, he has been developing in the minor pros. For the last two seasons, he’s split his time between the Belleville Senators (AHL) and the Orlando Solar Bears and Allen Americans, both of the ECHL. Currently, he’s playing in the AHL and has four points in 29 games. Hopefully, that can continue well into the future, and he sees some time in the NHL before long.
Being an overager in the OHL means you’re looked at for leadership and production, both on and off the ice. While the NHL is always the eventual goal, players often take other routes with success. These four players are proof of that.
