It's been over a year since he played his last game as a member of the Hamilton Bulldogs, but Sudbury native Gio Biondi easily flows back to the team that acquired the feisty forward from the hometown Wolves at the trade deadline in a year they would make a run to the Memorial Cup.

"I don't think I have ever been on a team as close as those guys - we did everything together," said the 20 year-old who played his first season of OUA hockey with the Guelph Gryphons last year.

"It was just the best group of people and that's what made it so special."

Certainly, there was no discounting a lineup that featured the likes of Mason McTavish, Arber Xhekaj, Logan Morrison and Avery Hayes - though Biondi insists the squad that topped the entire OHL with a record of 51-12-3-2 went well beyond just skill.

"We were a really good team and a lot of people saw that," he said. "But not a lot of people saw the amount of time in the background, the effort that was being put in off the ice, between practices."

By the time that post-season play arrived for the 2021-2022 OHL season, the Bulldogs were clearly on a roll.

They carried that into the playoffs, sweeping three straight series en route to the Eastern Conference title, carrying a 12-0 mark into game one of the final versus the Windsor Spitfires.

Leading 3-1 with less than eight minutes to play, the Bulldogs surrendered a pair of goals, losing the opener in overtime. "It was our first loss at home since before the trade deadline," said Biondi.

In many ways, the graduate of the Sudbury Minor Hockey Association AAA system believes that it was the reaction of head coach Jay McKee that, as much as anything, paved the way to what would eventually be a series win in seven hard fought games.

"It wasn't the loss, it was what the coach did the next day," Biondi recalled. "We had our typical meeting before practice. He had our season record, our home record, our record after the trade deadline and our playoff record on the board."

"There was a lot of wins and not very many losses. He just told us not to worry, that one game doesn't define us."

On a personal level, Biondi suggested an encounter back home on March 25th (2022) was extra special, albeit not for the standard reasons.

"That was my first and only game back in Sudbury; that was pretty cool," said the young man who is now studying Human Kinetics with an eye towards possibly following his sister's footsteps to a career in physiotherapy.

"The arena was pretty filled and even though we lost, that game was a lot of fun, playing in front of my friends and family, especially my grandparents. That one stands out a lot."

A 14th round pick of the Sudbury Wolves in 2018, the 5'11" winger had to beat the odds to even carve out an OHL career that topped out at ninety games. In spite of this, the decision to move on was not nearly as difficult as one might have imagined.

"I knew that there were a lot of options after major junior - and Guelph reached out quickly," said Biondi, who opted to bypass his overage season in the OHL. "We had nine '02s (players born in 2002) with Hamilton."

"You don't know if they can trade you all away, if you can all find spots in the league. I wanted a place I knew I could play. I wanted to go into the summer knowing I had somewhere to play."

As seasoned hockey folks in Ontario well know, it is a jump moving from the OHL to the OUA, even if the latter cannot boast the star power of the major junior ranks. "You're playing against guys who are 24, 25, 26 - and I'm coming in a year before I am even supposed to," said Biondi.

"But I think it was exactly what I expected."

Biondi would compile four goals and four assists in 23 games, still not afraid to mix things up as seen through his 44 minutes in penalties. "You learn the game real quick, learn the way you should play in this league," he said.

"The guys helped me a lot and I was able to learn very quickly."

With a record of 10-10-7-0, the Gryphons would be victimized by a jaw-dropping total of seven overtime losses, finishing tied with both the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks and the Western Mustangs at 27 points, but missing the playoffs on a tie-breaker.

Biondi is already looking forward to the start of season number two, carrying his trademark "find a way to get the job done" style of play back for another year at Guelph.

"I always knew what I had to do and I had a great support system around me, between my friends and my family."

And much like the 2021-2022 Hamilton Bulldogs, that makes for a great team.