As the Sudbury Cyclones recently celebrated their ascension to the Premier Division of Ontario League1 play, none of the players on the pitch could sense quite the same sentiments as keeper Connor Vande Weghe.

When this journey started some three years ago, the former Laurentian Voyageurs' standout would be sitting next to current General Manager Dayna Corelli, helping review the critical area of financial forecasting as only a CPA (Chartered Professional Accountant) could.

Vande Weghe was a few years removed from his final OUA outing and was on the sidelines, quite happily in 2024 as the Cyclones posted a League2 record (10-2-2) that sufficient to earn a promotion to League1 Championship Division play this summer.

"We felt that getting into the Championship Division would give us a good product on the field, in terms of sport and entertainment and ticket sales and all of that stuff," Vande Weghe said recently.

"Now, all of a sudden, we're all the way up to Premier, which is unexpected and kind of just unbelievable."

And where his job in year one was tracking the numbers on the income statement and such, year two would involve numbers such as 15 and 1 - 15 being the number of games that Vande Weghe would play for the Cyclones this summer; one being the number of games where Sudbury did not walk away with at least one point (a draw) to their credit with the talented keeper in net.

"I don't really have words for it," Vande Weghe added. "I am going to need more than just a few days to actually let this sink in."

For as much as the Cyclones were nine games into the 2025 schedule prior to sustaining their first loss, the process of building believers in terms of their top-end potential was indeed quite gradual.

"I would say that there was a point where we realized that we had no problem competing, for sure," said Vande Weghe. "We knew that we could hang with all of these teams. I don't know that there was a point (early on) where we thought that we were good enough to earn a promotion."

Vande Weghe points to a 3-1 June 7th win over The Borough as being key, though things were still far from guaranteed.

"We got into the last few weeks of the season and the table tightened up on us and we were looking at having something to prove," he said.

And so they did, even if not always a thing of beauty on the pitch.

"We started with: let's put ourselves in a position to not be relegated; what is the easiest way to win," said Vande Weghe.

The next step sees the Cyclones establishing themselves as a legitimate Premier Division entry, one which can maintain their spot among the Ontario League1 elite. And one which may be able to strike more of a balance between results and other goals for the program.

"Entering the third season, maybe our style changes a little," said Vande Weghe. "We're an established team and hopefully we can afford to perhaps play a style that invites more player development, play a style that allows players to make mistakes so that they can learn and grow without blowing away a season."

Truth is that even 27 year-old talent can learn and grow.

"Coming back (this year), I 100% had doubts about my own performance, worried about being older," said Vande Weghe. "I quickly realized that a lot of my game is played with my eyes and with my head and with my voice."

"If I can see what is happening two or three seconds before the shot is going to come, hopefully I will be in a much better position. I think that was a big help for me."

As for 2026, Vande Weghe acknowledged that Premier represents that much greater a challenge, with even more high-end post-secondary talent in the mix of opponents, along with former professional players and perhaps a handful of exceptional mid-teens looking to prove that they can hang with the big boys.

"It's going to be very interesting," said Vande Weghe.

Year 1 and year 2 most certainly have.