Two men who stabbed a friend and left him for dead are headed to prison.

A judge sentenced John Davey and Taylor Jacksch to nine years in prison, after the pair pleaded guilty to attempted murder.

Davey and Jacksch stabbed Michael Linke as many as 11 times on a trail in Oro-Medonte on Christmas Eve. Linke suffered a punctured lung, a severed thumb and a partially severed nose and ear.

He was found two hours later by someone walking a dog.

Court heard the three were friends. The two accused tried to kill Linke because they thought he betrayed them by not attacking someone else over what Linke thought was a drug issue.

The judge said, "He trusted you and you took advantage of that trust. You left him injured on a deserted trail to die and carried on with your lives."

Both defence lawyers were asking for sentences shorter than the nine years.

“I was surprised to the extent that I expected actually to be a little bit higher. Just given the nature of the offence,” said Andrew Perrin, Jacksch’s lawyer.

Linke is still suffering physically and emotionally. He can't sleep, he has nightmares and PTSD. He has told the court, "I did not die that night, but some of me was lost and I’m not sure I’ll ever recover".

As for Davey and Jacksch, after credit for time they've served, they'll do just under eight more years.