OHL Completes Inaugural Under-18 Priority Selection, News (Minor Hockey Alliance of Ontario)

News Article
News Article Image
May 05, 2017 | OHL | 3327 views
OHL Completes Inaugural Under-18 Priority Selection
Toronto, ON – The Ontario Hockey League conducted the inaugural OHL Under-18 Priority Selection for Midget AAA hockey players in Ontario on Thursday.  
Eligibility for the 2017 OHL Under-18 Priority Selection included all Midget players (1999 and 2000 birth years) not currently on an OHL Member Team Protected List who were carded with an Ontario based Midget AAA Hockey Club within the Ontario Hockey Federation, Hockey Eastern Ontario, or Hockey Northwestern Ontario in the current season.

Victor Hadfield, a defenceman from the Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs, was the first pick of the inaugural OHL Under-18 Priority Selection to the Barrie Colts, followed by goaltender James Walker of Windsor AAA chosen second overall to the Guelph Storm, and forward Ryland Mosley of the Carleton Place Canadians picked third overall by the North Bay Battalion.

 
Walker backstopped Windsor to its first ALLIANCE Championship this past season and was one of five Jr. Spitfires to be selected on Wednesday. The 16-year-old who was a teammate of Sudbury Wolves blueliner Owen Lalonde in minor midget last season models his game after Vancouver Canucks goaltender Ryan Miller.

“It’s an amazing feeling and something I’ve worked towards my entire career,” he said following the selection. “It’s been a great night for our team and I hope that I can play against some of these guys in the OHL down the road.”

A total of 96 players were selected in the five-round process from 46 different teams and included 49 forwards, 31 defencemen, and 16 goaltenders.  88 of the players selected are 2000-born, with eight born in 1999.

All OHL Member Teams were required to draft a minimum of four players, however to enhance opportunities specifically for goaltenders, clubs selecting a goaltender with one of their selections had the option to select another player (skater only) in an additional round.

“I’d like to congratulate all players and the families of all players, 96 of them in total, selected in the inaugural OHL Under-18 Priority Selection,” said Joe Birch, Senior Director of Player Development and Special Events. “What a great accomplishment for these players who have continued to work hard and improve over the past four or five years of their minor hockey careers.  This draft and the selected players are a great example of what this is about which is to raise the profile of Midget AAA hockey and to provide enhanced opportunities for players to develop.”

OHL 2017-18 Under 18 Draft - ALLIANCE HOCKEY CONNECTIONS

1st Round

Pick

Team

Player

Pos

Home Town

Ht

Wt

Prev Team

DOB

2

Guelph

James Walker

Goal

Windsor

6.01.5

180

Windsor

09/16/2000

5

Niagara

Abdul Abouzeeni

RD

Windsor

5.10.5

165

Windsor

O4/11/2000

2nd Round

24

Saginaw

Evan Fergusson

LW

Windsor

6.02.5

210

Windsor

06/30/2000

28

Sarnia

Marko Jakovljevic

LD

Hamilton

6.00.5

157

Brantford

11/24/2000

29

Flint

Kaleb Pearson

C

St Mary’s

5.08.5

163

Huron Perth

06/15/2000

31

Kingston

Alec Trusler

LD

Sarnia

6.03

195

Lambton

02/29/2000

35

Peterborough

Liam Israels

RD

London

6.01.75

176

London

04/17/2000

36

Windsor

Gianluca Pizzuto

LD

Windsor

5.07

181

Windsor

01/09/2000

3nd Round

51

Kingston

Griffin Fox

C

Brantford

5.11

165

Brantford

06/29/2000

57

London

Tyler Beneteau

LD

Windsor

5.10

189

Windsor

01/14/2000

4th Round

68

Sarnia

Cameron Rombouts

C

Forest

5.10.5

168

Lambton

06/27/2000

69

Flint

Kailem Chappelle

Goal

Waterloo

5.11

173

Cambridge

10/18/2000

71

Kingston

Cohen Kiteley

C

London

6.0

175

London

10/14/2000

5th Round

82

Guelph

Devon Driscoll

C

Guelph

6.03.25

244

Huron Perth

10/01/2000

 

96 Total Players taken

14           ALLIANCE

14           OMHA SCTA

18           OMHA ETA

10           NOHA

19           HEO

20           GTHL

1             HNO



Sponsors
GameSheet Inc.
GameSheet Inc. does the work for you. We track the game digitally, make them available to your Administrator via GameSheetDashboard and publish them instantly to your website and mobile device. No longer do you have to worry about paper. No longer are you taking that paper game sheet information and keying it in to post to your website. No longer are you spending your time compiling statistics. No longer are you trying to decipher the Time Keepers penmanship. It ALL goes away with GameSheet Inc.
FoxNet
FoxNet is a Waterloo-based IT solution provider. The FoxNet IT experts understand the impact technology can have on your business every day. Working with medium to large size organizations, FoxNet provides IT infrastructure solutions, end-to-end, which include IT Operations, data backup and recovery, helpdesk/support services and virtual CIO offerings.
The Coaches Site
We are a community of like-minded coaches that are focused on sharing innovative tools and resources with a global hockey network. We do this by attracting the top hockey coaches and performance experts to present at our conference, join our podcast and to provide exclusive content to our members.