As the Ontario Hockey League moves into round two of the playoffs, the league will hold its annual Under-18 Priority Selection on Thursday night.
The three-round draft, which began in 2017, will see players born in 2004 and 2005 selected who were carded with an Ontario-based U18 AAA teams this season and not already on a protected list of an OHL team.
For the Soo Greyhounds, general manager Kyle Raftis said the team plans to stick closely to its draft list.
“The U18 lists seem to vary a lot, so there’s not as much of a consensus outside of the top two or three,” Raftis said. “For us, it’s going to be, we have out list that we’ve hashed out over the last couple of weeks and we’re just going to stick to that. Position is not going to matter as much. It goes to that spot of who we think can really push for a spot next year or someone in the next 18 months can push for a spot.”
On a local level, a pair of former Soo Jr. Greyhounds players were selected early last year in Calem Mangone (Saginaw Spirit) and Adam Barone (Sudbury Wolves).
Mangone had a strong rookie season this year with the Spirit while Barone spent the season with Cobourg of the Ontario Junior League, also making an impact after the draft.
Henderson said Mangone and Barone being drafted after being passed over in the initial OHL Priority Selection is something that’s fresh in the minds of many.
“They’re great examples for our second-year players and for the first-year players,” Henderson said.
“Guys like Calem, Adam’s had a great year down in Cobourg, both of them had tremendous summers,” Henderson added.
Henderson spoke of a strong summer by Lincoln Moore, which helped the 16-year-old put up an MVP season with the Jr. Greyhounds in 2021-22 after being passed over in the OHL Priority Selection last spring.
Henderson added that Noah Aboflan, who joined the program prior to the 2020-21 season could also draw interest heading into the draft.
The OHL U18 draft is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Thursday with the Saginaw Spirit holding the top pick. The Greyhounds will select 15th overall in the first round.