The opening day of the 2024 Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection is in the books and it was a busy one for both players with local ties as well as the Soo Greyhounds.
The annual event kicked off Friday night with the opening three rounds of the 15-round draft and for players from the area, a trio of them were selected amongst the 62 picks on day one.
It was the Sudbury Wolves who selected the first Sault product in the draft as the Nickel City club selected defenceman Luca Blonda with the 12th overall pick in the opening round.
Blonda spent the 2023-24 season with the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite 15’s team where he scored 13 goals and 41 points in 51 games.
The 5’10”, 170-pound blueliner is described by OHL Central Scouting as “a very skilled two-way defenceman that makes an impact on the game each shift that he has.”
“He is a very active defender that uses his elite skating to his advantage on both sides of the puck,” Blonda’s scouting report also said. “He has the ability to beat a forecheck using his feet and will make the smart pass up the ice when it is there. He has a very powerful base with a low centre of gravity that makes him hard to knock off the puck in all three zones. He is calculated when he joins the rush and plays a patient and contained type of defence where he uses feet and stick to play on the right side of the puck.”
Just three picks later, the Kitchener Rangers selected Garden River product Evan Headrick, who spent the 2023-24 season with the Oakville Rangers U16 AAA team.
A 5’6.5”, 145-pound centre, Headrick is described as “a player that plays way bigger than his actual size” by OHL Central Scouting.
A player that won’t shy away from battles, OHL Central Scouting also said Headrick also “uses his low centre of gravity to protect the puck well and isn’t afraid to take the puck to the net. He has a very good skill set and is both a solid playmaker as well as a goal scorer.”
Headrick had 21 goals and 49 points in 31 games with Oakville.
The third local player to be selected was winger Nik Rossetto, who spent the 2023-24 season as a teammate of Blonda’s in Pittsburgh.
OHL Central Scouting called Rossetto “a dynamic forward that plays the game at a high pace.”
“He has very good skills and is strong in one-on-one situations, making him hard to handle,” Rossetto’s scouting report also said. “He has great edge work and lateral movement that make him very hard to contain in all three zones, especially when he is stopping and starting effectively. He has very good offensive instincts and has the ability to create time and space for both himself and his teammates. He anticipates the play well in all three zones which allows him to defend effectively without having to try and out-muscle the opposition.”
Rossetto had 41 goals and 67 points in 49 games with Pittsburgh.
The Soo Greyhounds had a pair of picks on day one.
In the opening round, 18th overall, the Greyhounds selected centre Ryder Cali of the Markham Majors U16 AAA program.
Cali scored 19 goals and 30 points in 29 games with the Majors in 2023-24.
“Ryder is a skilled centre that is extremely dangerous when he has time and space with the puck,” OHL Central Scouting said of Cali. “He is a player that can contribute by scoring and setting up goals, he has good vision with the puck and an excellent overall understanding of how to create offense. He is not afraid to challenge any defender when he has the puck and uses his reach and skill very effectively.”
In round two, the Greyhounds selected 6’3”, 163-pound defenceman Callum Croskery of the Oakville Rangers.
In a profile from the Ontario Hockey League ahead of the draft, OHL director of Central Scouting Darrell Woodley called Croskery “one of those prototypical defencemen that you see now in the Ontario Hockey League and the NHL.”
Woodley added that the blueliner “has great skill, great mobility.”
Croskery, who competed for Canada at the Youth Olympics earlier this year, signed a tender agreement in February with the United States Hockey League’s Chicago Steel in late-February.
In 29 games with Oakville, Croskery has 12 goals and 52 points.
The Greyhounds will be busy early on as the draft resumes on Saturday morning with round four as the team has three picks in the round and 14 picks in total on day two.