Text from the Standard Freeholder by Todd Hambleton...
And now it's the boys time to shine at the Ontario Hockey Academy.
Three skaters with the Mavericks major midget Gold team have been drafted into the Quebec Major Junior A Hockey League — a first for the four-year-old prep school in Cornwall.
“We’re really happy to have guys get drafted (into the QMJHL), and we had some (early selections two weeks ago) in the Central Canada Hockey League draft,” said Pat Turcotte, the former CCHL player with the Cornwall Jr. A Colts who is the director of boys recruiting at OHA.
The school earlier this spring announced that a dozen players on the girls side had lined up schools to play for at the NCAA Division l and lll levels next campaign.
In all, seven players have been drafted from the OHA boys under-17 team, the major midget squad, the one that made history by winning the ODMHA major midget AAA division.
The club, coached by Luke Beck, went 8-0 in two playoff rounds, and scouts from at least two leagues took note of the dominance.
Liam Alcade, of Montreal, was the highest pick among the Mavericks going to QMJHL clubs — the Halifax Mooseheads chose the forward in the sixth round.
Goalie Zach Fortin, of St. Jerome, went a little bit later in the round, to the Quebec Remparts.
Massimo Carrozza, of Montreal, made it an OHA hat trick in the eighth round, when the forward also became Remparts property.
Carrozza skated with the OHA minor midget team this past season, coached by former NHLer Yves Sarault, and he joined the major midgets for that impressive run.
The “Q” picks caps a great draft year — five Mavericks a few weeks ago were selected by CCHL squads, including Alex White, of Goose Bay, Labrador, who went fourth overall in the first round to the Cumberland Grads.
Pierre Ouellette, a blueliner from Dieppe, New Brunswick, was the very next pick, going fifth overall to the Smiths Falls Bears.
Three more Maritimers also got picked, including forward Cody McDermott (third round to Hawkesbury), defenceman Josh Hickey (sixth round to Hawkesbury) and blueliner Josh Crane, who became Cornwall property in the eighth round.
“I think it speaks to the calibre of play here (at OHA),” Turcotte said.
It isn’t the first time the boys at OHA have made draft news — two years ago, 14 Mavericks were chosen by CCHL teams at the draft, including Kenneth Neil, ninth overall to Nepean.
What does the future hold for the OHA program? It often looks bright for the growing school.
“You never really know how things will go from year to year (in terms of number of drafted players),” Turcotte noted, “but it looks pretty promising for the Gold team (in 2012-2013), and the major midget Maroon team should be better.”
Actually, the Mavericks’ movement toward the “Q” is even more impressive, considering that former OHA goalie Chase Gaudet, of Charlottetown, has just signed with the defending Memorial Cup-champions, the Shawinigan Cataractes.
“We’re still building the program and every year it gets a little bit better,” said OHA director Giles Lascelle.
You can read the article in the Standard Freeholder here.
