The annual Ontario Hockey League U18 Priority Selection is in the books for another year.
For the Soo Greyhounds, general manager Kyle Raftis said prior to the event that the draft was about adding players they feel could push for roster spots over the next two seasons.
The team selected a pair of players in the three-round draft on Thursday night.
The draft saw teams allowed to select up to three players in the event they selected a goaltender in the first two rounds. For the Greyhounds, the team selected a forward and defenceman.
In the opening round, the Greyhounds selected winger Dustin Good of the Waterloo Wolves U18 team 15th overall.
Good, 17, scored 21 goals and 36 points in 33 games in 2021-22 and also got into seven games with the Greater Ontario League’s Kitchener-Waterloo Siskins where he scored a goal and three points.
“He’s a player that’s super confident with the puck,” Raftis said. “He’s got a great release. He can score goals. He’s an agile skater. He’s the type of kid that still has that lanky frame and the way that he can see the ice, you’re thinking if he can add that level of strength and keep adding that explosiveness to his stride, he’s going to give himself a good chance.”
Round two saw the Greyhounds select defenceman Caleb Labelle.
Originally from Thunder Bay, Labelle move to Toronto and spent this season with the North York Rangers U18 team.
“Kaleb is a kid that really worked at his game the last little bit,” Raftis said. “You can see the size 6.05, 205 pounds). He skates well. His defending is something that can, combined with his skating, really take time and space away on guys.”
“When you can add size combined with mobility, it’s kind of a no-brainer,” Raftis added.
After selecting Calem Mangone with the 2nd overall pick in last year’s U18 draft, the Saginaw Spirit used the top pick in this year’s draft to select Soo Jr. Greyhounds forward Lincoln Moore.
Moore finished as the Great North U18 League’s top scorer this season with 18 goals and 37 points in 24 games.