[ad_1]
Article content
For the first time in a quarter century, the Windsor Spitfires will have the No. 4 pick overall in the Ontario Hockey League Draft.
With the 2020-21 season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the OHL went to a lottery system where 19 of its 20 teams had an equal shot at the No. 1 pick overall on Wednesday. Niagara did not participate in the first-round lottery after forfeiting its pick for recruitment violations.
“It could not have gone much better,” Spitfires’ general manager Bill Bowler said. “It was a fun lottery and it worked out well for the Windsor Spitfires.”
While there was no season in 2020-21, the Spitfires were expected to be one of the league’s stronger teams with the club given honourable mention status in the Canadian Hockey League top 10.
“We had a good team and we thought we would be picking late, so today’s a great day,” Bowler said.
Things were looking good for the Spitfires right from the start when the Barrie Colts drew the last pick in the first round of the lottery. That’s because the draft will reverse order each round to try and balance things out. The Spitfires’ hold Barrie’s second-round pick as part of the return in the 2017 trade of former captain Aaron Luchuk, who scored the game-winning goal in the 2017 Memorial Cup.
Article content
Now, Bowler is actually getting a pair of first-round pick with the fourth overall pick and the 20th overall pick, which would normally be the final pick of the first round.
“The ball could not have dropped any better,” Bowler said of Barrie popping up with the final pick of the first round. “That was the best-case scenario and now we get the first pick in the second round.”
Bowler said OHL teams were given no heads up as to how the draft would play out.
“I watched it live like everyone else,” Bowler said.
The Spitfires have not selected fourth overall since 1996 when the club took defenceman Kip Brennan, who played parts of five seasons in the NHL.
Windsor would have had the fourth overall pick in 2013, but the club forfeited that pick for recruitment violations and Mississauga took Sean Day with the fourth pick. He was later acquired by the Spitfires and was part of the 2017 Memorial Cup championship team.
This will be the sixth time Windsor has picked in the No. 4 spot in the draft, which is the most in franchise history. Along with Brennan, Windsor drafted Glenn Crawford, who was a teammate on the Spitfires with Bowler, at No. 4 in 1994, Kevin Kerr was taken there in 1984, Keith Gretzky, who is the younger brother of Wayne Gretzky, was selected at that spot in 1983 and defenceman Jim Mellon came to the Spitfires when the club selected in that position for the first time in 1977.
“It’s a great situation and a great scenario,” Bowler said. “Once you get in the top 10, regardless of pandemic or limited viewing, you’re getting a good player and we’ll try to add a player that will make an immediate impact in 2021-22.”
jpparker@postmedia.com
[ad_2]
Source link
