Ellis excelling among the Top Prospects
Ryan Ellis may have the least amount to prove when he hits the ice tomorrow night in Oshawa.
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Ellis, the Windsor Spitfires’ star defenceman, is one of 40 of the Canadian Hockey League’s top draft-eligible players that are playing in the Home Hardware CHL-NHL Top Prospects Game this week in Oshawa. But after a standout performance for Team Canada at the World Junior Championships, the throng of scouts that will attend the event already have a pretty good idea of what the 18-year-old from Freelton, ON is capable of.
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Ellis is one of the top scoring defencemen in the OHL this season and was used by Canadian coach Pat Quinn to quarterback a potent powerplay that helped Canada to an undefeated record and a fifth straight gold medal at the World Juniors in Ottawa.
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For Ellis, that means that the pressure is probably turned down a bit during this event.
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“I think a little bit,” Ellis admitted. “But the draft rankings just came out and I didn’t move up too much so I think I can still move up a little more. This game still means a lot and I’d like to have a good game here. The pressure is off a little, but I’m going to go at it 100 percent and try to play my game and try to bring this team to a win.”
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On Tuesday, Ellis was one of the top skaters for Team Orr in the Next Testing Skating Combine. He won four of the 14 events outright and was among the leaders in virtually every category of the test, which put the players through drills that tested their skating ability in different situations.
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Ellis said that he had bit of advantage coming into the skills testing after running through the same program with the Spitfires earlier in the season.
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“I’ve done it before so I felt comfortable doing it,” Ellis said. “It was a lot of fun and I think the guys had a good time doing it. There was a little healthy competition in there and for the most part I think it was just a good experience to go through.”
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Ellis claimed the best time in the first event – four different sprints down the ice without the puck.
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“I think I started well,” Ellis said. “My first one I won the straightaway so I think that gave me a little confidence. I think I was top three in most of them. I had a couple of bad ones but for the most part I think I did pretty well.”
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Ellis watched his Spitfires’ teammates Greg Nemisz and Joshua Bailey compete in the Top Prospects Game last year in Edmonton on television and then saw both of them get selected in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft. He said that he has been looking forward to competing in the event this year.
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“It’s a big game and they said they had a lot of fun in it last year,” Ellis said. “I think it’s going to get pretty intense out there.”
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Photo: Aaron Bell/CHL.ca