Troops select two recruits
NORTH BAY, Ont. — The North Bay Battalion presented Carter Kostuch with quite the birthday present.
North Bay made left winger Kostuch, who celebrated his 16th birthday, its first pick in the Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection, which got under way with three rounds Friday night.
Kostuch scored 29 goals and earned 30 assists in 59 games with the Vaughan Kings U16s of the Greater Toronto Hockey League last season, including six goals and five assists for 11 points in seven games in the OHL Cup tournament.
The Battalion exercised the 21st selection, with compensatory picks for the Niagara IceDogs and Kitchener Rangers expanding the first round to 22 picks and dropping the Troops from their standard position at No. 19.
Kostuch, a Richmond Hill, Ont., resident, measures five-foot-11 and 150 pounds.
“Carter is one of the fastest players in the draft, first off, and the skill that he was able to show and the compete in some really high-end games,” said general manager Adam Dennis.
“He was a big factor why his team was in the OHL Cup final, and we really feel that he plays the way that we covet. He’s competitive, he’s skilled and a guy that we think can step in and have an impact pretty quickly.”
Without a second-round choice, the Battalion selected left-shot defenceman Zach Wilson of the Central Ontario Wolves U16s in the third round, 52nd overall.
A six-foot-four, 170-pound resident of Fenelon Falls, Ont., who turned 16 on March 7, Wilson had three goals and 20 assists for 23 points with 44 penalty minutes in 30 regular-season games.
“With Zach, there’s not a lot of things not to like,” said Dennis. “He’s a big kid, he’s very mobile and kind of a jack of all trades. He has played on the power play, but I think he knows that he’s a defenceman. He’s a defence-first guy, but he also has the skills to help move pucks in the right direction.
“With D, this year especially, we felt that it was really important to grab a guy early, and Zach was one of those guys that we felt was one that we couldn’t go without getting on Day 1.”
The 15-round process, in which the Battalion holds 17 picks after trades, is conducted via the Internet, with the 20 clubs’ command centres connected to the OHL office in Toronto. Teams select in inverse order of the previous season’s overall standings, with the four non-playoff teams picking first, in an order determined by lottery, in all rounds.
The Erie Otters took defenceman Matthew Schaefer of the Halton Hurricanes first overall.
Rounds four through 15 are to be held starting at 9 a.m. Saturday.
Players born in 2004 through 2007 from Ontario and a number of U.S. states in the OHL’s draw area are eligible for selection. The overwhelming majority of those chosen were 2007 births.
