Battalion welcomes recruits
NORTH BAY, Ont. — The North Bay Battalion’s top four picks in the 2026 Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection toured the club’s facilities and the city Monday.
Goaltender Owen Loftus, the Battalion’s first-rounder, and centre Alexandre Saulnier, selected in the second round, have signed education and development agreements with the club.
Also getting a first look at North Bay were third-rounders Austin Ottenhof, a right winger, and defenceman Drew Hulbert.
The Battalion took Loftus of the Don Mills Flyers U16s at No. 11 in the Priority Selection, held June 12-13 at Kingston’s Slush Puppie Place. In 50 games last season, Loftus had a 2.00 goals-against average with nine shutouts and a won-lost-other record of 25-15-10, the last number consisting of ties and tournament overtime losses. The Toronto resident, who’s six-foot-one and 163 pounds, turned 16 on April 29.
“I think the team’s got a really good development plan for me,” said Loftus. “I’m obviously going to do my best, and ice time’s not something that I know, right? It’s something that’ll just come from the work I do. Obviously, I have a lot of trust in this organization to be making the best development decisions for me.”
Loftus, a pianist who played at Carnegie Hall in New York City at 13, said he’s in a good spot with the depth of goaltending experience and expertise within the Battalion staff.
“One thing that really stood out to me coming to this organization is the goalie knowledge they have, and I can say probably a lot of teams don’t have this similar pedigree with goalies coming in and the staff that they have, like the knowledge.
“I was just talking with (Adam) Dennis before we came. We were just chatting about it. It’s a really cool experience being a goalie where, you know, not many people know too much about the position, to have a group like these guys who are just so smart, so dialed.”
Left shot Saulnier of the Ottawa Jr. 67’s U16s was chosen 35th overall. A six-foot-two, 192-pound Ottawa resident, he had five goals and 19 assists for 24 points in 17 regular-season games and added 10 points, including six goals, in 12 playoff games. Saulnier turned 16 on April 16 after incurring a groin injury last season.
“I think I bring a lot of energy, a guy who’s hard to play against, who’s in your face,” said Saulnier. “I think I bring a lot of physicality as a big guy.”
Ottenhof, selected from the Quinte Red Devils U16s, is a five-foot-10, 161-pound resident of Odessa, Ont., who scored 14 goals and earned 21 assists for 35 points in 31 games. He turned 16 on June 7. Hulbert, a Don Mills teammate of Loftus, stands five-foot-11 and weighs 191 pounds. A Toronto resident who turned 16 on May 4, the left shot had 11 points, including four goals, in 16 games while also dealing with a thumb injury.
“These are our first four picks from this recent year, so logic says that they’ll be the first four guys that we may see in Battalion green,” said Dennis, director of hockey operations. “The goal here is just orient them, give them all the information that we have, all the information that they’re hoping to gather, so the next time they’re here it’s a little bit more comfortable and they can perform on the ice.”
That starts Aug. 24, when new recruits and unsigned players from previous years are to take part in a development camp before the Battalion’s training camp.
General manager John Winstanley pointed to the players’ maturity and dedication as significant factors.
“You learn really quickly interviewing these guys and getting to talk to them that they’re very dedicated in what they do. They’re very mature, and you can tell that they’re going to be people that are not only good in our dressing room but in this community as well.”
Dennis said he was pleased that centre Ryder Cali and defenceman Alexander Karmanov were taken Saturday by the Florida Panthers and San Jose Sharks respectively in the National Hockey League Draft at KeyBank Center, home of the Buffalo Sabres.
“We’re very happy for Ryder and Alex. Seeing the work that went in and seeing them get rewarded was a great thing for all of us.”
But Dennis acknowledged that he believes other Troops should have had their names called.
“The draft is always exciting but a tough day, because very few guys go where they are hoping to or expect to go, and really it’s not the full picture on where your career is or your trajectory is, for that matter. I thought there were some guys that certainly deserved to get drafted.
“I thought Parker Vaughan, Ryder Carey, Evgeny Dubrovtsev, Kent Greer were all guys that, you know, it’s a very small margin between getting drafted and not. I think it’s time for the work to go in and to show that some mistakes were made.”
Cali, who turns 18 on Sept. 6, was taken in the second round, 48th overall, and is committed to Providence College of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for next season, but Winstanley said he’d be happy if that changed.
“Ultimately, we’re going to take our direction from his representation and now his NHL club. If their desire is to send him back here, we’ll be here with open arms to make sure that he has a spot, and he knows that and his team knows that.”
Winstanley acknowledged that the landscape has changed since the NCAA’s Division I council voted Nov. 7, 2024, to permit Canadian Hockey League players to compete starting in 2025-26.
“I think our approach, when it comes to it, is we’re a development league and our job is to develop the players. It’s just changed how we develop them and maybe how quickly they leave. But, overall, our job is to develop them to get to the next level, and our approach right now is, if we give them the best possible program, the best possible place to play junior hockey, that they’re going to want to be here and want to be part of this program.”
