OHL 20 in 20 Futures Watch: Niagara IceDogs

Something old and something new helps define the Niagara IceDogs in the early stages of the 2018 OHL Priority Selection as the club looks to build its future foundation.

The old is the Toronto Marlboros, the club where first rounder Lleyton Moore blossomed during his Minor Midget season, and the program the IceDogs have picked from inside the first two rounds each of the past four years.  New is the position, defence, where Moore becomes the club’s first blue liner chosen in the first round since Aaron Haydon back in 2012.  He helped the Marlboros to a GTHL title with 50 points in 54 games and officially announced his commitment to play for Niagara in June.

Fast forward to the fourth round where the IceDogs grabbed Mississauga Reps teammates Jonah De Simone and Jake Uberti just two picks apart at 70 and 72 respectively.  The pair were also close in point production last season with De Simone accumulating 26 with 11 goals in 33 games to Uberti’s 31 with 11 goals in the same contests.  Both players also committed to the IceDogs last month with Uberti announced on June 8 and De Simone on June 17.

Moore and Uberti were members of the gold medal winning GTHL Blue at the 2018 OHL Gold Cup in May with Uberti leading the tournament with nine points in four games.

Moore has been invited to compete at Hockey Canada’s National Men’s Summer Under-17 Development Camp from July 21-27 in Calgary along with IceDogs third round pick Stephen Halliday.

Halliday is a big power forward from the Toronto Marlboros chosen 41st overall who measured over 6’3” and 207lbs on draft day.

Click here to see all Niagara IceDogs 2018 OHL Priority Selection Picks.

Over 20 days in July ontariohockeyleague.com will take a look at the future of all 20 OHL clubs.  See more from the OHL 20 in 20 series.