An Okanagan Hockey Academy alumni was taken in the top 10 at the NHL draft held in Chicago on the weekend.
Michael Rasmussen, who played for OHA midget prep white during the 2014-15 season was selected by the Detroit Red Wings in the first round (ninth overall). He is the fifth Canadian Sport School Hockey League alumni to be selected in the first round of the NHL draft, following Matt Dumba, Curtis Lazar, Jake Bean and Dennis Cholowski.
“This guy is all business. He’s a very mature young man that lives and breathes and dies hockey. This is his life,” said Tyler Wright, the Redwings director of amateur scouting on detroitredwings.com. “Obviously, character goes a long way with what we’re trying to build, but we want to be a harder team to play against, we want to get bigger down the middle and he just kind of checked all those boxes. We were excited when we had the opportunity to jump on him at nine.”
tweet
Rasmussen was a key cog enroute to OHA capturing the 2015 Midget Prep Championship. For the past two seasons he has played on the Tri-City Americans team notching 98 points in 114 games.
The OHA also had two other athletes selected at the draft. Scott Walford, who was also on the 2015 OHA Midget Prep Championship team, was chosen by the Montreal Canadiens in the third round (No. 68 overall). The Canadiens vice-president of player personnel, Trevor Timmons, said he believes Walford, who played in the WHL with the Victoria Royals, could play top five in the NHL someday. Walford was sitting in the kitchen with his mom in Coquitlam, while his family was watching the draft on TV on the weekend.
“My name came up and they were screaming. I gave my mom a big hug. It was a very exciting day,” said Walford, who likens his game to that of Ryan Suter in Minnesota. “It’s kind of cool because I was in French immersion until Grade 9. Alors, je parle un peu en français.
So, I have a bit of French in my arsenal. It was definitely a surreal experience.”
tweet
The Ottawa Senators selected goaltender Jordan Hollett in the sixth round (183 overall). Hollett posted two shutouts in the 2014-15 year with OHA and helped them win the championship. He then played for the Regina Pats in the WHL before he was traded to the Medicine Hat Tigers in May.
A pair of rookies for the Penticton Vees this upcoming season were selected at the 2017 NHL Draft held in Chicago over the weekend.
Nick Leivermann (Edina, Minn.) was chosen in the seventh round (187 overall) by the Colorado Avalanche.
The defenceman, who will join the Penticton Vees for the first time at training camp in mid-August, served as captain of the Eden Prairie High School Eagles in Minnesota last year. He had 34 points in 21 games. The University of Notre Dame commit, also skated in eight games for the USHL’s Bloomington Thunder, earning one assist.
Ryan O’Connell will be another newcomer to the Vees that was drafted. He was chosen was in the seventh round (203 overall) by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Hailing from Ottawa, Ont. the defenceman played last season for St. Andrew’s College in Ontario’s Conference of Independent Schools Athletic Association. O’Connell is committed to Boston University.
