And now a brief history of the first round draft picks made by Owen Sound’s Ontario Hockey League franchise through the years.
We do this in light of the deal last week that sent Jacob Middleton to the Ottawa 67’s before the completion of his first year, far and away the fastest first rounder to dealt, but certainly not the only first rounder to depart
1989- Trent Cull, current Sudbury coach, dealt to Windsor, then Kingston
1990- Geordie Maynard, quit the team in Belleville and was dealt to the Bulls, then later Newmarket
1991- Jeff Smith, 2nd overall, dealt in time to Sudbury
1992- future NHL’er Wayne Primeau, nearly made it but was sent to Oshawa in his final season
1993- Shane Kenny, finished with Sarnia
1994- Matt Osborne, wanted more ice, got it in Sault Ste Marie, then at North Bay
Then a string of keepers; Adam Mair, Wes Goldie and Dave Stephenson, although Stephenson retired due to a wounded shoulder
1998- Owen Sounder Chris Minard, traded to St Mike’s, then Oshawa
1999- the Juice, Greg Jacina, packaged with Dan Sisca to Mississauga
2000- Richard Power, peddled to Kingston and then Plymouth
2001- great first round, Owen Sound landed Brad Richardson who went the distance
2002- netminder Dan LaCosta caught in a 3 way and ended up in Barrie
2003- franchise leading scorer Bobby Ryan, now a star at Anaheim in the NHL
2004- Payton Liske, sent to the Sault
2005- future NHL’er Josh Bailey, tied a franchise record for goals in a game and then ended up in Windsor a month later
2006- Michael D’Orazio went to London and then ironically played the Attack in the OHL Final for St Mike’s
2007- Joey Hishon, spectacular career,
2008- Stephen Shipley, played him last week at Niagara
2009- Curtis Crombeen, recovering from injury in Plymouth
2010- Jarrod Maidens, like Hishon we truly hope to see him on ice again
and 2011- Zach Nastasiuk
In short order, 24 first rounders in Owen Sound, 3 of whom can claim they went all the way in the Scenic City.
I’m Fred Wallace