Hi, this is Fred Wallace with ” Off the Wire “,….. proudly sponsored by Pete’s Auto Body.
Pete’s Auto Body; because we care about our community…….
There was an interesting, and disappointing turn of events, leading into the Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection last week.
There’s no need to get into any names here, but a player from our region had taken a number of steps to raise his profile for the 20 member clubs in the OHL.
One of the clubs that got in contact with the player was Mississauga, which to me suggests there was some level of interest in the player.
However, Mississauga was perplexed because they couldn’t find the player’s name on the eligibility list and wondered if there was a spelling or clerical issue.
It turns out the player wasn’t on the eligibility list and thus, all of the effort on the ice and off, was somewhat in vein.
Checking with OHL people who know the ins and outs of the process, in order to be on the list you have to be a ” AAA ” player, or be added to the list by a member team.
The issue for the player in question was that he didn’t play for the ” AAA ” Grey-Bruce Highlanders but rather competed for his home centre.
The player and his family didn’t know this, and truthfully, neither did I.
I’m not a huge booster of agents for teenage hockey players, I think they do far more harm than good, but in this case if the player had an agent, the agent certainly would have known the landscape.
The double whammy here is that player cannot attend an OHL Camp, even as an undrafted free agent, but rather must wait for another full year and then enter the Major Midget draft if he plays at that level or be eligible as a graduate of one of the other Ontario Junior loops, like PJHL, OJHL etc…
The 2021 Major Midget Draft on Wednesday
For Pete’s Auto Body, I’m Fred Wallace.