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Peterborough Petes GM Mike Oke wasn’t afraid to take gambles at the OHL draft table.
He rolled the dice Friday night on the third-overall pick
when they selected hometown boy Colin Fitzgerald, despite his commitment 48 hours earlier to the United States Hockey League’s Green Bay Gamblers. They took another chance in the sixth round on Saturday when they selected a player who might have also been a first-round selection except for his intentions to explore options outside the OHL.
Had Vaughan Kings centre Alexander Hage committed to the OHL prior to the draft, he may have joined his brother Michael Hage as a first-round OHL selection. The Kitchener Rangers took his brother two years ago despite Michael announcing his intention to play for the USHL’s Chicago Steel in hopes of landing an NCAA scholarship.
It’s likely that because his brother followed through on his promise to join the USHL, teams steered clear of Alexander in the draft’s early rounds. Alexander is a five-foot-eight, 148-pound Mississauga native who had 21 goals and 33 assists for 54 points in 45 games with Vaughan, the top-ranked U16 team in Ontario all season until their 1-0 loss in the OHL Cup Showcase final to the Oakville Rangers.
“He’s a highly, highly skilled player,” Oke said. “He’s a player who has different options available to him as well. If he comes to play in the OHL he’s more than capable of playing at this level. When he was still available at that point in the draft, it was a no-brainer for us."
“We’ve already talked to him and he sounds very appreciative of us selecting him. We’re looking forward to having some conversations with him in the very near future.”
Like Fitzgerald, Oke said they hope to sell Hage on their track record under head coach Rob Wilson of developing players and winning championships.
“Alexander is very creative offensively and is very dynamic,” said Oke. “The Vaughan Kings had a very deep team, but he was certainly one of their more skilled players.”
After selecting Fitzgerald and Barrie Jr. Colts Blake Gowan, a physical two-way defenceman, in the second round on Friday, they didn’t pick again until they had two selections in the fifth round on Saturday. There, they chose Eastern Ontario Wild centre Adam Levac 85th overall and North Jersey Avalanche defenceman Genc Ula 99th.
Levac is a five-foot-nine, 152-pound centre from Embrun who had 20 goals and 27 assists for 47 points in 35 games.
“Adam is a good skater who moves well. He still has to fill out a bit, but has a good all-around skillset and is somebody we think has the potential to be a really solid two-way player,” said Oke.
Ula is a six-foot-one, 190-pound left shot from New York state who had 11 goals and nine assists for 20 points in 22 games.
“He came onto our radar by going to a couple of the big events in the U.S. He’s got good size and is really keen. We’ve been in touch with him all winter and he’s really reinforced he wants to play in the OHL,” said Oke. “He said his No. 1 objective is to play in the OHL. He’s a big, strong, steady two-way defenceman.”
Oke said they looked for a common trait in their selections.
“One criteria we were looking for was competitive players who want to get better and we feel we’ve been able to accomplish that.”
Another pick of interest is Carolina Jr. Hurricanes forward Alexander Smyth, who they selected in the 13th round. He’s the son of former Edmonton Oilers star Ryan Smyth.
“He has a pretty good skill level. I don’t think he’s physically matured yet, he’s still growing, but we had a good talk with him and his desire is to play at the next level” said Oke. “It sounded like the way we do things in Peterborough aligned with their philosophies.”
The Petes will welcome the new draft picks at their spring development camp April 26-28 at the Memorial Centre.
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(Yes there might be a bit of bias here lol)