The 2023 OHL Priority Selection began last night, and despite being involved in a tight playoff series, the Barrie Colts were actively preparing for the future
The draft started at 7 p.m. Friday with the first three rounds and continues Saturday, with rounds 4-15 starting at 9 a.m.
Players born in 2007 are eligible, and while the majority are from Ontario, some picked were U.S.-born.
On Thursday, the Erie Otters announced they would be taking 15-year-old defenseman Matthew Schaefer from the Halton Hurricanes first overall.
The Colts took their first selection 19th overall and went with right winger Shamar Moses from the Don Mills Flyers U16 AAA.
The Scarborough native has 27 points (14G, 13A) in 36 games in the GTHL16 season and tallied seven points (5G, 2A) in five games at the recent OHL Cup.
Barrie Colts coach/general manager Marty Williamson spoke with BarrieToday late Friday night and talked about the pick.
“For us, we’ll be losing some right-wingers after the season, and we know we needed to pick some up. Moses was there and is someone we had targeted,” said Williamson. “He’s a big strong kid and shoots the puck very well. We think he’s going to be a strong OHL player, and we feel fortunate to get him.”
With their first pick in the second round (26th overall), the Colts took centre Jaiden Newton. The Whitby teen currently has 31 points (16G, 15A) in 33 games for his hometown Wildcats, and Williamson said he “checked a lot of boxes, and we were happy he was still available at that point of the night.”
The Colts had back-to-back picks in the third round and took centre Mason Goodfellow 59th overall from the Kingston Gaels U16 AAA and defenseman Justin Handsor from the York-Simcoe Express U16 AAA with their 60th pick.
Williamson said that Goodfellow was a “big, strong kid who plays hard and is hard to play against.”
Handsor, the lone defenseman the Colts took on night one, was someone the Colts liked a lot.
“Instead of waiting to see if he was available tomorrow (Saturday), we had seen him play a lot on that York-Simcoe team, and we needed a defenseman, so at that point, it was step up and take him,” said Williamson.
Barrie has 16 more picks from rounds 4-15, making their front office busy off the ice; while on the ice, they still have a playoff game to win.
The Colts and the North Bay Battalion have tied two games apiece and play Game 5 in North Bay Saturday at 7 p.m.
Williamson welcomes the challenge.
“It's just part of the job. I’ll be here until 2 p.m. and then jump in the car and head to North Bay,” said Williamson. “The team bus leaves in the morning, and I’ll meet them there. This is playoff hockey; we knew it would be a tough series, and now we go there to a tough building and look to pull ahead. We’ve won one game there already, so we know we can do it again; we just have to get it done again.”
Around the region, three players heard their names called, with Wesley Royston being the earliest local boy taken. The Erie Otters picked the Oro-Medonte right winger second in the second round from the York-Simcoe Express U16 AAA.
Other local players taken were:
- Jake Crawford (LW) from Barrie was selected 33rd overall by the Owen Sound Attack from the York-Simcoe Express U16 AAA.
- Innisfil’s Nolan Jackson (D) was taken 37th overall by the Sudbury Wolves from the Barrie Jr. Colts U16 AAA.
