2015 OHL Priority Selection

April 15, 2015

Photo: David Levin (middle; No. 1), Gabe Vilardi (right; No. 2) and Owen Tippett (left; No. 4) were three of the top four picks in the 2015 OHL Priority Selection. (Aaron Bell/OHL Images)

By Brendon Crossman

For the second straight year, GTHL players were chosen with four of the top five picks in the OHL Priority Selection, including the first overall selection. In total, 81 players selected in the draft laced up for a GTHL team this season, including nine first-round picks.

Prior to Saturday’s draft, the Sudbury Wolves announced they would select Don Mills Flyers forward David Levin with the top pick. Levin, a native of Zoran, Israel and resident of North York, racked up 80 points (39-41—80) in 55 games in 2014-15 and received the Jack Ferguson Award in honour of his first-overall selection.

The Flint Firebirds (formerly the Plymouth Whalers) used their inaugural pick to select Toronto Marlboros forward Ryan McLeod in the No. 3 slot. McLeod’s selection in the OHL draft caps an impressive season in which he won a gold medal at the Canada Winter Games, captured the Scotiabank GTHL Playoffs crown, earned GTHL Player of the Year honours and was named OHL Cup MVP after helping his club win its second straight title.

The Mississauga Steelheads and Peterborough Petes used the No. 4 and No. 5 picks to select Owen Tippett and Zach Gallant, respectively. Tippet, a Toronto Red Wings right wing, and Gallant, a centre for the Mississauga Rebels, also won a gold medal with Team Ontario at the Canada Winter Games.

Two other members of the Team Ontario squad were selected in the first round – Marlboros forward Ben Jones (No. 7, Niagara IceDogs) and Toronto Titans defenceman Markus Phillips (No. 9, Owen Sound Attack).

Marlboros captain Matthew Strome, the overtime hero in the OHL Cup final, was selected eighth overall by the Hamilton Bulldogs (formerly the Belleville Bulls).

The Kingston Frontenacs and Barrie Colts selected forwards Robbie Burt (Rebels) and Jacob Tortora (Flyers) at No. 11 and No. 19, respectively.

GTHL PLAYERS SELECTED IN 2015 OHL PRIORITY SELECTION

FIRST ROUND

Pick	OHL Team	Player	Position	Hometown	2014-15 Team	DOB
1	Sudbury	David Levin	Right Wing	North York, ON	Don Mills Flyers	1999-09-16
3	Flint	Ryan McLeod	Centre	Mississauga, ON	Toronto Marlboros	1999-09-21
4	Mississauga	Owen Tippett	Right Wing	Peterborough, ON	Toronto Red Wings	1999-02-16
5	Peterborough	Zach Gallant	Centre	Oakville, ON	Mississauga Rebels	1999-03-06
7	Niagara	Ben Jones	Centre	Waterloo, ON	Toronto Marlboros	1999-02-26
8	Hamilton	Matthew Strome	Left Wing	Mississauga, ON	Toronto Marlboros	1999-01-06
9	Owen Sound	Markus Phillips	Defence	Toronto, ON	Toronto Titans	1999-03-21
11	Kingston	Robbie Burt	Right Wing	Hillsburgh, ON	Mississauga Rebels	1999-05-29
19	Barrie	Jacob Tortora	Left Wing	Victor, NY	Don Mills Flyers	1999-07-25

SECOND ROUND

Pick	OHL Team	Player	Position	Hometown	2014-15 Team	DOB
25	Peterborough	Nicholas Grima	Defence	Toronto, ON	Toronto Titans	1999-03-07
29	Peterborough	CJ Clarke	Right Wing	Mississauga, ON	Toronto Marlboros	1999-02-08
30	Saginaw	Robert Proner	Defence	Oakville, ON	Toronto Titans	1999-03-12
32	Kitchener	Elijah Roberts	Defence	Brampton, ON	Toronto Marlboros	1999-01-23
33	Hamilton	Reilly Webb	Defence	Stoney Creek, ON	Toronto Titans	1999-05-04
36	Ottawa	Noel Hoefenmayer	Defence	North York, ON	Don Mills Flyers	1999-01-06
38	Saginaw	Kirill Maksimov	Left Wing	Concord, ON	Toronto Jr. Canadiens	1999-06-01
40	Hamilton	MacKenzie Entwistle	Centre	Georgetown, ON	Toronto Marlboros	1999-07-14

THIRD ROUND

Pick	OHL Team	Player	Position	Hometown	2014-15 Team	DOB
44	Kitchener	Joseph Garreffa	Centre	Toronto, ON	Toronto Titans	1999-08-09
45	Saginaw	Brendan Bonello	Goaltender	Mississauga, ON	Toronto Titans	1999-04-01
49	Sarnia	Quinton Hughes	Defence	Mississauga, ON	Toronto Marlboros	1999-10-14
52	Ottawa	Hudson Wilson	Defence	Toronto, ON	Vaughan Kings	1999-05-03
53	Erie	Brett Neumann	Centre	Toronto, ON	Don Mills Flyers	1999-02-15
59	Hamilton	Fedor Gordeev	Defence	Toronto, ON	Toronto Red Wings	1999-01-27
60	London	Finn Evans	Right Wing	Toronto, ON	Mississauga Rebels	1999-08-21

FOURTH ROUND

Pick	Team	Player	Position	Hometown	2014-15 Team	DOB
62	Kingston	Jason Robertson	Right Wing	Northville, MI	Don Mills Flyers	1999-07-22
64	Flint	Samuel Duchesne	Defence	Brampton, ON	Toronto Marlboros	1999-05-29
66	Peterborough	Simon Boyko	Right Wing	Mississauga, ON	Toronto Jr. Canadiens	1999-02-04
68	Hamilton	Noah Lugli	Defence	Toronto, ON	Mississauga Rebels	1999-04-30
73	Owen Sound	Regan Kimens	Left Wing	Concord, ON	Toronto Titans	1999-05-28
76	Hamilton	Zackary Jackson	Centre	Barrie, ON	Toronto Titans	1999-01-11

FIFTH ROUND

Pick	OHL Team	Player	Position	Hometown	2014-15 Team	DOB
83	Erie	Nicholas Celotti	Right Wing	Richmond Hill, ON	Toronto Jr. Canadiens	1999-03-24
85	Sudbury	Ben Garagan	Centre	North Bay, ON	North York Rangers	1999-01-06
86	Peterborough	Nick Isaacson	Left Wing	Mississauga, ON	Mississauga Reps	1999-08-11
92	Niagara	Colton Incze	Goaltender	Oakville, ON	Mississauga Rebels	1999-01-31

SIXTH ROUND

Pick	OHL Team	Player	Position	Hometown	2014-15 Team	DOB
102	Barrie	Jaden Peca	Right Wing	Woodbridge, ON	Toronto Marlboros	1999-05-18
106	Peterborough	Bryce Misley	Centre	North York, ON	Don Mills Flyers	1999-09-05
107	Saginaw	Nick Campoli	Centre	Etobicoke, ON	Toronto Jr. Canadiens	1999-02-16
108	North Bay	Mathew Woroniuk	Goaltender	Scarborough, ON	Don Mills Flyers	1999-05-25
109	Kingston	Nick Kiriakos	Defence	Mississauga, ON	Mississauga Rebels	1999-01-30
115	Ottawa	Kody Clark	Right Wing	Aurora, ON	Toronto Marlboros	1999-10-13

SEVENTH ROUND

Pick	OHL Team	Player	Position	Hometown	2014-15 Team	DOB
122	Sudbury	Adam Panacci	Left Wing	Nobleton, ON	Don Mills Flyers	1999-07-03
125	Hamilton	Jesse Burger	Right Wing	Ridgeville, ON	Mississauga Reps	1999-01-08
129	Sarnia	Matthew Kellenberger	Defence	Toronto, ON	Toronto Young Nationals	1999-01-11
130	Kingston	Mario Peccia	Goaltender	North York, ON	Mississauga Reps	1999-09-21
132	Owen Sound	Zachary Sheedy	Right Wing	Markham, ON	Toronto Titans	1999-05-02

EIGHTH ROUND

Pick	OHL Team	Player	Position	Hometown	2014-15 Team	DOB
142	Sudbury	Jake McGrath	Goaltender	Mississauga, ON	Toronto Marlboros	1999-01-07
143	Owen Sound	Nick Pryce	Left Wing	Toronto, ON	Toronto Marlboros	1999-03-23
146	Peterborough	Colton Kalezic	Centre	Toronto, ON	Toronto Jr. Canadiens	1999-07-21
157	Windsor	Declan Graham	Defence	Etobicoke, ON	Toronto Marlboros	1999-03-23
158	Barrie	Cameron Orchard	Centre	Dorr, MI	Toronto Young Nationals	1998-06-27

NINTH ROUND

Pick	OHL Team	Player	Position	Hometown	2014-15 Team	DOB
163	Windsor	Cole Purboo	Centre	Mississauga, ON	Mississauga Rebels	1999-06-18
165	Mississauga	Mark Rozanov	Centre	Toronto, ON	Don Mills Flyers	1997-07-14
178	Owen Sound	Joey Berkopec	Defence	Oakville, ON	Toronto Jr. Canadiens	1999-02-12

TENTH ROUND

Pick	OHL Team	Player	Position	Hometown	2014-15 Team	DOB
187	Saginaw	Gianluca Fuoco	Centre	Etobicoke, ON	Mississauga Reps	1999-01-01
190	Mississauga	Ryan Radisa	Defence	Caledon, ON	Mississauga Reps	1999-03-12
200	Kingston	Brad Cocca	Centre	Mississauga, ON	Don Mills Flyers	1999-08-13

ELEVENTH ROUND

Pick	OHL Team	Player	Position	Hometown	2014-15 Team	DOB
205	Mississauga	Jack Lyons	Defence	Mississauga, ON	Toronto Jr. Canadiens	1999-07-04
211	Kitchener	Ryan Kula	Left Wing	Toronto, ON	Toronto Titans	1999-04-15
216	London	Alex Formenton	Left Wing	King City, ON	Mississauga Rebels	1999-09-13
220	Oshawa	Barrett Mundell	Goaltender	Caledon, ON	Vaughan Kings	1999-03-08

TWELFTH ROUND

Pick	OHL Team	Player	Position	Hometown	2014-15 Team	DOB
225	Mississauga	Jett Alexander	Goaltender	Bloomfield, ON	North York Rangers	1999-11-08
227	Saginaw	Matteo DiGiulio	Centre	Maple, ON	Toronto Red Wings	1999-11-17
231	Kitchener	Scott Del Zotto	Centre	Orangeville, ON	Toronto Jr. Canadiens	1999-02-05
233	Flint	Lanny Korbee	Goaltender	Toronto, ON	Toronto Jr. Canadiens	1999-05-14

THIRTEENTH ROUND

Pick	OHL Team	Player	Position	Hometown	2014-15 Team	DOB
242	Sudbury	Drake Lafontaine	Right Wing	Mississauga, ON	Don Mills Flyers	1999-07-27
243	Windsor	Devlin Shanahan	Left Wing	Mississauga, ON	Mississauga Reps	1999-02-10
244	Flint	Josh Rettinger	Defence	Oakville, ON	Mississauga Rebels	1999-06-03
245	Mississauga	Harrison Toms	Defence	Toronto, ON	Toronto Titans	1999-05-05
246	Peterborough	Nate McDonald	Goaltender	Mississauga, ON	Mississauga Senators	1999-08-11
248	Hamilton	Matthew Wilkins	Defence	Mississauga, ON	Toronto Marlboros	1999-04-06
258	Barrie	Gianfranco Cassaro	Defence	Nobleton, ON	Toronto Red Wings	1999-03-30

FOURTEENTH ROUND

Pick	OHL Team	Player	Position	Hometown	2014-15 Team	DOB
262	Sudbury	Adrian Bilic	Defence	Etobicoke, ON	Toronto Jr. Canadiens	1999-10-31
267	Saginaw	Fedor Rudakov	Defence	Thornhill, ON	Toronto Jr. Canadiens	1998-06-21
274	Guelph	Michael Mannara	Defence	Caledon, ON	Toronto Jr. Canadiens	1999-03-21
276	London	Liam Dennison	Defence	Manitock, ON	Don Mills Flyers	1999-02-07
280	Oshawa	Nate Mueller	Right Wing	Toronto, ON	Toronto Young Nationals	1999-08-30

FIFTEENTH ROUND

Pick	OHL Team	Player	Position	Hometown	2014-15 Team	DOB
283	Windsor	Ruslan Geidarov	Defence	Vaughan, ON	Mississauga Senators	1998-04-01
285	Mississauga	Ryan Wells	Defence	Mississauga, ON	Mississauga Reps	1999-08-18
292	S.S. Marie	Alex Daigle	Centre	Georgetown, ON	Toronto Titans	1999-01-21
293	Erie	Max Carbone	Left Wing	Toronto, ON	Toronto Young Nationals	1999-05-25
295	London	Jacob Golden	Defence	Toronto, ON	Mississauga Rebels	1999-03-20

Information via Ontario Hockey League. Complete draft list.