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The Windsor Spitfires believe more help is on the way.
Friday’s first three rounds of the Ontario Hockey League Draft provided the Spitfires plenty of opportunity to add more help for the roster now and into the future.
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Windsor was the only team in the OHL with five picks in the first three rounds, which included first overall pick Ethan Belchetz.
“We had five picks in the top 60 and it’s a big day,” Spitfires’ general manager Bill Bowler said. “We think we got OHL players here.”
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With the first pick of the second round, the Spitfires grabbed centre J.C. Lemieux from the Quinte minor midgets with the 22nd pick overall.
A native of Gatineau, Que., Lemieux’s family moved to Belleville three years ago and he played under Spitfires’ assistant coach Kris Newbury, who started the year as Quinte’s head coach.
“A very exciting player with decent size that skates well and has great vision,” Newbury said of Lemieux. “He shoots the puck very well and is a very hardworking kid and definitely a gamer.”
Lemieux scored 24 goals and finished with 60 points in 35 games in minor midget last season.
“I like to play a little dirty sometimes,” Lemieux said. “I think I’m an offensive player that likes to create and I like to make my teammates around me better.”
Two picks later, the Spitfires selected right defenceman Carter Hicks, who immediately got a text from Belchetz with the two good friends and former spring hockey teammates.
Captain of the London Jr. Knights, Hicks already put a few current OHL Knights on notice with his family billeting London’s Sam Dickinson and Michael Simpson.
Ryan “Pucks” Pyette on the OHL
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“I don’t think it’s weird at all,” Hicks said of now being on the Windsor side of the rivalry. “It’s not an issue. I billet for the London Knights and a bunch are here right now and I’m telling them they better keep their head up next year.”
The Spitfires headed east in the third round to select forward Max Brocklehurst, who is from Bedford, N.S.
Normally, the five-foot-nine ,150-pound Brocklehurst would have been part of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Draft. However, his dad Craig Brocklehurst played in the OHL, which allowed him the option to play in Ontario.
“I know the OHL has produced the most NHL players in the CHL,” said Brocklehurst, who was captain of his team, had 67 goals and 145 points in 53 games last season for New Hampshire Mountain Kings. “(Scouts) just talk about the offensive side, but have a bit of a heavy, physical game for a smaller guy.”
And while Windsor had six defencemen with at least two more years of eligibility set to return next season before taking Hicks, the club did not hesitate to grab defenceman Andrew Robinson, from the Vaughan Kings, with the pick after taking Brocklehurst.
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Like Hicks, Robinson knows Belchetz well with the two both from Oakville.
“He lives down the street from me,” Robinson said of Belchetz. “We grew up playing road hockey and went to the same high school.”
As well, Spitfires’ scout Brian McLaughlin was Robinson’s defensive coach with Vaughan and he also got time in junior A with Georgetown.
“Over the years, (the Spitfires) have been a really good team,” Robinson said. “They’re in a rebuilding stage right now and I hope to be part of it.”
The final 12 rounds of the draft are set for Saturday with Windsor having 10 more selections.
jpparker@postmedia.com
twitter.com/winstarparker
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