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MacDonald Selected In OHL Draft

By Craig Peterson, 04/06/20, 9:30AM EDT

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Third Consecutive Year With MI-HS Selection

The 2020 Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection Draft took place over the weekend, with 20 teams taking part in the 15-round event. On Saturday, The Mississauga Steelheads selected Brighton’s Landon MacDonald with their 10th round pick, marking the third consecutive year in which an MI-HS player was chosen in the OHL Draft.

As a freshman, the 5-foot-11 forward scored eight goals and 13 points for the Bulldogs while playing against the fourth-toughest schedule of opponents in the state of Michigan. MacDonald is an 04-birth year player which makes him eligible to play in the OHL next season. While it is not a primary route for high school players, the OHL option has certainly grown in recent years. Calumet’s Dean Loukus was selected by the Saginaw Spirit in last year’s draft and Tri-Valley’s Jackson Kocur was picked in 2018 before finishing out his high school career.

Alec Regula (Cranbrook, 2018) is the most recent and most notable MI-HS alum to successfully navigate the OHL path. Following his sophomore season, Regula was selected in the fourth round of the 2016 draft by the London Knights, where he played three seasons and totaled 45 goals and 124 points. The West Bloomfield native was also selected by the Detroit Red Wings in the 2018 NHL Draft before his rights were traded to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Brendan Perlini trade earlier this season.

MacDonald joins Honeybaked product Dylan Gordon in Mississauga’s 13-man draft class. The Steelheads finished sixth in the Eastern Conference with a 27-29-4 regular-season-record, clinching a playoff appearance for a fifth straight season.

Is the OHL option growing in popularity for MI-HS kids? Let’s talk about it on Twitter and tell me what you think!