Our experts weigh in on the 2026 OHL Priority Selection

PLUS: Ottawa 67's goalie stands tall at CHL awards

View this email in your browser Goalie Nathan Ferris poses for a photographer after the Kingston Frontenacs took him at the OHL draft. (Photo: Gare Joyce, The Kingston Whig-Standard) With the completion of the 2026 OHL Priority Selection last weekend, we are left to grapple with the unsettling reality in which we all now live. We now inhabit a world where OHL draft prospects carry a birth year of 2010.  Teams picked a total of 301 players over 15 rounds of the draft, and 289 of those teenagers were born in the year 2010. That means new OHL players were not alive for the Vancouver Olympics — meaning they have no living memory of Sidney Crosby scoring the Golden Goal, or of Wayne Gretzky carrying the Olympic torch in the back of a pickup truck.   Mostly, though, it means we live in a world in which players are now so young, they were not even alive for the first decade of the new century.   While we sit down to deal with this vertigo, please enjoy some of our draft-related coverage.   In Windsor, Jim Parker chats with Spitfires general manager Bill Bowler about each of the 15 picks the team made over the weekend. You can read that story right here.   In London, Ryan Pyette writes about how the Knights went with a familiar surname with pick No. 14 in the first round. You can read that story right here.  In Sarnia, Mark Malone delves into the Sting’s long-term strategy with draft picks, with GM Dylan Seca saying most of the new prospects “have got some jobs to steal.” You can read that story right here.  In Brantford, Brian Smiley writes about how the Bulldogs reached south of the border for their first pick of the draft. You can read that story right here.   In Owen Sound, Greg Cowan writes about how the Attack have gone to a private school for “an elite brain” on the blue line. You can read all about that right here.    In Sudbury, Ben Leeson chats with Kash Kwajah, the high-scoring winger the Wolves took with the fifth pick overall. You can read that story right here.   In North Bay, Greg Estabrooks documents a bit of history made by the Battalion, who took a goalie in the first round for the first time in franchise history. You can read that story right here.  In Kingston, Gare Joyce takes a step back to look at the first round of selections. You can read that story right here.  In Ottawa, Don Brennan recaps the 67’s at the draft. You can read that story right here.  Ottawa 67's netminder Ryder Fetterolf. (Photo: Tim Austen, Ottawa 67's) Ottawa 67's goaltender makes team history In an era of giants at the position, no Canadian Hockey League goaltender stood taller this season than Ryder Fetterolf.  Listed at 5-foot-11, the teenager from Pittsburgh earlier this week became the first Ottawa 67’s player to win the CHL’s goaltender of the year award. As Don Brennan reports in The Citizen the goalie posted a 29-9-3 record, with a .923 save percentage.  What happens next season?  Fetterolf is committed to Penn State University, in the NCAA, but had told Brennan he wasn’t prepared to “set anything in stone” before the NHL Entry Draft later this month.   “I think it definitely depends on if I get drafted and where I go,” he told Brennan. “I think some teams do have a preference for not rushing development. Goalies do develop later, and they take longer.   “So yeah, I think, where I go in the draft could definitely determine whether I come back or I go to Penn State. I think some (NHL) teams (would) want me to get more games, and obviously, college has a smaller schedule, so it’s harder to get that volume of games.  You can read the full story right here.  Broadcaster leaving Peterborough Dan Malta, a veteran local broadcaster in Peterborough, is leaving the city after more than a decade on the air.  From Mike Davies, in The Peterborough Examiner: “He’ll be joining his wife Katrina Squazzin, a former videographer at CHEX/Global Peterborough, who has left her job at Sportsnet to become communications director of the St. Clair Catholic School Board in Wallaceburg.”  The couple will live in Chatham.   “I’ll miss it,” Malta tells Davies. "I’ll miss the hallway chats and interactions and seeing people in stores and talking hockey. I’d like to think I grew up in Peterborough even though I didn’t live there until I was 26.”  If you have a Metroland subscription, you can read the story right here. Have questions about the OHL? Send them here. Advertisement Snap Shot Jordan Staal, Peterborough Petes alum. (Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images) Advertisement QUICK SHIFTS Regular readers of this space learned about the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds this season through the words of Janson Duench. The talented young journalist recently announced he was moving onto another opportunity, and you can read his farewell column right here.   Nate Pavelski was drafted into the OHL over the weekend. Does that last name sound familiar to you? It probably does. You can read more about that in The Hockey News, right here.  If you are a junior hockey fan who enjoys planning their life months in advance, you might want to check out the 2026-27 OHL schedule, which was released in full earlier this week. You can check it out right here.  Thanks for reading, hockey fans. See you next time. © 2026 Postmedia Network Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized distribution, transmission or republication strictly prohibited. 365 Bloor St East, Toronto, ON, M4W 3L4 You received this email because you are registered to On the OHL newsletter, registered as gjagjeet610.worldwin@blogger.com Unsubscribe • Unsubscribe All Terms & Conditions • Privacy Policy • Contact us