By Jordan Ercit Chronicle Staff
Scott Pedersen couldn’t help but shake his head. The Waterloo Wolves minor midget-AAA product from the Arthur/Drayton area was drafted by the Kitchener Rangers Saturday during the 2013 OHL Priority Selection as the first pick in the eighth round. But that wasn’t the cool part. The Rangers are about the closest thing to a hometown team for Pedersen, who used to travel with his family to watch Rangers games at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium Complex. Still, that is not the most exciting part for Pedersen, a sturdy six-foot-2 defenceman.
That would be the fact his brother, Brent, a forward who was
drafted out of the Wolves system in the first round of the 2011 draft by
Kitchener, is on the Rangers too.
“We’ve never really played together in anything,” he said.
“We’ve maybe had some ice times together in the summer and stuff with him
getting ready, but I can’t say I’ve played with him.
“It obviously makes it difficult since he’s two years older,
but that would be great if I could make the team either this year or next year.
That would be pretty special.”
But that wasn’t the only reason why Pedersen was shaking his
head this weekend.
Pedersen was the lone player in the <st1:ST1:CITY w:st="on">Waterloo
minor hockey system drafted by an OHL club last weekend, even after the Wolves
earned a spot in the Minor Hockey Alliance of Ontario championship and a berth
in the OHL Cup Showcase tournament last month in <st1:ST1:CITY w:st="on"><st1:ST1:PLACE w:st="on">Mississauga.
“I think we’ve got some great players on our team and I
thought more of them were going to be picked,” Pedersen said “I was kind of
surprised at that, but you never know, right?
“It’s too bad, but I guess that’s what happened and I’m sure
some of them will be playing junior somewhere else next year.”
By comparison, the Elgin Middlesex Chiefs, the team that
beat the Wolves in the <st1:ST1:CITY w:st="on"><st1:ST1:PLACE w:st="on">Alliance
final, had two players drafted in the top five and six more selected in the top
90 — about 50 spots before Pedersen saw his name posted on the OHL draft
website.
Meanwhile, the Kitchener Jr. Rangers, who lost to Elgin
Middlesex in the <st1:ST1:CITY w:st="on">Alliance semifinals, had six
players selected — Jacob Cascagnette (fourth round to <st1:ST1:CITY w:st="on">Kitchener),
David Lobsinger (fifth round to <st1:ST1:CITY w:st="on">Peterborough),
Alex Black (sixth round to <st1:ST1:CITY w:st="on">Sarnia), Stephen Gibson,
Nathan Bastien (seventh round to <st1:ST1:CITY w:st="on">Mississauga)
and Francis Prevel (14th round to <st1:ST1:CITY w:st="on"><st1:ST1:PLACE w:st="on">Oshawa).
“We might have set a new record for a team that went to the
OHL Cup,” head coach Shawn Dietrich said, adding he had a lot of young men
calling him in tears on Saturday evening once the draft was completed.
“It’s frustrating for them, but it’s part of the business.”
So instead of offering congratulations, Dietrich tried to
spin the positive on Saturday, telling his players they are now “free agents”
and can control their own destiny when it comes to taking their game to the
next level.
He pointed to players like Waterloo Siskins rookie Keigan
Goetz and Kitchener Dutchman centre Keegan Calder.
Goetz spent the 2012-13 season drawing attention of OHL
scouts as a 16-year-old Jr. B player while Calder signed with <st1:ST1:CITY w:st="on"><st1:ST1:PLACE w:st="on">Guelph after being passed over in the 2010
draft and played 10 games with the Storm in 2011-12 before settling back in the
GOJHL.
“There’s two messages I give the guys,” Dietrich said. “One
is we did it as a team, not one guy or two guys carrying us. We sold the
message that we’re one of the better teams in <st1:ST1:STATE w:st="on"><st1:ST1:PLACE w:st="on">Ontario because we are that — a team.
“Two, you know what . . . there’s not one team that owns
(their OHL rights) and now everyone gets to look at you again next year. And if
they want to invite you to camp, you now have 20 teams that might invite you
instead of one.”
And Dietrich believes his players have the right stuff to
succeed at the next level.
“Whether that’s the OHL, whether it’s Jr. B, whether it’s
NCAA, whether it’s Canadian university, our guys have what it takes,” Dietrich
said. “It’s not being noticed now, but we got to where we were because all
those guys have the right characteristics.”