Preds draft more local players for coming season

The Niagara Predators added a great deal of local content to their roster in the recent Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League (GMHL) draft.

New vice-president Andrew Ferlatte says fans of the team that plays out of Virgil’s Meridian Credit Union Arena will see a younger squad with fewer European skaters and more locals than in the Predators inaugural Niagara season. 

“With me coming on board,” says the Ajax native who works for a St. Catharines kitchen cabinet company, “I would like to have more local players, to help us establish the hockey team in the local market rather than having them predominantly from overseas or the United States.”

Five of the Predators draft picks hail from the Niagara region, with a sixth from nearby Hamilton. Of the players chosen by them in each of the draft’s 12 rounds, 10 are from Ontario, one from British Columbia and one from the US. 

As well, nine of the draftees are 18 years old or younger. 

Ferlatte is serving as vice president for both GMHL teams owned by Robert Turnbull. That would be the St. George Ravens in addition to the Predators. His job required him to make selections for the two teams that compete against each other in the league’s Northern division. 

To prepare for the process, Ferlatte made sure he spoke to both coaches. Niagara’s Kevin Taylor and the Ravens’ Wade Clubb are both new to their respective organizations for the upcoming 2022-2023 season 

“I needed to see what kind of team they are hoping to build around,” Ferlatte says. “It was a lot of consulting with both coaches to see what players they were looking for and doing the research off of that.”

Ferlatte worked previously with the Niagara Whalers, the Port Colborne-based GMHL team that folded prior to the 2021-2022 season. Over three years with the Whalers he worked his way up from skills coach to president of the team. 

In 2020-2021, Ferlatte left the Whalers to work as a consultant for the Predators in their last year in Toronto, and also became the director of hockey operations for the Ravens. He continued to consult for the Predators in their first year in Virgil, and took on the Ravens general manager role last year as well. 

“I did a lot of work behind the scenes for the Predators last year,” Ferlatte says. “It helps that I’m local. I played my junior hockey in Niagara and I have lots of connections here. Because I’m a local, it definitely helps in establishing what we want to do here.”

The Predators were number 20 on the draft board and went with 17-year-old Connor Prestwich of the U18 Whitby Wildcats AAA team. 

“Connor is a big-bodied, two-way forward who can play a complete game,” Ferlatte says of the Stouffville, Ontario-born Prestwich. “Our head coach Kevin Taylor actually scouted him at a tournament and said he was a big game-changer on the ice.”

Second round pick Nolan Wyers was the first Niagara region player chosen by the Predators. The 16-year-old Grade 10 student at Governor Simcoe Secondary School is excited about moving from the St. Catharines Falcons U16 AA team to the junior A level.

“It’s a really huge step, especially at a young age like mine, to get the development and the experience in with the older guys,” the centre from St. Catharines tells The Local. “I think it will take my game to the next level, and give me some opportunities in the future for maybe NCAA options or down the professional path.”

Knowing that the Predators took 19-year-old forward Tyler Gearing, another St. Catharines Falcon, in the sixth round, and that his former teammate Logan Baillie will be coming back to play for the Preds this year, adds to Wyers’ excitement.

Wyers says he is working hard this summer to ensure he’s in game shape whenever Taylor gathers the team together for its next summer skate. 

“For the past couple of summers I’ve been doing some training camps with other teams,” he explains. “I have a workout routine back home. I have a net in the backyard and I take shots every day. And I have a SuperDeker (stickhandling training system) downstairs too.”

Also from Niagara is the Predators fourth round pick, 15-year-old David Nowak, a forward from the Fort Erie International Academy, and goaltenders Warren Krogman (18, round five) and Noah Fortuna (21, round nine), both of Niagara Falls. 

Richmond, BC’s Matthew Jung, 19, was taken by the Predators in the third round. The forward netted 12 goals and nine assists in 44 games with the Fresno Monsters of the United States Premier Hockey League last season. 

Rounding out the picks for Niagara were defenceman Caleb Labelle (17, round seven) of the North York Rangers U18 AAA team, forward Kyle Ferguson (16, round eight) of the Burlington Eagles AAA squad, Barrie’s Mac Conelly (18, round 10), Nolan Winkler of Chicago (16, round 11, and Gavin Lippett (16, round 12) of the Hamilton Huskies AA team. 

“Our goal with our program is to develop players,” Ferlatte says of the Predators youth movement. “We want them to be better people both on and off the ice. Drafting younger players will help us establish more of a developmental culture and more of a household name in the Niagara area.”

Ferlatte adds that returning players, such as speedy forward Reese Bisci of Niagara Falls, will help to ease the young draftees into the Predators system. In the meantime, the Predators will continue to recruit prospective players born between 2001 and 2006 to try out for the team.

Gearing and a few others from the draft have already signed their contracts to play in Niagara, while the team is awaiting final details on others including Wyers. Up next will be some on-ice sessions in mid-June, though dates have not been announced.