THUNDER BAY – Alex Pineau and Alex Atwill have been playing hockey – and baseball – together for about as long as either teen can remember.
It was rather fitting that they’d be selected in this month’s Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection Draft five picks apart in the eighth round.
Pineau, a lanky six-foot, 176-pound blue-liner, was grabbed 157th overall by the Sudbury Wolves, a team with plenty of history with Thunder Bay players, including NHLers Marc and Jared Staal and Taylor Pyatt, who was taken eighth overall by the New York Islanders in 1999.
Atwill, a 5-foot-8, 141-pound left-winger, was taken with pick No. 162 by the London Knights, another team with ties to Thunder Bay dating back to the early ‘70s.
Neither player was counting on being drafted, but both were pretty thrilled it happened.
“Playing up north sometimes it doesn’t work out the way you want it to, so I didn’t have too high expectations, but when my name got picked I was definitely super excited,” said Pineau, who had four goals and six assists playing with the Thunder Bay minor midget Kings this season, also helping the major midget squad to a championship game appearance at the TELUS Cup West Regional.
Pineau said he couldn’t have asked for a better eventual landing spot, if an OHL career is in his future.
“They definitely have a super-good past with being successful in the OHL Cup and some of their coaches have played in the NHL, like Cory Stillman,” he said.
“And they pay attention to the talent we have up here. A lot of teams I find pass up the good talent we have in Thunder Bay, but they’re definitely a team that watches us.”
Atwill said being drafted by a team that has won three OHL championships since 2012 is a dream come true.
“It’s just a great organization with a lot of skill in it and a great history of players that have come out of it, like (Mitch) Marner, (Patrick) Kane and (John) Tavares,” said Atwill, showing he was clearly versed in the Knights past.
Atwill said it was pretty cool that he and Pineau were picked so close together and might be able to start their major junior careers together, albeit on different teams.
“It’s very exciting. We’ve played hockey together since we were four or five or six in his backyard and been on the same team all the way up to now. It’s been great,” Atwill said.
Both players expect to attend rookie camps with their respective teams and said they’ll make decisions based on that where they’ll play next season.
