{"id":17727,"date":"2017-07-05T16:37:06","date_gmt":"2017-07-05T20:37:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=17727"},"modified":"2017-07-05T16:37:06","modified_gmt":"2017-07-05T20:37:06","slug":"saints-leave-mark-on-nhl-entry-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/saints-leave-mark-on-nhl-entry-draft\/","title":{"rendered":"Saints leave mark on NHL Entry Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jake Courtepatte<\/strong><\/p>\n

There was a distinct Saintly presence at this year\u2019s NHL Entry Draft.
\nThree former members of the St. Andrew\u2019s College Saints hockey program realized a life\u2019s dream when they heard their names called in Chicago last week, the first Saints to be drafted into the NHL since Warren Foegele in 2014.
\nRobert Thomas was the first to go, taken in the first round, 20th overall by the St. Louis Blues.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s been a crazy week,\u201d said Thomas from the Blues\u2019 prospect camp. \u201cIt\u2019s been a quick turnaround, but definitely a lot of fun\u2026it\u2019s exciting to know all the work you\u2019ve put in over the years has paid off.\u201d
\nSelf-described as a \u201csmart, two-way centre\u201d, Thomas played at a point-per-game pace in his first season with the OHL\u2019s London Knights, also posting an impressive +41 rating.
\nA product of the Saints under-16 team and a graduate in the 2017 class, Thomas has also represented Canada at the under-17 level.
\nKnowing the pressures of being labeled a first round pick, Thomas said it was the fans that really motivated him in his first few scrimmages at Blues camp.
\n\u201cJust seeing all the people that are out there for just a scrimmage, it really pushes you. It motivates you to work harder in the gym, work harder on the ice to make that jump to the NHL.\u201d
\nThe next Saint to hear his name was the captain, Morgan Barron, who became a New York Ranger in the sixth round, 174th overall.
\n\u201cI am extremely honoured to be selected by the New York Rangers,\u201d said Barron. \u201cIt\u2019s a dream come true.\u201d
\nThe Cornell commit spent the last two seasons with the Saints varsity program after coming from the Halifax minor hockey program, scoring forty goals in his junior season before being named captain for 2016-17.
\n\u201cMorgan is a driven and dedicated young man,\u201d said varsity Saints head coach David Manning. \u201cAs a big player with outstanding skill, Morgan fits the mold of the classic centreman. He\u2019s equally adept at distributing the puck as putting it in the net, and doesn\u2019t let his defensive game suffer because of his offensive one.\u201d
\nGraduating defenseman Ryan O\u2019Connell had to wait until the seventh and final round to hear his name, but it was the hometown Maple Leafs that picked him up with the 207th pick.
\nThough not on mid-season NHL draft rankings, O\u2019Connell earned his way onto the list after an incredible end to the Saints season.
\n\u201cRyan is a dynamic player who is only beginning to reach his potential,\u201d said Manning. \u201cTo continue that growth as a member of one of the top programs like Boston University is quite special.\u201d
\nAlso drafted was Aurora resident Morgan Frost, taken by the Philadelphia Flyers 27th overall in the first round. Frost cut his teeth in the York-Simcoe Express program before spending his Bantam and Minor Midget Seasons with the minor Barrie Colts.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There was a distinct Saintly presence at this year\u2019s NHL Entry Draft.
\nThree former members of the St. Andrew\u2019s College Saints hockey program realized a life\u2019s dream when they heard their names called in Chicago last week, the first Saints to be drafted into the NHL since Warren Foegele in 2014.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[24,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-sports","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4BV","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-13 19:06:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/2017-07-06-09.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}