{"id":22710,"date":"2019-01-17T12:05:51","date_gmt":"2019-01-17T17:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=22710"},"modified":"2019-01-17T12:05:51","modified_gmt":"2019-01-17T17:05:51","slug":"express-defenseman-joins-team-ontario","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/express-defenseman-joins-team-ontario\/","title":{"rendered":"Express defenseman joins Team Ontario"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

There are many reasons the Minor Midget York-Simcoe Express have shot up the UnderArmour OMHA rankings as of late, and Jacob Holmes is certainly one of them.
\nThe talented blueliner was one of four players chosen from the OMHA to compete for Team Ontario at the upcoming 2019 Canada Winter Games, held in late February and only coming around once every four years.
\nHolmes is joined by fellow blueliner Connor Punnett and forwards Ethan Larmand and Cole Patey, all from the North Central Predators. They will represent the province at the Games in Red Deer, Alberta.
\n\u201cWe are proud of all of the players selected and wish Jacob, Connor, Ethan and Cole the best of luck as they represent the OMHA and Team Ontario at the Canada Winter Games,\u201d said Ian Taylor, Executive Director of the Ontario Minor Hockey Association.
\nOnly 20 players from across the province are chosen for the roster, with the OMHA representatives joining those picked from Hockey Eastern Ontario, Hockey Northwestern Ontario, and the Ontario Hockey Federation.
\n\u201cThe Ontario Minor Hockey Association has a long and proud tradition of developing some of the top hockey talent in the world,\u201d said Taylor. \u201cThis event will be a step in identifying and developing the next crop of elite players in Ontario.\u201d
\nDescribed by his OMHA player page as \u201cbuilt strong and sturdy,\u201d the Express captain has impressed OHL scouts this season with his skating skills.
\nHe will be eligible for the OHL Selection Draft in 2019, and the NHL Entry Draft in 2021.
\nBringing a strong net-front presence to a team looking to repeat as gold medal winners, having defeated Team Alberta in Prince George, B.C. in 2015, Holmes will have the opportunity to showcase his talent along with best under-16 skaters in the nation.
\nAnd his chances are good: Team Ontario has earned five gold medals, one silver medal and two bronze medals in the last 13 Canada Winter Games.
\nPlayers will gather for a Pre-Tournament Camp February 11 to 14 at the Mastercard Centre for Hockey Excellence in Toronto as they begin preparations to defend the gold medal.
\nThe Games themselves will be held from February 15 until March 3, 2019.
\nWith scouts visiting major games and tournaments across Ontario since the season opened in September, Head of Ontario Hockey League Central Scouting, Darrell Woodley, thinks he has the right squad for the job.
\n\u201cWe are excited about the players we have named to Team Ontario. The selection process was extremely difficult, but I believe we have a team that is highly skilled and will push the pace at the Canada Winter Games,\u201d said Woodley
\nHolmes\u2019 Express home club sits top in their division in the OMHA, holding onto a record of 16-8-7.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are many reasons the Minor Midget York-Simcoe Express have shot up the UnderArmour OMHA rankings as of late, and Jacob Holmes is certainly one of them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"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_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-22710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-sports","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-5Ui","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-06 13:14:05","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22710","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=22710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22710\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}