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A 15-year-old hockey prospect from South Stormont is often on the back rink until the wee hours of the morning.
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But Wyatt Warner hardly worked in anonymity.
The 5-foot-10, 170-pound center for the Kemptville 73 U-18 AAA team was recently featured by Sports Illustrated – the famous sports magazine first published in 1954 – in its online feature Prospects by Sports Illustrated, and it came as a surprise to the Grade 10 student at St. Joseph’s High School in Cornwall.
“Someone sent it to me on Instagram,” Warner said. “I was pretty excited.”
It’s a glowing profile by Drake White, who writes that Warner, “as one of the leaders of his team, is not only a great hockey player, but also an excellent student, as he currently displays an average of 94%”.
The magazine profiles athletes in various sports and, for hockey, it focuses on players who are likely to be selected in the Ontario Hockey League’s priority draft this spring. It’s Warner’s draft year, and a ranking service earlier this season took him to 48and in the province.
Which team will pick him and in which round are of course two unanswered questions at this stage, and Warner’s aim is simply to continue to have a very strong U-18 season with Kemptville, the organization that selected him in the Central Canada Hockey League last year. Disorganized.
“I would be honored to be drafted (into the OHL),” Warner said the other day, sitting at the dining room table in the family home between Ingleside and Long Sault.
Warner is an assistant captain of a struggling 73-year-old team, but he leads the club with 11 goals and 14 assists for 25 points in 30 games, and he’s 10.and in rookie scoring in the league.
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Warner is the son of Anna and Jason Warner. He was born in Collingwood, Ontario and grew up near Wasaga Beach, a town on the southern tip of Georgian Bay not far from Barrie, home of the OHL Colts.
Warner had played AAA since his minor atom year at age eight with Barrie, and he was a frequent attendee at OHL games. In fact, he was one of the kids on the mid-ice shoveling shards of ice along the boards during breaks in the action.
Four years ago the family moved to the Seaway Valley – it’s where Jason Warner grew up, playing junior hockey in the early 1990s for several area teams, including the East Coast Royals. OHL, as well as the Brockville Braves and Massena Americans of the CJHL.
Anna and Jason are proud of their son’s accomplishments in the classroom and on the ice, as well as his work ethic. It continued despite two very difficult years of sporadic hockey action and learning opportunities.
“For sure it was hard to miss almost two years of hockey,” said Wyatt Warner.
But training continued, including inline, and on the Long Sault Parkway – on some days he will rollerblade up to 50 kilometres. There was a lot of puck shooting against the shed, and in the winter, a few late nights with buddies on the back rink – sometimes until 2 or 3 in the morning.
“Sometimes we’re in bed and we hear pucks ringing off the crossbar,” Anna said with a smile. “It will be late, but we’re glad they’re still there.”
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In the Sports Illustrated report, White wrote that “Warner’s work ethic and level of competitiveness are at an all-time high, making him a role model for his teammates. Warner fires full throttle in every situation, whether it’s a game or just training, he works extremely hard in both. Despite shooting very heavy, Warner scores most of his goals in the dirty areas around the net, using his physicality to beat the goalkeeper and ignore opposing players.
“Warner also packs a second gear, which he can activate to get past an opposing defender. . . Warner sports very fast hands to beat opponents, and despite being one of the youngest players in the league, ( he will finish) his checks on any player he lines up with, making him a dangerous opponent to face.
White wrote that Warner “definitely shows why he belongs in the 2022 OHL Draft, and with his work ethic he could increase his stock even further.”
Rankings are based on data collected by underage midget coaches, tournament organizers, player advisors, agents, OHL scouts and general managers to determine the top 200 players eligible for the OHL Priority Draft. OH.
Sports Illustrated said it also considers live game coverage and other ancillary data, all compiled and analyzed by Prospects by Sports Illustrated staff and management.
OHL Priority Selection is scheduled for April 29-30.
thambleton@postmedia.com