Three former Centre Wellington Fusion players have been drafted into the Ontario Hockey League.
Brayden Krieger, of Elora, Kurtis Goodwin, of Fergus and Jonah Burley, of Centre Wellington eagerly waited for their chance to play at a higher level during the draft on April 8.
The Grade 10 students at Centre Wellington District High School played on the same line when they each played for the Fusion.
Jonah Burley
Burley, 15, played with the Guelph Gryphons Minor Midget AAA team.
He found out he had been drafted in the 14th round, 262nd overall by the Guelph Storm when his dad woke him up.
“I had contact from other teams not Guelph, so I was totally blind-sided,” he said.
“I wasn’t expecting it to be Guelph.”
He was happy about the draft, however. His family has been Storm season ticket holders for years and now they could get the chance to see Burley play.
“I’ve been following (the Guelph Storm) since as young as I can remember,” said Burley.
He said he was very excited to get the chance to play for the Storm, but he is going to have to work hard to get there.
“I’ve definitely got years of development in front of me,” he said.
Gryphon teammate Matthew Dunsmoor, of Guelph-Eramosa, was drafted in the 8th round, 155th overall by the Mississauga Steelheads.
Kurtis Goodwin
Goodwin, 15, was drafted in the 13th round, 253rd overall by the Mississauga Steelheads after playing with the Waterloo Wolves Minor Midget AAA team.
Goodwin watched the draft online with his family.
He said he was nervous watching, not knowing if his name would be called, but was excited when he saw his name.
“It’s always an honour to get drafted,” he said.
“You work all your life to get drafted, so it’s obviously nice to see your name on there but then again, it’s the start of something new, so you have to this summer work hard to even have a crack at making the team.”
He added, “It’s a whole new opportunity now.”
Goodwin said he will be working hard to get a spot on the Steelheads.
“We have to get bigger, faster, stronger,” he said.
“Basically that means going to the gym five times a week at least, staying on the ice doing power skating, improving your skills in skating is a big part.”
Goodwin said his family was proud of his accomplishment.
Brayden Krieger
Krieger, 16, played for the Wolves as well and was drafted in the 6th round, 107th overall to the London Knights.
Krieger said he also watched the draft online with his family and didn’t know which team he would be drafted by.
“Before the draft, a couple of teams call and interview you. They don’t tell you much, they say they’re maybe kind of interested, but you don’t know until it actually happens,” he said.
Krieger said he was happy to be drafted to the Knights and was thankful to his parents for all their support.
“They sacrifice a lot for us,” he said, adding it was nice to watch the draft together.
“The work kind of starts now this summer, just keep going and trying to make the team,” he said.
While Krieger and Goodwin were teammates with the Wolves, they’re not worried about competing on the ice. “It’s not going to be anything different, I’m not going to play a different way against him,” said Goodwin.
“I think it would be fun,” said Krieger.
“It definitely would make me compete more, so I can say I beat him.”
The four OHL hopefuls will be working throughout the summer to try to make their respective team’s lineup.
