Apparently, hockey prospects do not need to be on skates from the age of two in order to give themselves a decent shot at playing in the OHL – or beyond.

Nolan Newton was almost seven when he first laced ‘em up, the French River native far more active initially in summer softball and soccer outings.

And while the likes of Tyson Rismond, Karsen Chartier, Braeden Vis and Caden Dubreuil might still have a thing or two to say about it, the smooth-skating forward who recently netted his first NOJHL goal, in the playoffs, no less, as a call-up with the Greater Sudbury Cubs could well be the first local talent to come off the board at the 2022 OHL Entry Draft this weekend.

While Newton might have started a step or two behind the pack, he made up ground quickly, finding any opportunity available to immerse himself in the sport in which he would prosper through his teenage years.

“I liked skating out on the lake and stuff – and it came pretty naturally,” suggested the 16 year-old who suited up with the Sudbury U16 AAA Nickel Capitals this past season. “I worked on my stick-handling a lot, outside, on the ice, on my feet, rollerblading – everything I could play.”

Though his first foray with organized hockey would come courtesy of the French River house league crew, improvement often occurred simply by virtue of a slightly older circle of hockey friends, including current NOJHLers Dominik Godin and Brandon Hass, both from the same area.

“To practice with older guys with that skill-set was really good; it was a big advantage,” acknowledged Newton. Making the move to competitive hockey with the West Nipissing Sting, the talented young prospect slid seamlessly over to the Northern Ontario AAA Hockey League at the age of 12, spending one year in North Bay before calling Sudbury home ever since.

That’s when things got serious.

“I started off-ice training at 12 or 13 – before that, I would just play a lot of sports,” Newton conceded. “Soccer really helped me a few years ago, building up my endurance and helping me play those high minutes. I kept playing other sports and working out to try and keep the distance between myself and other players, to try and become the best player.”

That is challenging enough at the best of times. During a global pandemic, the hurdles are there to be faced pretty much of a weekly basis. Yet Newton, like hundreds of others who share his passion for their particular sport, overcame and prospered.

“I probably developed more during Covid, actually – I did a lot more than what I usually do,” he said. With organized hockey all but shut down for long stretches on end, his time was filled creatively – and with an end goal in mind. “I was working out in the garage, doing Zoom call workouts, going rollerblading with my buddies.”

“By the time we got back on the ice, we wanted to play so badly.”

This is where his comfort lie, where even the strengths of his game could be raised to a whole other level. “When the ice was in, I was working mostly on my skating, just because the game is all about skating and you need speed,” noted Newton.

As he readied himself for the OHL Cup, the biggest of stages for he and his Nickel Cap teammates, Newton had a good sense of what the scouts wanted to see. “I need to show my speed and I need to show my hockey IQ – I’m a playmaker,” he said. “From a young age, my parents made sure that I learned to pass the puck.”

“From watching a lot of hockey, I kind of just know when to pass it and when to hang on to it.”

Still, there was another takeaway that could greatly help the northern lad in the long run. “I had a good tournament but it really opened my eyes about the hockey talent across Ontario and how much more I need to do to get to their level.”

That said, he’s not oblivious to the chatter. Talk of picks and projected draft rounds is all but unavoidable in the circles he keeps at the moment. Equal portions of nervousness and excitement are part of the mix, though Newton hopes to balance that off with a solid grounding of realistic expectations.

“I do plan on watching the draft from the first pick to the last pick,” he said. “But I try not and get too excited. There’s a lot of stories out there of players who were told they might go as high as the third round and then go much later. I really just hope to be drafted somewhere, anywhere, and then I can work really hard this summer to make the team.”

Nolan Newton knows that there is always a need to close the gap.