The influx of U.S.-born talent may have been a boon to OHL (Ontario Hockey League) teams in the recent entry draft but it clearly came at a price for local and northern Ontario talent.

With far more Americans selected than usual in light of the change to the NCAA rules this past season, homegrown spots were lost.

Ty Dubrueil, a 5'10" long-time SMHA (Sudbury Minor Hockey Association) product who skated with the North Bay U16 AAA Trappers this past winter was the only Sudbury prospect to get selected - and that in the 14th round by the Windsor Spitfires.

While many a teen has seen his heart broken on draft day, the recently turned 16 year-old was far more pragmatic in his approach.

"I didn't go into the draft with high expectations," suggested Dubreuil, a grade 10 student at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School. "I was watching it to see if any of my friends got drafted."

"If you go into the draft with high expectations and you don't get what you thought you would get, it doesn't really end well."

Amassing 17 goals and an equal number of assists in 32 Great North U18 AAA League games last year, Dubreuil has focused his attention in recent years on one key element of his game that is paramount to playing at a higher level.

"I would say that my skating has improved a tremendous amount throughout the years," he said. "A couple of years back, it wasn't something I was too happy with. But speed is now my strong suit."

Much of the credit, Dubreuil noted, goes to personal trainer Rick Kilganon - though his side interest in track and field certainly did not hurt matters at all.

Dubreuil was a member of the OFSAA bronze medal winning 4 X 100m relay team with the Knights last June

"Training for both sports, they do crossover," said Dubreuil, who makes no qualms that hockey remains his primary pursuit. "I am trying to build speed for track and hockey. There are some differences and you have to tweak your exercises, but overall, it's not a huge difference."

Moving forward, the well-spoken young man does not feel to need to alter a whole lot his game plan heading into an important off-season of training.

"No matter whether I got drafted or not, I was still going to be working out as much as possible," Dubreuil explained. "I am still putting in all the work I can to get better as a hockey player and a sprinter."

As for the 2025-2026 season, this new draftee seems to be bucking the trend, at least for now, of feeling that an exodus to southern Ontario is required to continue his development for the foreseeable future.

"My family and I, we've talked about it," said Dubreuil. "There's a couple of teams that we are thinking of, mainly the Cubs (Greater Sudbury Cubs of the NOJHL). That will be a hard team to make."

"If that doesn't work out, I will got to the Sudbury U18 AAA tryouts or North Bay."

There was some excitement for the north early in the draft as Sault Ste Marie native Brock Chitaroni (brother of Wolves' forward Hudson Chitaroni) came off the board at number three overall, now property of the Ottawa 67's.

A bit of a more distant tie to the north surfaced in round three when the Flint Firebirds nabbed goaltender Mason Courville from the Wilkes Barre Scranton Jr Knights.

The young puckstopper is the son of Timmins native Larry Courville, a former OHLer who appeared in 33 NHL games as part of a 12-year pro hockey career, the last four of which were spent with the Reading Royals in Pennsylvania.

Remaining northern talent that were drafted included:

Adam Pszeniczny (Sault Ste Marie) - 8th rd - Owen Sound Attack
Ty Gendron (Wawa) - 11th rd - Peterborough Petes
Owen Smith (North Bay) - 11th rd - North Bay Battalion
Théo Bourdon-Lemoyne (Kapuskasing) - 12th rd - London Knights
Karter Buchmann (North Bay) - 13th rd - North Bay Battalion
Cameron Gélinas (North Bay) - 14th rd - Niagara Ice Dogs