Kitchener’s Hague may be first-round NHL pick
Kitchener native Nic Hague is 20th overall among North American skaters in the National Hockey League Central Scouting final draft rankings.
The Mississauga Steelheads defenceman is coming off his best season, one that saw him score 18 goals and add 28 assists in 65 games.
The Fish and the Oshawa Generals were tied 1-1 in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal heading into Tuesday’s Game 3.
Guelph forward Nathan Schnarr, from Waterloo, was listed 47th overall in advance of the draft, which runs in Chicago on June 23-24.
Waterloo’s Ben Jones, a centre for the Niagara IceDogs, came in at 170th.
Several Rangers made the list, including forwards Greg Meireles (93), Dylan Seitz (123) and Nick McHugh (145), as well as goalie Luke Richardson, who was 30th among North American netminders.
Kitchener draft picks defenceman Tyler Inamoto (68) and forward Jacob Tortora (165) were also ranked, while Adam Scheel was 28th among goalkeepers. Swedish forward Lias Andersson was third among European skaters.
Hall inks AHL deal KITCHENER — Kitchener Rangers defenceman Connor Hall has signed an amateur tryout contract with the American Hockey League’s WilkesBarre/Scranton Penguins for the remainder of the season. Hall was limited to just 17 games this past season with the Rangers after undergoing shoulder surgery in December. The Cambridge native was selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the third round (77th overall) in last year’s NHL draft.
Rangers spring camp set KITCHENER — The Kitchener Rangers will welcome top prospects and free agents at their annual spring camp April 21-23 at the Activa Sportsplex in Kitchener. The gathering will feature some of the club’s recent draft picks as well other young standouts in a series of practices and intrasquad games that are open to the public.
McCrae-Bristol back home WATERLOO — Former University of Waterloo basketball Warrior Kate McCrae-Bistol has returned to her roots. McCrae-Bristol, daughter of UW’s retired athletic director Judy McCrae and basketball coaching great Don McCrae, joins the female Warriors as an assistant. She played five seasons for the Warriors from 2000 to ’04, three of which were as team captain. McCrae-Bristol then travelled to Belfast, Northern Ireland, to join PeacePlayers International, a nonprofit organization that uses basketball to unite children in their communities. After that, she was an assistant coach for the Yale University Bulldogs in New Haven, Conn. before returning briefly to help coach her hometown Warriors. A short stint followed as an assistant coach at Wilfrid Laurier University. McCrae-Bristol is currently the manager of student experience at UW’s student success office. “(This) is a huge step forward for both myself and the student-athletes,” said Warriors head coach Craig Nickel, whom UW recently hired on a full-time basis following a season as the Warriors’ interim coach. “She brings so much to the program — including previous U-Sports playing and coaching experience, as well as wisdom gained through coaching stints internationally and in the NCAA.” Jamnicky wins gold Guelph’s Dominika Jamnicky won gold in the women’s race at the Hamilton Confederación Americana de Triathlon Sprint Triathlon American Cup race in Bermuda on Sunday. The 24-year-old triathlete came out of the 750-metre swim in the middle of the pack, but she took control of the race after breaking away with her teammates on the 20-kilometre bike ride. After the final five-kilometre run course, Jamnicky won the race by 25 seconds with a time of 1:02:28. She and her fellow Canucks were competing with Canada’s National Development Team athletes at the event, which is one of many that play a critical role in developing athletes and providing opportunities to qualify for the World Cup races.