Niagara North Star hopes to shine in the OHL
IceDogs select Cayuga Secondary School student with the 71st overall selection in the draft
It isn’t even training camp and Andrew Vermeulen, the only player from a team in the region taken by the Niagara IceDogs in the Ontario Hockey League draft, already has aced his first assignment as a major junior prospect.
After a season playing triple-A with the under-16 Niagara North Stars, he doesn’t need any help getting from his home in Selkirk, Ont., outside of Cayuga, to Meridian Centre in St. Catharines. The downtown arena is several blocks east of Seymour-Hannah Sport and Entertainment Centre on St. Paul Street West, the home ice of the North Stars.
Heading into the 15-round draft, the Grade 10 student at Cayuga Secondary School thought he would go anywhere from the second to the fourth round. “I talked to a few teams but it wasn’t really clear where I was going to end up,” he said after being selected in the fourth round, 71st overall. “I thought I was going to go higher but it all worked out. I’m pretty excited where I went.”
While the IceDogs are close to home, just 81.4 kilometres away, the Hamilton Bulldogs are even closer, just 63.4 kilometres down the road.
But John and Sandy Vermeulen know the route to St. Catharines by heart. They’ve been driving their son to practices and games since he was seven years old.
That Niagara finished the regular season last in the league while Hamilton placed first overall also tipped the scales in favour of the IceDogs. On a rebuilding team, the six-foot-one, 179-pound left-handed shot has the chance of getting more ice time much sooner.
“Obviously, that gives me a bit of confidence but I’m going to work as hard as I can, regardless of whether
it was a playoff team or a rebuilding team,” said Vermeulen, who turns 16 on July 1.
He intends to spend time in the gym working out between now and training camp. “Over the next few weeks and throughout the summer I will be working on my strength and my speed,” he said.
Vermeulen considers the ability to use his size as an advantage as a strength of his game.
“I think I’m a big forward. I can slow the game down and also put the puck in the net,” he said.
“I like to model my game after Josh Anderson of the Montreal Canadiens. He’s a big forward and he’s not afraid to make checks and score.”
He transferred to the Niagara North Stars from the region’s other triple-A program, the Southern Tier Admirals, after playing threeon-three against North Star players throughout the pandemic.
“I have some friends on that team and I felt like it would be better for showcasing my talent if I moved to that team,” he said. “My family and I figured it was going to be a stronger team.”
Vermeulen had 14 goals and 18 assists in 22 games with the North Stars last season. He had 27 goals and 22 assists in 32 games with the Southern Tier Admirals the year before. ’Dog Biscuits Selected by Niagara in the OHL under-18 draft Thursday were Ryan Johnstone, in the first round, fourth overall, C, sixfoot, 194 pounds, 27 games, 22 goals, 16 assists, Ajax-Pickering Raiders; Dylan Dewatcher, second round, 24th overall, G, six-foot-one, 161 pounds, 16 games, 4.31 goals-against average, Brantford 99ers; and Giankarlo Cerpnjak, third round, 43rd overall, LW, 2021-22 stats unavailable, Markham Majors.