30th pick overall Crete commits to IceDogs
Left-shooting centre signs on with Niagara
Maximus Crete, a left-shooting centre whose skating skills make him “very hard to contain in the offensive zone,” is the latest top draft pick to commit to the Niagara IceDogs.
Crete, who was taken in the second round of the Ontario Hockey League draft with the 30th overall selection, on Thursday signed an OHL scholarship and development agreement.
Interim general manager Wes Consorti said the IceDogs are “thrilled to have Maximus commit to the Niagara IceDogs” in a release posted on the team’s website.
“He is a dynamic player with excellent skating who can make plays through the middle of the ice at a high rate of speed,” Consorti said.
Last season, the 16-year-old from Ottawa averaged more than two points per game — 28 goals, 38 assists in 29 games — helping the AAA under-16 Upper Canada Cyclones clinch a berth in the OHL Cup. He collected eight points in four OHL Cup games and last Saturday scored three of his team’s four goals at an IceDogs orientation camp held at Seymour-Hannah Sports and Entertainment Centre in St. Catharines.
“I’m super excited and honoured to be able to sign an agreement with the Niagara IceDogs in the best development league in the world,” Crete said in the release. “It’s truly an honour and it’s just the start.
“The future of this team is super bright, and I can’t wait to be a part of it.”
Between now and the team’s training camp in late August, the five-foot-eight, 164-pound centre intends to “just get stronger every day.”
“It’s a bigger, faster league. There are a lot of big boys in the OHL,” he said in an interview. “Obviously, I’m a smaller kid so just getting stronger is a big part of it.”
His workout regimen includes going to the gym five to six days a week, sprinting two to three days, as well as on-ice sessions three to five days a week.
“I like to get my workouts done in the morning so I have the rest of the day to just golf and stuff.”
In a pre-draft assessment, OHL Central Scouting described Crete as “a highly skilled centre that drives the offence for his team” and “a very elusive centre with great edge control that makes him very hard to contain in the offensive zone.”
Niagara has already signed its top pick, centre Braidy Wassilyn, who was selected from the Markham Majors under-16 triple-A program in the first round with the fourth overall selection.