Wood, Amadio drafted by NHL clubs
PHILADELPHIA – Kyle Wood and Mike Amadio of the Ontario Hockey League’s North Bay Battalion were selected in the third round of the National Hockey League Draft on Saturday.
The Colorado Avalanche chose defenceman Wood with the 84th overall pick, while the Los Angeles Kings tabbed centre Amadio with the 90th choice.
The Brampton Battalion chose Wood, a six-foot-five, 229-pound resident of Waterloo, Ont., in the third round of the 2012 OHL Priority Selection. A knee injury suffered in training camp limited Wood, who turned 18 on May 4, to 33 games last season during which he had two goals and 10 assists for 12 points. Wood played 22 playoff games, contributing 10 points from two goals and eight assists, after appearing in 16 games for Brampton in 2012-13, when he had one goal and one assist.
The Battalion selected Amadio, a six-foot-one, 192-pound resident of Sault Ste. Marie, in the second round in 2012. He played 64 games last season, scoring 12 goals and adding 26 assists for 38 points before generating nine points, including four goals, in 22 playoff games. As a rookie Amadio, who turned 18 on May 13, recorded six goals and 13 assists for 19 points in 63 games.
Wood became the first player chosen in an NHL draft from a North Bay club since the Chicago Blackhawks picked Centennials goaltender Tyson Kellerman in the seventh round, 219th overall, in 2002. Kellerman played 13 games with the Battalion in 2003-04 after being acquired via trade from the Kitchener Rangers.
Wood is the third Battalion player to be chosen by Colorado, joining centres Wojtek Wolski and Matt Duchene, who were first-round picks in 2004 and 2009 respectively. Amadio and left winger John Seymour, a seventh-round selection in 2005, are the only Battalion players selected by Los Angeles.
The Kings also drafted centre Jake Marchment in the sixth round. Marchment, chosen by the Battalion in the sixth round in 2011, saw his OHL rights traded to the Belleville Bulls last August for a sixth-round pick in the 2014 OHL Priority Selection.
Since 1999, the Battalion has produced 39 NHL draft selections, including two players other than Wood and Amadio eligible to skate for North Bay next season. Defenceman Dylan Blujus, an overage candidate, was a second-round choice of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2012 and signed an entry-level contract in May, while centre Nick Paul was taken by the Dallas Stars in the fourth round in 2013.
Another member of the Troops next season, blueliner Miles Liberati, was taken by the Vancouver Canucks in the seventh round in 2013 while a member of the London Knights.
A total of 41 OHL players were among 210 selections made over the seven-round draft held over two days at the Wells Fargo Center, home of the Philadelphia Flyers. Ten OHL players were chosen in the first round, including defenceman Aaron Ekblad of the Barrie Colts, who went first overall to the Florida Panthers.
