It was a pretty special moment for Anthony Romani.
The Pickering, Ontario product had never visited North Bay before and showed up in front of North Bay Memorial Gardens to see himself lit up on the giant billboard in front of North Bay's Memorial Gardens Saturday morning.
The star forward out of the coveted Toronto Jr. Canadiens program was selected in the third round of the OHL Priority Selection by the Battalion earlier this month.
While Romani admits there was some NCAA interest, he felt this was the OHL and the North Bay Battalion are the right option for him.
"There are both two options but the OHL is the path I really wanted to go," said Romani.
"I am a hard-working player who will do whatever it takes to win. To describe my game, I am offensive-minded. My strengths are in the offensive zone, I like to get creative but still do whatever it takes to help the team win; play a 200-foot game, block shots, and do whatever it takes."
For Adam Dennis, Battalion GM, this is the second weekend in a row that the team hosted a city visit for a Battalion draft pick. Last week, the Troops welcomed 11th overall pick Owen Outwater for a visit.
Dennis believes this is a key part of the process as the province moves out of COVID-19 restrictions.
"For myself and our coaching staff, we are proud North Bay residents, we love living here so whenever we get to showcase it, it is important, and for the families - for most of these boys it is going to be their first time living away from home so we don't take that for granted, we want to show the families and the parents exactly where they will be spending their next four years and we want to make them comfortable so it is a really important piece to it," explained Dennis.
With two very highly rated draft classes coming together this fall for the Battalion, Dennis says it's too early to tell where Romani will fit come fall training camp.
"The expectation may not be to come in and do all those things that we expect right away," noted Dennis.
"It is our job to help get him there so I think when it comes to a guy like Anthony, his natural ability has been through the charts since he started playing. What needs to come is that strength and the other aspect to his game and that is something we take a lot of pride in so we let the player sort himself out but it is also important to have plans in place."
