The North Bay Battalion took North Bay product Brady Lyle with their first pick, 18th overall in today's OHL Priority Selection.
The North Bay defenceman moved away after his minor bantam year to play at the high profile private school two years ago.
It's a school based in Minnesota that has churned out current NHL stars such as Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews, and Zach Parise.
A number of scouting services actually projected Lyle to go 18th overall to the Battalion on Saturday.
Lyle becomes first local player to be taken in the first round of the OHL draft by the local team since Powassan’s Tyler Rennette was taken 2nd overall way back in 1996 by the North Bay Centennials.
Lyle is described by OHL Central Scouting as “a great skater with the ability to slow the game down. He is a very heads up player coming up the ice and is not shy about carrying the puck to try to gain the zone. He makes good decisions when passing the puck in all three zones and sees the ice extremely well. He uses his smarts defensively and is always on the right side of the puck. He’s not overly physical but plays more of a contain style of defense. He uses his skating, skill and hockey smarts to create offense every time he is on the ice.”
Lyle recorded 16 goals along with 28 assists totalling 44 points in 55 games last season on the Shattuck St. Mary’s Sabres team that won the USA Hockey Under-16 Championship back in March.
Battalion head coach Stan Butler compares the 6'0", 170 pound defenceman to current Battalion defender Miles Liberati.
"He's a very offensive player and a very good skater," noted Butler who spoke to the media at the end of the first round of the OHL Priority Selection.
Lyle, who talked to the media via the phone from his dorm room at Shattuck-St. Mary's in Faribault, Minnesota says he models his game after Los Angeles Kings Star defenceman Drew Doughty.
He becomes the first ever local pick taken by the North Bay Battalion since they moved to North Bay in the fall of 2013.
“It’s great, when I heard the news, I was kind of lost for words. I was on facetime with my parents and all I could come up with is ‘wow this is amazing,’ It’s just a dream come true when I found out the news,” said Lyle in a media conference call shortly after the end of the first round of the OHL Priority Selection.
Butler likes and respects the Shattuck-St. Mary's program, which has produced NHL stars like Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon.
"He comes from a winning program, they have produced a lot of great players," said Butler.
"He understands the city of North Bay, he really, really wanted to play in the city of North Bay and he’s a guy we feel, the way the game is going you really need mobile defence men and he will fit into that new era of defence men that we are looking to get."
Shattuck-St. Mary’s U-16 Head Coach Ben Umhoefer believes Lyle has progressed significantly since he arrived to their program 2 seasons ago.
“He had a really good season. only played defence for a year and a half,” said Umhoefer.
“He’s an offensive defenseman with incredible skill. we were most impressed how he improved. He's super talented hard working and will be a really good player in time.”
Umhoefer notes Lyle still needs to work on the defensive part of the game. Lyle actually came to Shattuck as a forward and has been moved back to defence about a year and a half ago.
"I think I'm a good player with the puck on my stick and on the back end I think I have the puck a lot more. I make good decisions and good passes so I think it's been a really positive transition from forward to defence," said Lyle about the adjustment.
Stay here for more Battalion and OHL Priority Selection coverage throughout the day here on BayToday.ca
