OHL pals Micahel Misa, Matthew Schaefer could be at top of NHL draft
Article content
Michael Misa has intently emulated John Tavares's hockey path.
Article content
Misa and the Maple Leafs captain share Oakville roots, OHL exceptional player status in their early teens and dominance at centre in junior towards high selection at the National Hockey League draft.
Article content
Article content
The 6-foot-1 Saginaw Spirit star could even follow Tavares as the first overall pick of the New York Islanders, but that's where the twain might not meet.
Article content
Good as Misa is, most mock drafts have 6-2 Erie defenceman Matthew Schaefer going first overall to the Island as winner of the Canadian Hockey League's top draft prospect award on Friday in Toronto, while Misa would be available to join Macklin Celebrini on the rebuilding San Jose Sharks. Chicago is picking third, followed by the Utah Mammoth at the draft June 27-28 in Los Angeles.
Article content
Misa accepted the CHL's top scorer of the year award, a trophy Tavares also copped with the Oshawa Generals. Misa had 134 points in 65 regular season games.
Article content
'He's a guy I've looked up to since I got that exceptional status,' Misa said of Tavares. 'It's pretty cool he's from Oakville as well. It seems they have a way of producing good players there.'
Article content
The left-shooting centre switched to wing for a bit, but enjoys driving the play down the middle. Just like Tavares, whom he's met a couple of times and who has passed on some tips.
Article content
'His 200-foot game, the way he's able to protect the puck at all costs and has a great shot,' Misa said. 'I feel a lot more comfortable with the puck on my stick. I've tried to be that 200-foot player who can translate that at the next level.'
He and Tavares are lacrosse enthusiasts, both grieving the loss of their coach, Rob McDougall, at an annual memorial charity game.
Article content
Misa is also off-ice pals with Schaefer, as they and other top prospects just shared the scouting combine experience in Buffalo and a trip to the Stanley Cup finals on the media tour in Florida. Then it was quickly back to Toronto for the CHL awards — allowing Schaefer to cram in his high school prom Thursday night at St. John Henry Newman in Stoney Creek.
Article content
'I hadn't been to a school event in a couple of years, so it was fun to be with my friends and my teachers,' he said. 'To be a kid again back in high school is pretty special.'
Article content
But none of his classmates will be on national sports television in two weeks.
Article content
'This is a big step, there is so much talent in this draft, such as Misa and (Brampton's) Porter Martone' Schaefer said. 'There's nothing you can control about the draft now, just enjoy it. '
Article content
Schaefer held his lofty position with Central Scouting despite playing only 17 games this season after breaking his collarbone. But he received plenty of attention at the Ivan Hlinka tournament.
Article content
'I took the 17 games as an opportunity,' he said of his bad luck. 'A lot of guys played a lot more, but the reason I was ranked so high is I worked so hard in those 17 games.'
Article content
Schaefer received a lot of team support while idled. His injury wasn't long after his mother, Jennifer, died of breast cancer in February 2024 after a two-year struggle.
Article content
'I play for her each and every day, carry myself based on how she did,' the ebullient Schaefer said. 'I want to carry on her legacy. She came into a room and lit it up with her smile.'
He also lost his billet mother, Emily Matson, under sudden circumstances and this past season, the whole Otters team was rocked by the death of owner Jim Waters.
Article content
'It's made me stronger,' said Schaefer of encountering the losses after leaving home for Erie. 'But I'm playing the sport I love and I just want to be a good person.'
Article content
Central Scouting deemed this not a deep draft, but rich in good all-round character players such as Schaefer and Misa. The latter won league academic recognition.
Article content
'My parents reinforced that school is important,' Misa said. 'It can't be hockey, hockey, hockey all the time, you have to have life outside of that. In future, when you're talking to people, you don't want to sound dumb.
Article content
'I like math, I took a kinesiology course, did an accounting class. I'd think I'd like to stay involved in the game as a coach or a GM.'
Article content
In other awards handed out Friday, Gavin McKenna, a 2026 draft prospect from Whitehorse, Yukon, was named the David Branch player of the year, the third youngest recipient after Tavares and Sidney Crosby. The Medicine Hat Tiger racked up 129 points in 56 games, including a 40-game streak.
Article content
Memorial Cup winning London Knight Sam Dickinson, who could be Misa or Schaefer's teammate on the Sharks, was named defenceman of the year. Goaltender of the year was Jackson Parsons of the Kitchener Rangers and coach of the year, Gardiner MacDougall of the QMJHL's Moncton Wildcats, had his club in the Cup final his first year after an outstanding career coaching the University of New Brunswick.
Article content
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
Nunavut bodybuilder winning medals and hoping to lift Inuit in the process
Social Sharing Diane Marin has always been determined. From a young age, the Inuk competed in sports in high school and university before finding bodybuilding in her late twenties. "I've always had such a passion for health and fitness, especially weightlifting," Marin said. Marin, 31, was raised in Rankin Inlet and Yellowknife before moving to Alberta for school. She has a bachelor's degree in kinesiology and now is studying massage therapy. She said she found bodybuilding a couple of years ago "and fell in love with it." Preparing for a bodybuilding competition takes anywhere from 16 to 20 weeks, Marin said. That means weighing and measuring all of her food, making sure she's doing a certain amount of cardio everyday, along with specific workouts. It also means no cheat meals — Marin says she went 16 weeks without one during this last competition. "It's almost like a job," she said. She competed in Red Deer, Alta. at the end of May, coming in third in the bikini category of the competition. "I really tested myself and improved a lot," she said. 'I love pushing myself' Even in her off season the rest of the year, Marin doesn't slow down. She's still training and eating well before she throws herself into another multi-month preparation phase. "I love it. It takes a lot of discipline and determination," she said. "I love challenging myself, I love pushing myself." "I find it very satisfying when I'm capable of hitting every check mark in a book of what I need to do every day, day after day for 16 weeks." Marin's mom and her best friend also flew in to watch her compete. Both sat in the front row. Marin's mother, Rachel Aliyak, wipes away tears as she talks about her daughter. "I'm very proud of her. She's really good. I wish you could all see her," Aliyak said. She said her daughter has always been focused. "Diane was very determined. She was very helpful," Aliyak said. She said she watched in awe over the last few months as her daughter followed a strict diet and training regimen. "It was hard to say 'oh, I'm going for a large plate of fries or a pizza,'" Aliyak said. This was also her first time watching the competition in-person. "There's a lot of muscle. A lot of muscular people in one room," she said. "You can't be shy to do this kind of event … but it also shows how much work these athletes put into it." Marin said she hopes other young Inuit get excited about working out and living a healthy lifestyle. "Just try your best, have fun doing it. Work out, get moving and enjoy what you do," Marin said. "Only good things come from health and fitness. You feel better, you have better days." Marin said she's seen few Indigenous athletes compete in bodybuilding, let alone Inuit. "I don't know any Inuit other than me who's a bodybuilder," she said. "With these Inuit genetics, you can build muscle really quick. We're pretty strong." And for her post-competition meal?
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
What happens when athletes' dreams of going pro are crushed? Filmmaker studying UVic team aims to find out
Raymond Dimmitt arrived in B.C. in 2019 with big dreams. Having just turned 18, he'd moved away from the United Arab Emirates, where he grew up, to Vancouver Island. He was poised to study at the University of Victoria, an eager freshman with a history of playing high level basketball back home. He planned to play for the University of Victoria's men's basketball team, where he figured he'd train and prepare for a career with the national team in Thailand, where he was born. But Dimmitt said he was "quickly humbled" when he didn't make the team. "It was a very eye-opening experience to realize how much better the level of basketball is here in Canada," he said. "It was hard for me that I had to go back to the drawing board and figure out what I'm going to do with my life." Now, five years later, with a degree in philosophy and environmental studies and some film directing credits on his resume, Dimmitts is using his lived experience to make a documentary about the fallout when athletes, in particular, find out life might not work out the way they'd planned. "My focus in school was philosophy, and I feel like now it's my chance to kind of tell the story that's not being told enough in this existential nature of what it means to be an athlete," he said. Dimmitt and a small film crew will follow the University of Victoria men's soccer team for the next two seasons, culminating in their journey to the U Sports Men's Soccer Championship in 2027, which the university is hosting. "Soccer especially, it is an incredibly challenging sport to make it professional," Dimmitt said. Dimmitt made it clear he doesn't want or expect the team to fail but, according to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), very few student athletes go on to professional sports careers. "I think some of them will have to grapple with this nature, that this reality may not be in the books for them, but also some will," he said. "But maybe in this process, if we succeed properly, we're able to exemplify how it's OK for the next generation of athletes to watch this and be feeling a little bit less worried about a future that doesn't involve sport." Coming to terms with that reality is completely normal, according to performance psychology consultant Roger Friesen. Friesen, who works with some of Canada's top athletes, including national teams qualifying for the Olympics, said how people react and come to terms with that feeling varies. "Disappointment and confusion is probably going to be a very real thing," he said from his home on B.C.'s Quadra Island. "Often people's identities are wrapped up in that dream." Universal experience It's something that can be applied to anything in life, Friesen said: sports, music, getting a certain job, having a family, living a certain way — life doesn't always work out the way we plan. Learning how to be "mentally robust" and manage change are important parts of what he does when working with athletes. Friesen said course correction is another area he focuses on. When one thing doesn't work out, such as athletics, for example, it's important to know what our other abilities and interests are to help us move forward, he said. It's that common experience of coming to terms with not succeeding in the way we had planned that Dimmitt hopes will get people watching the film and talking about it. "If this isn't the most relatable topic, I don't know what it is," he said. Dimmitt said he doesn't yet know when the film will be finished, but that he hopes people who view it feel seen. "If someone in the audience watching, whether an ex-athlete or an ex-musician who wanted to go pro or be very famous or whatever, if they're able to watch this documentary and feel a little bit more understood that a dream they once had was not able to fulfill itself, and that's OK, if you're seen through it, I'd be on top of the world."
CBC
4 hours ago
- CBC
Toronto muralist straddles 2 male-dominated industries in 1 weekend
Kirsten McCrea doesn't mind being the only woman in the room, but it does get old sometimes. That's why the opportunity to design the livery for a female race car driver in a series meant to accelerate the careers of women in motorsports is so exciting. "When I started out in murals and street art it was 16 years ago. It was very male-dominated," she said. The Toronto muralist designed the wrap for the car that 18-year-old British driver Alisha Palmowski will race in F1 Academy, which will compete in support of Formula 1 during the Canadian Grand Prix weekend in Montreal. F1 Academy was launched in 2023 as a female-only, single-seater racing series that is part of the ladder to Formula 1. All of the drivers are women and many of the team executives and mechanics are women, too. McCrea has been active as a muralist in Toronto for more than a decade. Her many works can be seen throughout the city: in underpasses in the Riverdale community, on downtown patios on King Street and even in Meta's main Canadian office hub. Working on unique surfaces is something she looks for in new projects. "This is the coolest canvas I've ever had an opportunity to be a part of and the fact that it's going to be in motion has been really incredible. I'm just happy to be a part of it," McCrea said. McCrea says her work in designing the look of this race car felt deeply personal. "I really wanted to create a design that would smash the stereotypes of what women can achieve in motorsports and put all eyes on Alisha," she said. "It's inspired by the Expo 67 logo because the race track in Montreal is right next to that site," McCrea said. "I just loved this logo and how it looks like a dandelion. I thought about dandelion seeds, how they spread out, totally unfettered, and they really represent ambition to me." Palmowski said McCrea did "an incredible job" in designing the race car's livery, adding she feels privileged to race it in front of the fans in Montreal. "It's a really bold design. Lots of bright, vibrant colours, which I absolutely love," she said. Breaking barriers in art and motorsport McCrea and Palmowski have both broken barriers in male-dominated industries. While women are more accepted in motorsport now, Palmowski has faced her share of ups and downs. "Rising through the ranks being a female within the male-dominated sport of motorsport has been difficult," she said. "It's got its challenges, but I think F1 Academy has really changed the landscape of motorsport. I think it's doing an amazing job at inspiring the next generation." Palmowski's financial backers are breaking their own kind of barriers, too. 1Password, a Toronto-based cybersecurity company, sponsors Palmowski. Its chief operating officer is a woman in another male-dominated industry. "When we think of 15 years ago, when you think about motorsport, when you think about artists, when you think about cybersecurity, you don't think it's women-dominated." said Jeannie De Guzman, COO of 1Password. "It's a testament to show the progress we've made." Palmowski is part of the Red Bull Academy, a talent pipeline that has produced drivers such as four-time Formula 1 champions Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel. She's one of only a handful of women who have ever belonged to the program, bringing a sense of pressure and privilege. "Nobody wants me to succeed more than me. If anything it just gives me more motivation and more determination to put the hard work in behind the scenes," Palmowski said. She has already won once this year and sits fourth in the points standings. Palmowski hopes she can win again in Montreal in one of the series' three races this weekend and stand on the top step of the podium, this time with McCrea's special livery.
