March 20, 2024, Mississauga, ON – …. The Ontario Junior Hockey League today announced its First and Second Prospect Team members for the 2023-24 season.
Eligible players were born in 2006 or 2007.
First Team Prospect:
Forward – Jonathan Morello (St. Michael’s Buzzers)
Morello is a repeat honouree, having been named to the OJHL’s Second Prospect Team a year ago. Committed to NCAA Division I Clarkson for 2025, Morello tallied 57 points (25 goals/32 assists) in 50 games. Seven of his goals were game-winners. He was the top-ranked OJHL player in National Hockey League Central Scouting’s mid-term rankings for the 2024 NHL Draft. Morello was a member of Team Canada East that won silver at the World Junior A Challenge in December. He signed with the Buzzers out of the Toronto Red Wings U16 squad in the GTHL. A perennial honour roll student since entering St. Michael’s College School in Grade 7, Morello had an average of over 90 per cent in three of his first four years at the school.
Forward – Matthew Manza (Toronto Patriots)
Manza committed to NCAA Division I Ohio State for 2025 in September. Manza, who turned 16 on Sept. 22, joined the Patriots this season from his hometown Mississauga Senators U16 team. The youngest player on the Patriots’ roster, Manza led the team in points. He was a point-a-game guy (49 in 49). Six of his 26 goals were game-winners. Manza was a ninth-round pick of the Kingston Frontenacs in the Ontario Hockey League’s 2023 U16 draft.
Forward – Kieran Litterick (Pickering Panthers)
Litterick broke out big time during his first year at the junior level, netting 47 points (25 goals/22 assists) during 56 games in Pickering. He was named the Panthers’ most valuable player. “Scoring, hat tricks, and leadership sums up Kieran Litterick as a Pickering Panthers,” the team said in his MVP post. The 6-foot-2 Whitby product played U18 in 2022-23 for the Toronto Jr. Canadiens and U14 and U16 for the Don Mills Flyers. He was a second-round pick of the Guelph Storm in the OHL’s 2023 U18 draft.
Defence – Hudson Gill (Brantford 99ers)
Gill played a big role for the resurgent 99ers this season. The 6-foot-2, right-shot blueliner scored five times and assisted on 29 goals as Brantford qualified for the playoffs during the final week of the season. After graduating from his hometown Burlington Eagles AAA program, Gill played for the Bishop Kearney Selects in Rochester, NY during the 2022-23 season. He was a seventh-round selection of the Guelph Storm in OHL’s 2022 U16 draft.
Defence – Andoni Fimis (Stouffville Spirit)
Fimis played a big role all season long on Stouffville’s injury-depleted blueline. He committed to NCAA Division I Vermont last fall. He had 12 goals and 31 assists in 55 games. Those 43 points were ninth best of all defencemen in the 24-team league. The 17-year-old from Richmond Hill is a graduate of the Toronto Jr. Canadiens AAA program. Fimis was taken by Kingston in the fifth round of the 2022 Ontario Hockey League U16 draft. Older brother Pano, 19, is a centre with Erie of the OHL.
Goal – Sebastian Gatto (Leamington Flyers)
Gatto was the only goaltender across the nine leagues of the Canadian Junior Hockey League to be ranked in National Hockey League Central Scouting’s mid-term rankings for the 2024 NHL Draft. He was a member of Team Canada East that won silver at the World Jr. A Challenge in December. His 2.23 goals-against average was third best amongst all OJHL goaltenders. Gatto went 17-9-2-2 with a save percentage of .928 in his rookie season of junior. He recorded four shutouts. The 18-year-old from Troy, Michigan played minor hockey in the Detroit Honeybaked organization.
Second Team Prospect:
Cameron Arquette (Leamington Flyers)
The 5-foot-8 forward from nearby Wheatley scored 15 goals and assisted on 28 more in 45 games in his, and Leamington’s, first year at the Jr. A level. He added four goals and three assists during the Flyers’ four-game sweep of Georgetown in the first round of the playoffs this month. The 16-year-old played 13 games this season with the Kitchener Rangers who selected him in the fourth round of the OHL’s 2023 U16 draft. He signed in Kitchener in November. Prior to Leamington, Arquette played much of his minor hockey with the Sun County Panthers organization. In 2022-23, he captained Sun County to their first OHL Cup berth since 2018.
Chris Soares (Toronto Jr. Canadiens)
The Milton resident got a taste of life in the OJHL as an affiliate playing with the Jr. Canadiens from JRC’s U18 team in 2022-23. He jumped right into full-time work this season netting 40 points (21 goals/19 assists) in 54 games. Soares, who turns 18 March 23, scored three game-winning goals. The graduate of the Halton Hurricanes AAA program was selected by Sarnia in the 11th round of the OHL’s 2022 U16 draft.
Forward – Luciano Bruno (Toronto Patriots)
Committed to NCAA Division I Clarkson, Bruno scored 15 goals and added 27 assists with the Patriots this season. The 17-year-old played five OJHL games with the Toronto Jr. Canadiens in 2022-23. The call-ups came during an outstanding 107-point (35 goals/72 assists) season with JRC’s AAA U18 team. The resident of Woodbridge was a 13th-round selection of Kingston in the 2022 OHL U16 draft. He also played in the Vaughan Kings and Don Mills Flyers AAA organizations.
Defence – Luka Graziano (Toronto Jr. Canadiens)
The defenceman from Toronto committed to Harvard out of the Jr. Canadiens organization last summer. The 16-year-old – he turns 17 on Oct. 24 – scored seven goals and assisted on 16 more during 50 games with JRC this season. He was a member of the Jr. Canadiens’ 2023 OHL Cup championship team. Graziano opened the scoring for JRC in the Championship Final and finished with three points, earning Player of the Game honours. He led all defenders in tournament scoring with eight points and was named to the Cup all-star team. He was a third-round pick of the Flint Firebirds in the 2023 OHL U16 draft.
Defence – Nolan Jackson (Stouffville Spirit)
The shifty blueliner from Innisfil was a second-round pick of the Sudbury Wolves, the Spirit’s Ontario Hockey League affiliate, from the Barrie Colts AAA program in the 2023 OHL U16 draft. He logged big minutes on the injury-riddled blueline in Stouffville this season, scoring six goals and assisting on 15 in 42 OJHL games. Jackson scored two game-winning goals. The 17-year-old also played six games with the Wolves. He is committed to Sudbury for next season.
Goal – Jack Lisson (Wellington Dukes)
Lisson, who turns 18 on March 31, went 17-10-0-3 while recording three shutouts in Wellington this season. He finished the regular season with a 2.55 goals-against average a .918 save percentage. The Oakville resident was named OJHL Warrior Goaltender of the Month for November. The graduate of the Ridley College and Oakville Rangers AAA programs was a 15th-round pick of the North Bay Battalion in the OHL’s 2022 U16 draft.
The OJHL is announcing its 2023-24 award winners throughout the first three rounds of the playoffs.
TOMORROW: All-Star Teams
About the OJHL – “League of Choice”
The Ontario Junior Hockey League is the largest Junior ‘A’ league operating under the auspices of the Canadian Junior Hockey League with 24 member clubs. A proud member of the Canadian Junior Hockey League and Ontario Hockey Association, the OJHL was originally named the Ontario Provincial Junior ‘A’ Hockey League and it was formed out of the Central Junior ‘B’ Hockey League in 1993-94. With a long and storied history of developing players for the next level, including U SPORTS, the NCAA, CHL, minor pro ranks and the NHL, the OJHL has had more than 45 NCAA Division I scholarships already this season.
For more information on the Ontario Junior Hockey League, follow us on Instagram (@OJHLOfficial), Twitter (@OJHLOfficial) and Facebook (OJHLOfficial).
