Sea Dogs Draft D'Orio, Pare

SHERBROOKE, Que. – The Saint John Sea Dogs did something on Saturday that many fans have been asking for years: draft a high end goaltender in the first round.

With the ninth overall pick in Saturday’s 2015 QMJHL Entry Draft, the Sea Dogs selected netminder Alex D’Orio.

The 6’1”, 193 lbs D’Orio was ranked 13^th by QMJHL Central Scouting and eighth by HockeyProspect.com. He was considered the second best goaltender available in this year’s draft behind Dereck Baribeau who was taken fifth overall by the Val-d’Or Foreurs.

“He covers a lot of room in front of his net and moves well,” writes HockeyProspect.com. “His legs are powerful and he is fast to move in his crease. He has good rebound-control and plays well with traffic in front of him, as he challenges shooters and gets hit by a lot of pucks.”

Last season with Magog of the Quebec AAA ranks, he posted a 2.30 goals against average and a .916 save percentage in 23 games. He also played in three games with Team Quebec at the Canada Games.

Also of note, D’Orio catches with his right hand.

With the 10^th overall selection, the Sea Dogs went off the board and selected forward Cedric Pare (pictured).

The 6’1”, 190 lbs left winger was ranked 27^th by QMJHL Central Scouting and 29^th by HockeyProspect.com. It’ll be interesting to hear what Sea Dogs general manager Darrell Young says about this pick.

HockeyProspect.com writes that he “lacks some explosiveness” but improved his game quite a bit over the past season and should continue to progress.

“As the season progressed, he gained confidence and his responsibility with his team also increased,” the website writes. “He became more involved physically late in the season, doing good work along the boards in the offensive and defensive zones. He showed more fierceness after being hit, but still won his one-on-one battles.”

In 41 games with Levis last season, Pare had six goals and seven assists in 41 games.

Saint John also selected first overall in the draft, picking Joseph Veleno.

Pick-by-pick results from this year's draft can be seen here.