Former OHL first overall pick Ethan Belchetz will head over to the NCAA next season.
As the Windsor Spitfires season has come to an end following their run to the Western conference final, we've seen overagers such as Joey Costanzo and Alex Pharand commit to NCAA schools for next season as they've aged out of junior hockey.
Now, though, there's a bigger and younger name that's heading stateside. Ethan Belchetz, the first overall pick in the 2024 OHL draft, will be heading to play at Michigan State University, he announced on his socials.
Belchetz, 18, had 59 (34+25) points in 57 games in his NHL draft year, which was cut short due to a collarbone injury that forced him to miss the end of the regular season and the entirety of Windsor's playoff run.
Ethan Belchetz with the Windsor Spitfires. (Photo: Terry Wilson/OHL Images)While the 6-foot-5, 227-pound winger didn't explicitly state he'd be leaving the team this fall, it seems by far the likeliest scenario is Belchetz lining up with MSU starting in September.
He's expected to go at the beginning of the first round of this summer's NHL draft, with most projections having him hover somewhere between the 8th to 15th overall pick range depending on where you look.
The Oakville native came through the Oakville Rangers youth system, dominating opposition with his pure size and skill, which led the Spitfires to taking him first overall in 2024.
Belchetz's rookie year was a bit up and down, with him needing to adapt to the pace and ability of major junior, but he still had 17 goals and 21 assists in 56 games in his 16-year-old season, as well as attending the U17 worlds, winning gold with Canada White.
He exploded to start his sophomore year, and was hovering around the top of the league goal scoring table for a while. He slowed down a bit before his injury cut the rest of his draft year short.
Now, he'll likely join a Spartans team that looks like they're loading up for next season, taking a very similar pathway to what Porter Martone has done, as another big and highly-touted winger.
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