Captain Zavitz hopes for OHL shot
One scouting website was clearly high on the abilities of Niagara North Stars forward Keaton Zavitz.
It stated there were 42 concrete reasons why Zavitz would be ranked higher than anyone expected when the 2020 Ontario Priority Selection ranking lists came out.
Hockeyprospects.com said Zavitz “plays hard-nosed hockey, especially for his size. He has a good first step, skates well and does not back down from bigger opponents.”
Niagara North head coach Matt Miller loved what his team captain brought to the ice every night.
“He is the ultimate leader, he has high character, high-end work ethic and has an Alex Ovechkin-like shot,” he said. “The kid can shoot the puck and he is a right-handed shot.”
But the Grade 10 at Sir Winston Churchill picked the worst possible time to struggle with his scoring. He finished his draft year season with 15 goals and 30 points in 65 games for Niagara North.
“He didn’t have the offensive production that we and he were hoping for but he is absolute workhorse and a gamer,” Miller said.
For the 5-foot-8, 160 pounder, it was a series of unfortunate scoring events.
“I had bad puck luck this year,” he said.
But rather than dwell on that and press even harder, Zavitz looked to contribute in other areas.
“You have to change your style,” the 16-year-old said. “Scoring a goal wasn’t my role any more and I had to change it, be the hardest-working guy on the ice and get it to guys who are going to put it into the net.”
He was more than happy to do whatever he could for his team.
“I enjoy every role that I play.”
As team captain, leadership was a major part of Zavitz’s role with Niagara North.
“When you get the honour of being the captain of a team, you have to make a statement,” he said. “You bring the guys together and make them a good group of guys and people who want to go to the arena every day to see each other, not get sick of each other and want to play together and do some damage on the ice.”
His biggest improvement this year was being more in control of his emotions.
“It was being disciplined and taking more than I wanted to give.”
Zavitz, the son of Falcons great Todd Zavitz, wasn’t on anyone’s radar when he started playing hockey at age five. He worked his way to the AAA level from A and has been playing at the AAA level for the past five or six years.
“When I was younger, I don’t think the thought ever came to mind about playing in the OHL because I just kept getting cut and cut,” he said. “After the first couple of games in my first year of triple A, the thought came to mind that it was something that I wanted to do.”
He is interested to see if any OHL club will give him a chance to show what he can do.
“I think there is always a chance and it only takes one team to take a chance on you,” he said. “I don’t know but I am excited to see what happens.”
If he gets drafted by an OHL club, he would attend camp and then see what happens.
Zavitz is the younger brother of Carter Zavitz, one the top junior A lacrosse players in the country with the St. Catharines Athletics and a standout field lacrosse player at Princeton. Keaton is also not too shabby in his own right. In 2018, he was a first team all-star and most valuable player as the St. Catharines Athletics captured the bantam A provincial championship. Last year, he was co-captain of Team Ontario that won gold at the U15 National Field Lacrosse Championships in Kelowna, B.C.
Lacrosse has been a big boon to his hockey career.
“Playing lacrosse totally sets you up for the contact in hockey,” he said. “Growing up taking a couple of whacks every lacrosse game and a couple of hits to the head, it all works out for playing hockey.”
For more on the draft see links below:
Wyatt Gibson profile at https://www.bpsportsniagara.com/better-late-than-never/
Ethan Whitcomb profile at https://www.bpsportsniagara.com/clutch-player-eyes-ohl-draft/
Connor Thomson-Dick profile at https://www.bpsportsniagara.com/commitment-to-hockey-pays-off/
Derek Smythe profile at https://www.bpsportsniagara.com/smythe-content-to-stay-home/
Trent Swick profile at https://www.bpsportsniagara.com/hard-work-pays-off-for-swick/
Jacob LeBlanc profile at https://www.bpsportsniagara.com/leblanc-brothers-sticking-together/
Andrew LeBlanc profile at https://www.bpsportsniagara.com/the-centre-of-attention/
Tai York profile at https://www.bpsportsniagara.com/york-hoping-to-fulfill-ohl-dream/
Sam Alfano profile at https://www.bpsportsniagara.com/alfano-anxious-for-ohl-draft/
Nathan Duplessis profile at https://www.bpsportsniagara.com/late-bloomer-chases-ohl-dream/
Niagara IceDogs draft preview at https://www.bpsportsniagara.com/icedogs-looking-for-impact-players-at-draft/
