Next Stop For Deni Goure, The OHL Draft

With the Alliance AAA regular season complete, the clock is ticking toward this year’s OHL Draft, and for Grande Pointe’s Deni Goure, that means the clock is ticking until he hears his name called.

Goure is considered a first or second round prospect for the 2019 OHL Priority Selection Draft. Although all eyes were on the Chatham-Kent Cyclones Minor Midget ‘AAA’ captain this year, his focus remained on the ice.

“This year I worked on giving it my all every game, working on both the offensive and defensive zone. Doing my best to help my team win,” said Goure.

The third leading scorer in the Alliance with 22 goals and 53 points in 32 games, Goure definitely helped his team. In actuality, he factored into 54% of the Cyclones 98 goals this season.

The fact that Goure has powered his team to success has not been missed by scouts.

“What has been most impressive about Deni this year is how he has been able to carry his team. There aren’t many players who are so single handedly responsible for their team’s success the way he has been,” said Andrew Sykes, Director of Scouting for TheScout.ca, and head scout for the LaSalle Vipers.

“Knowing how vital he is, he brings a great effort every shift and is supremely confident in his ability to drag the puck to scoring areas through his quick hands and strength, and then find the back of the net with his quick release shot which is one of the best in the age group,” continued Sykes, whose TheScout.ca agency had Goure ranked 13th to open the season, and 18th in their most recent report.

The gifted offensive talent has also seen time with the GOJHL’s Chatham Maroons, scoring his first Junior B goal in his first career game back in November.

Although he has benefitted from his time with the Maroons, Goure has his sights set on playing in the OHL for whatever team drafts him as soon as he can.

“It would be an honour to play with any team and get a chance to play at the next level. It has always been a dream of mine,” he said of being selected in the OHL Draft. “If I do get drafted I hope to be able to help them win and bring my offensive skills to the team.”

For all young prospects out there, the OHL Draft, which is held the first weekend in April, is always stressful. Even ranked as high as he is, climbing as high as 13th on some draft boards, Goure, who attends Ecole Secondaire de Pain Court says he’ll still be feeling the nerves that day.

“I will definitely be nervous the day of the draft and be excited to see how it all ends up,” he said. “It will be fun watching all the boys get drafted that I have played with and against over the years.”

With playoffs underway, and the calendar continuing to count down, Deni Goure won’t have too much longer to wait.