Sting prospect Jonathan Kapageridis works hard for second OHL shot
Jonathan Kapageridis didn’t have his hopes up for a second shot at the Ontario Hockey League.
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Jonathan Kapageridis kept his expectations modest for a second shot at the Ontario Hockey League.
He was disappointed last year when his name wasn’t called in the OHL priority selection.
“It was a bit tough,” he said. “I kind of expected to go, but I didn’t.”
But he stayed positive and went to work. His efforts paid off last month when the Sarnia Sting made the 16-year-old defenceman the No. 2 pick in the OHL under-18 draft.
The six-foot Vaughan native was among 26 players on the ice Saturday at the Sting’s annual development camp at Pat Stapleton Arena.
“It was a great camp,” he said. “Love the organization. It’s a great place to be . . . It was good meeting the other guys on the team, too, so I enjoyed it.”
It was the first OHL camp for Kapageridis, who wasn’t invited to any last year as a free agent.
He had 12 points in 29 games this season with the Don Mills U18 AAA Flyers in the Greater Toronto Hockey League. After they were done, he was called up to the Cobourg Cougars for the Ontario Junior Hockey League playoffs.
“It was a bounceback year for me,” he said. “I went somewhere like Don Mills, where I can build my confidence back up, and . . . got the opportunity with Cobourg to jump in there for the playoffs. That was a great experience as well.”
Kapageridis turned heads in the OJHL. He tied for the playoff scoring lead among defencemen with 14 points — as many points as the second-, third- and fourth-leading rookie blue-liners combined — in 17 games before the Cougars were ousted in a conference final.
“It was definitely an adjustment (to) a much faster game, but I think that’s more my game,” he said. “Guys in the right spots, moving the puck quicker. It was a great time and the guys were really welcoming. It was a bit of an adjustment, but after the first couple games, I kind of got the gist of it.”
The busy spring schedule left him little time to think about the U18 draft.
“After the Cobourg playoffs, everything just kind of came super quick,” he said. “Honestly, just put my head down and worked hard. I wasn’t trying to expect anything because last year . . . (I) expected and didn’t get.”
He’s keeping his options open for next season.
“OHL has always been a dream of mine, so it’d be great getting the opportunity to play here, but just right now I’m kind of weighing out everything. Everything came so fast,” he said with a laugh.
The Sting’s two-day camp included their year-end banquet Friday, where Kapageridis got to see some former teammates.
He went to the 2022 OHL Cup as a call-up on a Markham U16 AAA Majors team with Sting forward Carson Hall. And he played at the 2023 OHL Cup with Sting forward Carter Kostuch on the Vaughan U16 AAA Kings.
The latter team included affiliate player Alessandro Di Iorio, who went No. 2 in this year’s draft to the Sting.
“He was called up on Vaughan with us last year,” Kapageridis said. “He’s a great kid.”
The Sting have inked four players from the U18 draft over the years. No OHL team has signed more.
“It’s good to look up to, I guess, knowing that other guys have been here as well,” Kapageridis said.
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