Owen Sound’s Colby Barlow awaits 2023 NHL Draft
OWEN SOUND, Ontario (BVM) — This season the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack handed the captain’s “C” to their sensation from last season: Colby Barlow. This made the 17-year-old native from Orillia, Ontario, and one of the top forwards eligible for the 2023 NHL Draft, the youngest captain that the Attack has ever had.
This is not the first sign of left-shot winger precocity and talent. Last season, he broke the team’s record for goals scored by a player in their first year of junior eligibility (30) and assisted 17 times in 59 games. Barlow, one of the 12 rookies on the team’s roster, did his best to keep the OS alive during the Western Conference quarterfinal against the Flint Firebirds (scoring five times and assisted once), but the Attack were eliminated in seven games.
Barlow’s effectiveness as the OS captain began to show in the preseason games: the squad won all four of its games against the Barrie Colts and the North Bay Batallion. He scored twice and assisted three times. The team’s 2022-2023 regular season schedule started on September 30th at Budweiser Gardens against the London Knights.
When he was still playing for the Toronto Malboro, OHL Director of Central Scouting Darrell Woodley said to the OHL press team about Barlow that he had been in the top five of his age group for years, considered him a threat on the ice and praised his physical maturity.
“He possesses one of the best snapshots and releases I’ve seen in a long time,” Woodley added.
His outstanding performance was rewarded last summer when he was invited to join Canada’s U18 team at the 2022 Hlinka Gretzky Cup. There he also showed his offensive power and helped Canada win its 23rd title. He found the net two times and assisted three times.
The 2023 NHL Draft will take place at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee in late June. In the meantime, Barlow will continue to focus on his ice commander duties.
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