A trio of Niagara IceDogs were named in NHL Central Scouting's preliminary rankings for the 2011 NHL Entry Draft which were released today.

Defenceman Dougie Hamilton was the top ranked OHL defenceman, 3rd overall among OHL skaters, while centre Ryan Strome was the top ranked centre in the OHL, 4th overall among OHL skaters.  Goaltender John Chartrand was also ranked, coming in as the 6th ranked OHL draft eligible goaltender, tops among Eastern Conference goaltenders.

The top six ranked OHL skaters interestingly come from only three teams, with the Niagara players being joined by a pair of Kitchener Rangers and a pair of Saginaw Spirit.

The rankings for Hamilton, Strome and Chartrand all show the progress that the three players have made in their time in the OHL, with the rankings for all three players being significantly higher than their draft position in the 2009 OHL Priority Selection.

Strome was the first of the three to go in that draft, being selected in the first round, eighth overall by the Colts and is now behind only Dougie Hamilton among 1993 born OHL players in the rankings.  While highly thought of going into the season, a great start to the season which has seen the Strome pick up 33 points in only 21 games, including a couple of amazing highlight reel goals.  The 33 points in his 21 games are already 6 points more than he had in 61 games in his rookie season.

Hamilton on the other hand has seen his draft stock skyrocket even more, after being a second round selection, 27th overall in the 2009 OHL draft and now finding himself as the OHL's top ranked 1993 born 2011 NHL draft prospect, behind only 1992 born forwards Gabriel Landeskog and Brandon Saad.  The solid two way defenceman had an amazing rookie season posting 16 points in 64 games, playing in all situations and has been even better so far in his draft year.  The sophomore defenceman already has two goals and 11 assists for 13 points in only 20 games and is also a fantastic +13 so far on the season.

Finally goaltender John Chartrand has also seen his stock climb after being the ninth goalie selected in the 2009 OHL Priority Selection.  Chartrand is the second youngest goaltender to make the OHL goaltender rankings and is fourth among those 1993 born goalies that made the rankings.  Chartrand has seen his stock rise this year as he put in a solid performance earlier this year in the absence of injured starter Mark Visentin, with Chartrand winning five straight at one point to prove that he is a more than capable backup.

These rankings are an early indication of scouts thoughts on 2011 NHL Draft eligible players and while it is still far too early to tell for sure, it appears as though there will definitely be some IceDogs who will hear their name come June in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The entire IceDogs organization would like to congratulate all three players on their ranking and look forward to hopefully seeing them up on stage come June in Minnesota!