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Akil Thomas taken in first round by Niagara IceDogs in OHL draft

09 Saturday Apr 2016

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Akil Thomas, Josh Ho-Sang, New York Islanders, Niagara IceDogs, Toronto Marlies

Akil Thomas has gone to the dogs – the Niagara IceDogs.

The 16-year-old forward for the minor midget Toronto Marlboros was chosen by the major junior hockey IceDogs in the first round with the 12th overall pick in Saturday’s Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection draft.

“It’s the best day of my life right now,” Akil told me Saturday. “It’s a great team that’s doing well this year. They have a lot of guys leaving so it will give me a good opportunity to step in and get some ice time and play for a great organization.”

Akil, a Brandon, Florida, native, tallied 33 goals and 39 assists in 56 games for the Marlies in the 2015-16 season. He helped power the Marlies to the finals of the OHL Cup Showcase tournament last month.

The team lost to the York-Simcoe Express 2-1 in double-overtime. But Akil led the tournament in scoring with 6 goals and 7 assists in seven games and was named to the Gatorade OHL Cup All-Star Team.

“We’re excited to get him,  IceDogs General Manager/Head Coach Marty Williamson told The St. Catharines Standard. “We really had him going in front of us. He was a pretty easy pick for us sitting there at 12… I really liked him. I thought in the OHL Cup he really put his team on his back.”

Niagara IceDogs on Instagram: “Welcome to the Niagara IceDogs Akil Thomas! #OHLDraft” https://t.co/O4GPVT8jnB pic.twitter.com/y8nnJmIiG6

— Niagara Falls NY (@NiagaraFallsrr) April 9, 2016

Still, Akil was surprised that he was drafted so high because he’s also weighing offers to play NCAA Division I hockey. Several schools, including Arizona State University, the University of New Hampshire, Boston University, Penn State University, University of Michigan, and the University of Maine have inquired about him, his family said.

Both the NCAA college hockey and major junior hockey routes are high-profile stepping stones to reaching the National Hockey League, Akil’s ultimate goal.

“I hadn’t made up my mind whether I was going to go NCAA or OHL and usually teams want to know 100 percent if they’re going to take a first-rounder,” Akil told me.

Congrats to Akil Thomas of @GTHLHockey @TorontoMarlboro selected 12th overall by @OHLIceDogs in 2016 #OHLDraft pic.twitter.com/fDmryd7I7k

— OntarioHockeyLeague (@OHLHockey) April 9, 2016

The IceDogs began heavily wooing Akil Saturday. The young forward and his family met with Williamson and some of the team’s players, including forward Josh Ho-Sang, a New York Islanders 2014  first-round draft pick. The team even gave Akil some of Ho-Sang’s sticks.

IceDogs' Josh Ho-Sang, a N.Y. Islanders draft pick, met Akil Thomas after OHL draft.

IceDogs’ Josh Ho-Sang, a N.Y. Islanders draft pick, met Akil Thomas after OHL draft.

Ho-Sang, 20, is in his final season with the IceDogs. Depending on how he does in training camp in September, he could wind up in Brooklyn with the Islanders or skating for the team’s American Hockey League farm team, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in the 2016-17 season.

“Our whole family met with him today,” Akil said of Ho-Sang, who also played minor midget hockey for the Marlies. “It was cool that I got to meet him. It’s kind of cool that maybe I could fill his shoes someday, if I were to play for the IceDogs.”

The IceDogs also drafted Akil’s best friend and Marlies teammate, defenseman Pierre-Luc Cote Forget, in the ninth round.

Akil comes from solid hockey stock. His father, Kahlil Thomas, was a right wing who played in 828 pro games for 13 teams in nine leagues in three countries from 1996 to 2008.

Thomas and his wife, Akilah, own the Oshawa RiverKings of the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League. Akil’s uncle, Leo Thomas, is a forward who split time this season between the Mississippi RiverKings of the Southern Professional Hockey League and the ECHL’s Fort Wayne Komets.

 

 

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With OHL draft ahead, Akil Thomas looks to continue family’s hockey tradtion

08 Friday Apr 2016

Posted by William Douglas in Uncategorized

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Akil Thomas, Fort Wayne Komets, Kahlil Thomas, Mississippi RiverKings, Ontario Hockey League, Toronto Marlies

Akil Thomas attended a different type of day care when he was little.

“At 2-3 years old, Akil used to come with me to every practice almost every day,” Kahlil Thomas, a retired minor league hockey player told me recently. “He was too young to go to a day care center. Our trainer didn’t mind when he came because he would just sit there for the whole hour and a half, except to go to the wash room, and watch practice up and down. That was his day care.”

When the Memphis RiverKings practices were over, young Akil would get on the ice and have practice sessions with his dad.

“I really don’t get enough of hockey,” Akil, now 16, told me. “You’ll see me after practice in my driveway, stick handling or something. My mind shifts to hockey 24/7.”

Saturday, Akil’s attention will shift to the Ontario Hockey League’s Priority Selection draft, where the high-scoring forward is projected to be a top pick.

Leagues like the 20-team OHL, Western Hockey League and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League are where young players with NHL aspirations want to go to hone their skills and be seen by pro scouts.

Then there’s also the NCAA Division I college route, taken by NHLers like Jack Eichel, the Buffalo Sabres rookie forward, and Toronto Maple Leafs wing James van Riemsdyk. Several schools, including Arizona State University, the University of New Hampshire, Boston University, Penn State University, University of Michigan, and the University of Maine have inquired about Akil, his family said.

 

Akil Thomas of the Toronto Marlies hopes to make his way up the hockey ladder and be drafted by an Ontario Hockey League team. (Photo/Aaron Bell/OHL Images).

Akil Thomas of the Toronto Marlies hopes to make his way up the hockey ladder and be drafted by an Ontario Hockey League team. (Photo/Aaron Bell/OHL Images).

His stock has risen since his performance in last month’s OHL Cup Showcase tournament. He helped lead the minor midget hockey Toronto Marlboros to the finals against the York-Simcoe Express.

The Marlies lost the championship game 2-1 in double-overtime. But Akil led the tournament in scoring with 6 goals and 7 assists in seven games and was named  to the Gatorade OHL Cup All-Star Team.

He posted 33 goals and 39 assists in 56 games last season for the Marlies.

 

Congrats to 2016 #Gatorade #OHLCup All-Star Team:
F: Antropov, Holmes, Thomas
D: MacPherson, Chisholm
G: Berezinskiy pic.twitter.com/cn3oS8RIrd

— OntarioHockeyLeague (@OHLHockey) March 22, 2016

“Akil, at his age, is a much better player than I was at his age,” said  Kahlil, a right wing who played 828 games for 13 teams in nine leagues in three countries from 1996 to 2008. “He’s definitely going to go far. He definitely had more skill than I ever had.”

Akil says he’s patterned his game after his father’s, except that dad helped “make me a bit better than him.”

“I gave him pointers here and there, but I stress hard work more than anything,” Kahlil  said. “Hard work can trump any politics in front of you any day – whether it’s the color of your skin, the politics with who knows who, who’s the sons of this or that.”

Akil Thomas' family moved from Florida to Toronto to expose him to tougher competition (Photo/ Aaron Bell/OHL Images).

Akil Thomas’ family moved from Florida to Toronto to expose him to tougher competition (Photo/ Aaron Bell/OHL Images).

Akil began playing organized hockey in the United States. Scouts began noticing him after he helped lead a Florida AAA youth hockey team to a championship in Philadelphia in 2008 when he was eight years old.

As his game improved, Akil and his family faced a dilemma that most talented hockey players in Florida confront – whether to stay in the Sunshine State and be a big fish in a small frozen pond or relocate to where there’s a larger pool of competitive players to push you.

Hockey is the Thomas family passion - and business. Bottom left to right, Kahlia Rae, 19; Akyn Zion, 8; Kayah Sol, 10; Akil, 16. Top row, mother Akliah; Kayjah, 5; father Kahlil.

Hockey is the Thomas family passion – and business. Bottom left to right, Kahlia Rae, 19; Akyn Zion, 8; Kayah Sol, 10; Akil, 16. Top row, mother Akliah; Kayjah, 5; father Kahlil.

In 2011, the family packed their bags for Toronto – where Kahlil  grew up – so Akil could play prep school hockey at Upper Canada College. This season, he skated for St. Michael’s College School and the Marlies.

“The toughest decision of my life,”  recalled mother Akilah Thomas, who grew up in Silver Spring, Md.,and accompanied her husband on his hockey sojourn. “I’m such an American and we lived in the South. We moved from the sunshine to the snow.”

“The first year was extremely hard, but everything fell into place,” she continued. “I finally gave up thinking ‘Florida, Florida, Florida’ and just gave it my all and adjusted my mindset. This is where we need to be now – so suck it up, mamma!”

Kahlil  doesn’t remember the decision to move being that difficult because “we were coming home to family, to a city that we knew.”

However, he confesses that “now I want to go back.”

“I miss Florida,” he said.

But Florida will have to wait. There’s just too much hockey going on. To say the Thomas household is a hockey household is an understatement. In addition to Kahlil’s hockey exploits and Akil’s budding career, Leo Thomas – Kahlil’s brother and Akil’s uncle – is wrapping up his playing career, splitting time this season between the Southern Professional Hockey League’s Mississippi RiverKings and the ECHL’s Fort Wayne Komets.

Forward Leo Thomas, Akil Thomas' uncle, split the 2015-16 hockey season between the SPHL's Mississippi RiverKings and...

Forward Leo Thomas, Akil Thomas’ uncle, split the 2015-16 hockey season between the SPHL’s Mississippi RiverKings and…

the Fort Wayne Komets of the ECHL. This is Thomas' 14th, and possibly, final season.

the Fort Wayne Komets of the ECHL. This is Thomas’ 14th, and possibly, final season.

“To go out on top, to win a championship would be the ultimate goal,” Leo told me. “Afterward, I would love to get into some coaching, definitely do something in hockey. I’ve been playing this game since I was four years old. All us Thomas guys are lifers.”

Maybe he can work with his brother. Kahlil and Akilah became hockey team owners last year when they purchased the Oshawa RiverKings of the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League with close friend and former hockey player Dave Nicholls.

Kahlil is general manager and head coach for the franchise. Akilah is the team’s sales and marketing manager.

“I just want to help kids who are late-developers or are overlooked” by major junior teams and college hockey programs, he told me.

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