Inside the OHL: At 16, Calum Ritchie is the Oshawa General you can’t take your eyes off

Cheers greeted Calum Ritchie in the bowels of Oshawa’s Tribute Communities Centre last Sunday. The 16-year-old had scored two goals in the Generals’ 6-3 win over Peterborough, capping a seven-point week that would earn him OHL player of the week honours, and he had a gauntlet of handshakes, fist bumps and shoulder taps from teammates to navigate.

The second overall pick in this year’s OHL draft is two weeks into his junior career, but he is being treated like a veteran. “(Since) my first day here, I’ve felt like I’ve played with them for four years,” Ritchie said. “The chemistry is close and it’s a great group of guys.”

Ritchie is the centre on the Generals’ top line and, with 10 points in seven games, is second to captain Tyler Tullio in team scoring. Eyes are drawn to Ritchie when he is on the ice. His skating is smooth, he handles the puck with ease, he sees the ice well and, as he showed with a third-period power-play goal against the Petes, he has a blazing wrist shot. His down-on-one-knee, fist-pump celebration left the Oshawa crowd buzzing.

Ritchie holds his own in the defensive zone, too. He isn’t afraid to battle along the boards to retrieve the puck. It’s why the Generals have given him the responsibility of centring the top line early in the season.

“The confidence is high,” Ritchie said. “It comes with a lot of repetition and practice.”

Ritchie has been eating and breathing hockey since he started watching the practices of his brother, Ethan, now 19 and a defenceman with the Kingston Frontenacs. The garage door at the family’s home is peppered with puck marks. Calum followed in his brother’s footsteps, joining the Oakville Rangers, one of the most successful minor hockey programs in Ontario.

Gord Hynes, who coached him as a 14- and 15-year-old, isn’t surprised by Ritchie’s start.

“It’s really hard at first as a 16-year-old (in the OHL),” Hynes said. “But if there was going to be a kid who I coached that was going to be impactful at 16, it would’ve been Calum.”

Much of it comes from a tireless work ethic and a desire to be on the ice all the time. Ritchie may not be the loudest player in the room, but he performs. During a 2019-20 season shortened by the pandemic, he had 20 goals in 30 games. The Rangers often don’t name a captain, given the plethora of talent in their lineup, but the under-16 players unanimously named Ritchie captain last season.

“He was the kid guys gravitated towards,” Hynes said. “He recognized players who played well, particularly those down the lineup. He was the leader of the group.”

There were no games to be played last year, but that didn’t stop teams from practising and training and competing in mock games. Ritchie skated alongside players who have joined him in the OHL, such as Mississauga’s Luke Misa, Peterborough’s Nick Lardis and North Bay’s Owen Outwater.

“Calum had a great development year,” Hynes said. “He was able to get in the gym more, focus on individual skill development. Those highly competitive practices served him well going into this year.”

When the draft excitement subsided, Ritchie turned his attention to the off-season and working on his strength and speed. His regimen included training five days a week at the Limitless Training Systems gym in Oakville. He skated with Josh Wrobel, a skills coach with the Generals. And Oshawa head coach Todd Miller says Ritchie arrived ready to play and dedicated to getting better. Miller compares him to Winnipeg Jets forward Mark Scheifele.

“He’s got it ingrained in him to be a National Hockey League player and he’s done everything in his power to succeed,” Miller said. “Every day, you see something and you go, ‘Wow.’ He’s one of those special players.”