It won’t qualify as a huge surprise, but Newfoundlander Zach Dean will play with the Gatineau Olympiques for the upcoming Quebec Major Junior Hockey League season.
The team made it official on its Twitter site.
Dean, a 16-year-old Mount Pearl native who played for the Toronto Nationals midget program last season, was the Olympiques’ first pick, fourth overall in the most recent QMJHL draft.
A centre, Dean had 36 goals and 89 points for the Nationals in 2018-19. He was also captain of Newfoundland and Labrador’s entry at the Canada Winter Games, where he had 15 points (2G, 13A) in seven games.
The year before, he and had been the leading scorer and MVP of the N.L. bantam AAA league while playing for the Tri-Com Thunder.
