Brandon Montour didn’t get discouraged when he wasn’t drafted in 2012, the year he turned 18 and was playing for Brantford of the Junior B-level Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League.
“You watch it growing up and you have this wish, but at that point I don’t think too many people were watching me at all,” said Montour, who was passed over again the next season when he played in the tiny town of Caledonia. “I wasn’t expecting to get drafted.”
He began to attract attention while playing for Waterloo (Iowa) of the amateur U.S. Hockey League and was chosen by the Ducks 55th overall in the 2014 NHL draft.