5 days until the Barrie Colts Home Opener! (Aaron Ekblad) #OHL

There are 5 days until the Barrie Colts home opener!

Aaron Ekblad wore 5 with the Barrie Colts over 3 seasons. He was just the second player in OHL season to be granted exceptional status. He would then go on to be drafted by the Barrie Colts at the 2011 OHL Priority Selection Draft.

Ekblad mad his OHL debut with the Colts in the 2011-12 season. He would finish the year off with 10 goals and 19 assists in 63 games played. 2013-14 would be his final season with the team. After being named team captain that season, Aaron would put up a career high 23 goals and 30 assists.

After 175 OHL games, the Windsor, ON native would total 40 goals and 76 assists. Here are some achievements over his OHL career.

• In 2011 he won the Jack Ferguson Award which is awarded to the OHL's Priority Selection Draft Top Pick of that year. Eric Lindros, John Tavares, Steven Stamkos and Connor McDavid are a few other names you recognize who have also won this award.

• In the 2011-12 OHL Season he won the Emms Family Award which is awarded to the OHL Rookie of the Year. Other winners of this award that you may have heard of are Wayne Gretzky, Mike Gartner, Rick Nash, Bryan Little (With the Colts), Patrick Kane and Connor McDavid.

• In 2013 he helped Team Canada win their 18th Gold medal at the U-18 World Junior Tournament. In his 5 games played he contributed 2 goals and 2 assists. 

• In 2013-14 he won the Max Kaminsky Trophy which is awarded to the OHL's Top Defenceman. Drew Doughty, Marc Staal and Chris Pronger are also past winners of this award.

He would go on to get drafted 1st overall by the Florida Panthers at the 2014 NHL Draft. He has since played in 227 NHL games. Through 3 seasons, Ekblad has 37 goals and 59 assists for a total of 96 points. He was named an alternate captain of the Panthers in the 2016-17 season. The team signed him to an extension in 2016 which sees him making an average of $7,500,000 million a year.

Here is his complete list of highlights per eliteprospects.com.

2008-2009	Alliance Hockey Peewee AAA Champion
	OHF Peewee AAA Bronze Medal
	OHF Peewee AAA Championship Top Defenceman
2009-2010	Alliance Hockey Bantam AAA Champion
	OHF Bantam AAA Championship Top Defenceman
2010-2011	NHLPA AllState All-Canadian Mentorship
2011-2012	OHL First All-Rookie Team
	OHL Rookie of the Year (Emms Family Award)
	U17 WHC Bronze Medal
2013-2014	Hlinka Memorial Gold Medal
	OHL CHL Subway Series
	OHL First All-Star Team
	OHL Most Goals by Defenseman (23)
	OHL Most Outstanding Defenseman (Max Kaminsky Trophy)
2014-2015	NHL All-Rookie Team
	NHL All-Star Game
	NHL Rookie of the Year (Calder Trophy)
	World Championship Gold Medal
	World Championship Most Goals by Defenseman (4)
2015-2016	NHL All-Star Game

The Barrie Colts home opener is Thursday, September 21st when the host the Ottawa 67's.

Here is some of our photoshops of Ekblad we have done over the years.