The Renfrew Wolves made shoring up their defense a priority at Tuesday night’s CCHL draft.
Renfrew used their first two picks, meant to protect local players born in 2010, to claim defenceman Christian Gimpoli and goaltender Marcus Smolcic.
Gimpoli, a mobile, puck-moving defenceman, broke onto the Ottawa Jr. 67s U16 AAA roster in 2025/26 and tallied 16 points (4 goals, 12 assists) in a combined 43 games between the regular season and playoffs.
Meanwhile, Smolcic fills a need at the goaltender position following the Wolves losing Kale Osipenko to the OHL’s Sarnia Sting. He posted a 2.37 goals-against average in 17 regular-season games and a solid 3.02 mark in 6 postseason games for the Ottawa Valley Titans U16 AAA team last year.
Other picks made on Tuesday night include:
Round 3: Cole McRae (Defence, Ottawa Myers Automotive U16 AAA)
Round 4: Bennett Legare (Forward, Ottawa Sting U16 AA)
Round 7: Spencer Aikman (Forward, Ottawa Myers Automotive U16 AAA)
Round 8: Braeden McColgan (Defence, Ottawa Valley Titans U16 AAA)
Round 9: Bren Currie (Defence, Carleton Place Jr. Canadians EOJHL/Ottawa Valley Titans U18 AAA)
Round 10: Kieran McCullough (Centre, Upper Ottawa Valley Aces U16 AA)
Round 10: Wyatt Muldoon (Defence, Ottawa Valley Titans U16 AAA)
Round 11: Carter Laforest (Forward, Ottawa Jr. Canadians EOJHL)
Round 12: Justin Allard (Defence, Upper Ottawa Valley Aces U16 AA)
(written by Kasey Egan)
Gimpoli: (jim-POH’lee)
Smolcic: (smohl-SICK)
