After starting the season with the Georgetown Raiders, goalie Jett Alexander is now turning some heads with the North York Rangers. (Ray MacAloney/OJHL Images)

Jett Alexander’s 2016-17 hockey campaign has been drastically different than he had originally envisioned.

Though he has not played a ton, the 17-year-old puckstopper has been rather impressive when he has been called upon – for a pair of Ontario Junior Hockey League squads.

Alexander thought he’d be toiling in the Midget ranks after he failed to crack the roster of the OJHL’s North York Rangers this past August.

And even though he knew he would be a long shot to make it, Alexander then attended the training camp of the Mississauga Steelheads, the Ontario Hockey League franchise that had drafted him in 2015.

Alexander’s efforts at the Mississauga camp caught the attention of Greg Walters, the head coach/GM of the OJHL’s Georgetown Raiders, who offered him a roster spot.

Alexander appeared in just seven contests with the Georgetown club. He posted an impressive 5-1-0 record and a 1.61 goals-against average before he was ironically traded to North York in November, mere days after his birthday.

Alexander has continued his solid rookie play with the Rangers. He’s sporting a 6-1-1 mark  and a 2.36 GAA after nine appearances.
His season-long combined GAA of 2.06 is fourth best among all OJHL goalies.

“Every game, I go into it with the belief we’re going to win,” said Alexander, who has also racked up three shutouts this season, two with Georgetown and one in North York.

Alexander wasn’t getting too many starts with the Raiders as the club was primarily utilizing 20-year-old Josh Astorino between the pipes.
And though he wasn’t told beforehand of a possible trade, Alexander had an inkling he would be dealt.

“They’re a team that is looking to make a deep playoff run,” Alexander said of the Raiders, adding he felt the squad would want to acquire another veteran goalie.

As it turned out, Alexander, who is from the village of Bloomfield in the eastern Ontario’s Prince Edward County, was rather pleased he was traded to the Rangers. 

That’s because he had spent the previous two years toiling with the North York Rangers’ Midget AAA teams.

With the (OJHL) Rangers now, Alexander is battling to take some starts away from 20-year-old Jeremie Lintner, who has made 30 appearances this season.

Alexander’s efforts thus far have caught the attention of some NCAA scouts.

“There’s been some talk,” he said. “But I need more time to develop.”

Even though he will be completing his high school studies this June, Alexander, who still has three years of junior eligibility remaining, realizes he’s not ready to move on to the college level yet.

Though he’s now hoping to eventually land a scholarship offer from an American university squad, Alexander has not ruled out the possibility of trying once again to make an OHL roster.

“I’m keeping all my doors open,” he said.