Fairport Native Drafted To NHL; Thankful For Rochester Roots

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — We’ve seen a decent number of Rochester natives wind up getting drafted by NHL teams (15 to be exact). Another one was taken after this past draft.

Fairport’s own Hunter Mcdonald is one step closer to wearing a Philadelphia Flyers jersey after the organization selected him 156th overall.

Though COVID cut his high school career short, his tallied 12 goals and assists in seventeen games with the Red Raiders during his junior campaign.

He recently returned from development camp in Philly and prepares to play at Northeastern in the fall. As he does, McDonald is grateful for the opportunities he had in WNY as a kid.

"I was fortunate enough and not everyone gets to do it, play high school hockey, and I loved it," said Mcdonald. "It was a lot of fun, like just playing in front of your school friends and people, you know, and teammates. So I really enjoyed it. So lucky to be able to like still learn here and be able to do my hockey thing and have my friends from high school. And yes, I’m definitely really lucky and I’m happy I chose the way I did it."