Kucher kid is in like Flint
Carter Kucher has spent the past two seasons more than 400 miles away from his Sault Ste. Marie home developing with teams in the Greater Toronto Hockey League.
Kucher, who has a December 14, 2008 birth date, was just 13 years old when he first left home to play for the Under 15 AAA Mississauga Reps of the GTHL. He patrolled the defense for Mississauga during the 2022-2023 season and then stayed in the GTHL to suit up for the U16 AAA Toronto Titans during the recent 2023-2024 campaign.
At 6 foot 2 and 205 pounds, Kucher continued to develop as he moved from one GTHL program to another. And at the recent 2024 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft, the Flint Firebirds took the hulking defender in the 11th round.
By taking Kucher, Flint continued its recent run of drafting Sault Ste. Marie area products. At the 2023 OHL priority selections, the Firebirds came away with defenseman Rylan Fellinger, forward Brendan Cooke and goalie Nathan Maguire from the Soo Jr. Greyhounds of the Great North Under 18 Hockey League.
Fellinger actually played the entire season for Flint in 2023-2024 as a 13th round draft pick. Meanwhile, Cooke developed with the Blind River Beavers of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League while Maguire tended twine for the Soo Indians of the U18 Michigan Amateur Hockey Association.