As the selections started to unfold at the first in-person OHL Priority Selection since 2000, the Beaulieu family began to wonder if Ryan Beaulieu might land with the team that his dad won the Memorial Cup with in 2005.

At pick number 14, they found out.

Knights general manager Mark Hunter stepped to the podium in Kingston, Ont., and made defenceman Ryan Beaulieu London’s first selection in 2026.

“By the eighth or ninth pick I started to wonder if it might happen,” Ryan admitted. ” I started to think about how great it would be to be able to stay at home and play for Mark and Dale Hunter and follow in my dad’s footsteps.”

Josh Beaulieu was the Knights second round pick in 2003 and later a fifth round selection of the Philadelphia Flyers.

“I’m a big believer in everything happening for a reason,” said Josh. “We’re very grateful and now a new journey begins for him and for our family and we’re very excited.”

Josh Beaulieu is also one of a handful of London Knights players to have scored five goals in a single game.

“That’s his favourite story,” Ryan said, laughing. “Me and my dad have a great relationship. He has the experience and he knows what it takes to play for the Knights.”

Ryan spent this past season playing for one of Josh’s Team of the Century teammates in Danny Syvret with the U16 AAA London Jr. Knights. He was one of the top defenders in the Alliance and was named to the All OHL Cup team after helping the Jr. Knights to the final four of the top U16 tournament.

Ryan was incredibly complimentary of what Syret was able to pass on to him.

“He knows the game, he knows what I need to do and he passed that along to all of us.”

A back-to-back Alliance champion who says he models his game after Drew Doughty of the L.A. Kings, Ryan is taking the next step in his career with the help and support of people in his life who know what it means to wear the London Knights uniform.

The last time Mark Hunter made a first round pick in the same way he was calling the name Rick Nash.