The 17-year-old St. Catharines native was selected in the first round of the National Hockey League entry draft last Friday by the Atlanta Thrashers, who took Leveille with the 29th overall pick.

Leveille played the last two years with the St. Catharines Falcons of the Golden Horseshoe Junior B Hockey League where he recorded 101 points in 93 games, including 29 goals and 27 assists in 45 games last season.

He led the Falcons in playoff scoring with 30 points and finished tied for first with 14 goals, including three game-winners, eight multi-point games and a 10-game point streak.

This fall Leveille will attend Michigan State University in East Lansing and play hockey for the Spartans.

Leveille had a final ranking of 47 among North American Skaters in the NHL's final Central Scouting ratings and is the Falcons' ninth first-round NHL draft pick in the program's history.

Falcons' head coach Trevor Lariviere, who was at the draft in Ottawa Friday, first met Leveille two years ago and knew right away he was a special player.

"He's just a special kid," said Lariviere. "He has a gift on the ice and does a lot of things you can't teach. More importantly, Daultan's just an all-around good kid. He's good off the ice and he has been a pleasure to coach and as an organization we wish him the best of luck."It's believed that Leveille is the first Falcons player ever to be drafted directly into the NHL and the only second ever taken straight from the Golden Horseshoe League -- in 1993 the New Jersey Devils took Krystof Oliwa from Welland with the 65th overall pick.

"What Daulton has done is great for the Falcons, it's great for St. Catharines and it's great for the entire league that we have a draft pick coming out of this league," said Lariviere. "It gives our league a lot of credibility."

Lariviere added that Leveille was excited, not to mention plenty nervous as the first round neared its completion Friday and only Atlanta and the Detroit Red Wings were left to pick.

"He wanted this pretty bad and I think there was a sense of relief when his name was called and he was in a state of shock and he may just be starting to come down from that cloud," said Lariviere.

Thrashers' general manager Don Waddell said the selections of Leveille and Zach Bogosian in the first round are the first steps in turning around the Atlanta franchise.

"This is No. 1," he said during the draft telecast. "We've got free agency coming up."