He was able to play for the OHL's Brampton Battalion as an underaged player for the 1998–99 season because it was his hometown team; he averaged over a point per game. He was then required to enter the OHL Priority Draft and was selected by the Mississauga Ice Dogs in the team's opening season (1999–00). Spezza became the third player to represent Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championship as a 16-year-old, after Wayne Gretzky and Eric Lindros. This feat was also accomplished the same year by defenceman Jay Bouwmeester and Sidney Crosby in 2004. Splitting the next year with the Ice Dogs and Windsor Spitfires, Spezza scored his OHL-career-high 86 points in 66 games.
Prior to the 2001 Entry Draft, Spezza was noted as a highly regarded prospect, and won two top prospect awards.[5] He was drafted second overall after the Atlanta Thrashers' pick for the left-winger Ilya Kovalchuk. His pick originally belonged to the New York Islanders, but was traded to Ottawa along with Zdeno Chara and Bill Muckalt for Alexei Yashin.
After one more OHL season with the Belleville Bulls and some time in the AHL playoffs with the Grand Rapids Griffins, Spezza started his professional career in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Binghamton Senators for the 2002–03 season.
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