UPDATE: Blazers end 2014 WHL Bantam Draft with good mix | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Kamloops News

UPDATE: Blazers end 2014 WHL Bantam Draft with good mix

Nolan Kneen was chosen third overall by the Kamloops Blazers in the 2014 WHL Bantam Draft.
Image Credit: Contributed

KAMLOOPS — Today is the day Bantam players across Western Canada and the Western U.S. find out if they have made the cut and are picked up by a Western Hockey League team.

This year the 22 teams that make up the WHL will go through 13 rounds of drafting, ultimately choosing more than 280 players to add to their future rosters.

The first round saw Saskatoon, Lethbridge and Kamloops take the top three picks, though Saskatoon immediately traded number one pick Stelio Mattheos of Winnipeg to the Brandon Wheat Kings.

Jordan Bellerive of North Vancouver went second overall while Nolan Kneen, also of North Vancouver, was chosen third overall for Kamloops. As the top finisher this season Kelowna got the last pick in round one and chose Jonathan Smart of Kelowna.

Kneen racked up 60 points in 69 games as a defenceman with the North Shore Winter Club Winterhawks Bantam AAA  team and served as assistant captain. He was the first defenceman to be picked up in this year’s draft.

In the second round the Blazers chose another defenceman, Conner McDonald of North Vancouver and in the third round the team traded their pick for 20-year-old defenceman Brady Gaudet with the Red Deer Rebels. Gaudet was traded by the Blazers in October 2012. The team then grabbed Erik Miller of Sherwood Park, Alta., from Kootenay in trade that round.

Round four saw Kamloops once again trade away a pick, this time to Calgary, but then grabbed Kyler Yeo, a high school player out of Minnesota and son of Minnesota Wild coach Mike Yeo from Everett, in a trade.

Rounds five through seven saw Kamloops trade all three of its picks. First Landon Fuller of 100 Mile House to Tri-City, then Dylan Myskiw of Winnipeg to Victoria and finally Baily Dhaliwal of Mission to Vancouver. The Blazers also picked up Kyle Bosch of Kindersley, Sask., from Moose Jaw and Hayden Dick, of Kelowna, from the Rockets in trades.

In round eight the Blazers traded away the 156 pick to Vancouver while round nine Kamloops chose Logan Ganie of  Irma, Alta. Tyrell McCubbing of Red Deer County, Alta. was grabbed in round 10 before picking up Dane Dow, of Rivercourse, Alta., in a trade with Saskatoon. Round 11 brought many passes by teams but Kamloops took the opportunity to grab local forward Tyler Ward.

The first round also saw Brendan Semchuk of Kamloops chosen by Brandon but traded to Vancouver and Griffin Mendel of Kelowna picked up by Kootenay. Portland passed on their first round pick. In the second round Ethan King of Vernon went to Lethbridge, Jakob Walter of Kamloops went to Kootenay and Owen Hardy of Kelowna was chosen by Edmonton and traded to Vancouver.

In round three Ethan O’Rourke of Penticton was picked up by Red Deer and traded to Prince George while round four saw Shane Farkas of Penticton picked up by Lethbridge while Josh Maser of Penticton went 74 overall to Prince Albert. Jake Harrison of West Kelowna was picked by Prince George but traded to Spokane and Max Patterson of Kamloops has been chosen 77 overall by Kootenay.

Round five saw Lucas Cullen of Kelowna picked up by Vancouver and traded to Calgary while Garrett Ewert of Kamloops was taken 123 overall by Regina. Jackson Caller of Kamloops was picked by Lethbridge and traded to Portland. Portland then picked up Solomon Seibel of Kamloops in the seventh round before trading him to Swift Current. Liam Hughes of Kelowna was also picked up by Edmonton in that round.

Round nine saw Curt Doyle of Kamloops chosen by Swift Current and Matt Alcom of Kelowna picked up by Edmonton. In round 10 Jordan Robinson of Kelowna was traded to Saskatoon from Lethbridge and Chase Stevenson of West Kelowna was picked up by Red Deer. All teams chose to pass in rounds 12 and 13.

Non-North American players can be added in Canadian Hockey League Import Draft, held in June. Players not chosen during the draft can be listed by teams following the draft.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Jennifer Stahn at jstahn@infotelnews.ca or call 250-819-3723. To contact an editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
 

-This story was updated at 11:11 a.m., May 1 to include results from round four.
-This story was updated at 12:44 p.m., May 1 to include results from rounds five through seven.
-This story was updated at 1:11 p.m., May 1 to include results from round eight.
-This story was updated at 1:42 p.m., May 1 to include results from round nine.
-This story was updated at 2:47 p.m., May 1 to include final results.

 

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