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Portland Winterhawks

Hawks Select High Scoring Forward in First Round

May 4, 2006 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release


The Portland Winter Hawks picked left wing Riley Boychuk in the first round, in today's WHL Bantam Draft held in Calgary. Boychuk, from Abbottsford, B.C., like last year's first round selection Thomas Frazee, was a key player on the winning team of the Western Canadian AAA Bantam Championships, posting 16 points in 5 games in the finals.The Hawks had the 10th overall pick. Western Hockey League teams are allowed to pick players in North America, west of Brandon, Manitoba. This is the first opportunity for WHL teams to draft, and place on their 50-player protected lists, players born in 1991 that will have a "hockey age" of 15 years-old during the upcoming 2006-07 season. These players are not available to play full time until 2007-08 when their "hockey age" is 16. The WHL Bantam Draft started in 1990 with just a one-round selection process. Last season, Portland picked a franchise record 14 players over 13 rounds in the 2005 Bantam Draft. Forward Jason Wiemer, a first round pick of the Winter Hawks in the 1991 Bantam Draft, is now playing in the Stanley Cup playoffs with the New Jersey Devils. Defenseman Andrew Ference was a Winter Hawks' first round selection in 1994 and now plays for the Calgary Flames, just eliminated in Game 7 of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs last night by Anaheim. Patrick Marleau of the San Jose Sharks was a first round WHL Bantam Draft selection of the Seattle Thunderbirds in 1994. He leads all scorers with 7 goals for the Sharks in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Goaltender Cam Ward, who won four straight games for the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, was a 4th round selection in the WHL Bantam Draft by the Red Deer Rebels. Wade Redden, one of the top defensemen for the Ottawa Senators, now in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, was a fist round selection in the Bantam Draft by the Brandon Wheat Kings.

As with all drafts in all sports, a lot of first round selections never pan out and many players overlooked by scouts turn out to be high impact players. In Portland's case, one of the Hawks' best graduates in the NHL, Brenden Morrow of the Dallas Stars, went through the WHL Bantam draft without being selected by any team. So did Jarome Iginla, the Calgary Flames' best player, who had a tremendous career in Kamloops after going through the Bantam Draft without being selected by any team. Former Winter Hawk Paul Gaustad from Beaverton, Oregon was never picked in the WHL Bantam Draft and he is now playing a regular shift with the Buffalo Sabres in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Spokane took defenseman Jared Cowen from Saskatoon, the player most scouts on most teams said was the best player available in today's draft, with the first overall pick. But, Cowen told the Saskatoon Star Phoenix newspaper this week, "As of now, we have told Spokane that if they pick me, I wouldn't be playing there. If they pick me and don't trade me, I'd probably end up playing Junior-A hockey and then going to college." Cowen wants to play closer to his Saskatoon home. The second overall selection by the Red Deer Rebels today was Landon Ferraro, a center from Vancouver BC, who is the son of former Portland Winter Hawk Ray Ferraro, now an analyst on NBC Stanley Cup playoff telecasts after a long NHL career.

Here is a profile of all of the players Portland picked in today's draft with comments from Winter Hawks' Director of Player Personnel Gord Loiselle...

1st Round (#10 overall) - Riley Boychuk, (Born 2-20-91), Left Wing, 6'2, 170, Abbottsford, B.C. Played for Abbottsford Hawks AAA Bantams that won the Western Canadian AAA Bantam Championship in April and Riley was the leading scorer in the tournament with (6-10-16) and 12 PIM in 5 games. He finished the season with 134 points (Goal, Assists and GP breakdown not available). Last year, the Hawks picked Thomas Frazee with their first round pick, 11th overall in the Bantam Draft, and Thomas also won the Western Canadian Bantam Championship.

"As far as I know, Riley is not related to former WHL players Johnny Boychuk or David Boychuk, both from the Edmonton area. He is a good all round player that uses his size well, is a decent skater, and has good hands. He should score some goals." 2nd Round (#30 overall) - Brett Ponich (Pronounced PAWN-ich) (2-22-91), Defense, 6'4, 180, Edmonton, Alberta. Played AAA Bantam hockey in Leduc, Alberta. (No regular season stats available). Brett had (2-7-9) with 22 PIM in 9 playoff games.

"He moves OK for a big guy, sees the ice very well, and makes a good first pass. We feel Brett still has a lot of growing to do, too. He is going to be a big kid."

3rd Round (#56 overall, 3rd round pick flip-flopped with Regina as part of the Garrett Festerling - Jon Bubnick trade and a separate trade to Regina of Shane Halifax) - Cole Grbavac (Gerr-BAY-vak) (7-20-91), Right Wing, 5'11, 160, Calgary, Alberta. Played for the Calgary Bisons AAA Bantams (No regular season stats available). Cole posted (4-1-5) with 4 PIM in 5 games playing in the POCO AAA Bantam Tournament held in Port Coquitlam, BC.

"He can play center or right wing - played center with a right shot most of the time this season. Cole plays really hard and goes to the net hard. He's got some grit to him and that is what we drafted him for was his grit. We are hoping that carries over to our league."

4th Round (#72 overall) - Jessi Hilton (9-17-91), Right Wing, 6'0, 169, Sherwood Park, Alberta. Played AAA Bantam hockey in Sherwood Park, posting (23-13-36) in 33 games on a team that finished (5-26-2) and missed the playoffs. After the season, Jessi played Midget A hockey in Sherwood Park as a 14-year-old playing against 15-year-olds, posting (9-6-15) in 7 games.

"He has a good shot and can score goals. Jessi played on a very, very poor team this year and there were not a whole lot of guys there to help him out. They were blown out of a lot of games, but when he got his chances, he showed pretty good puck skills and was a pretty good finisher."

5th Round (#93 overall) - David Watt (3-14-91), Defense, 5'11, 140, Duchess, Alberta. Played AAA Bantam hockey in Medicine Hat, (no regular season stats available). In the playoffs, David posted (3-5-8) with 12 PIM in 8 games. His team qualified for the Western Canadian Bantam championships where he posted (0-2-2) with 18 PIM in 4 games.

"Right shot defenseman, pretty good skater, decent shot with an offensive upside. He moves the puck well. He was very good in the playoffs as his team won Alberta and he played very well."

6th Round (No Selection. Traded to Moose Jaw to move up in last year's CHL Import Draft to choose Stan Balan in the 2nd round)

7th Round (#130 overall, acquired from Prince Albert in exchange for defenseman Mike McDonald) - Jordan Phillips (8-5-91), Goaltender, Size 5'9, 150, Portage La Prairie, Manitoba Played for Carman in the top Manitoba Bantam League (no stats available). Tried out for, and made, the Director's Cup provincial camp and played for the Central Plains regional team.

"He is very quick and very agile. Jordan is an athletic goaltender. He played in a rural league in Manitoba during the regular season. At the provincial camp, he was on a very poor team, faced a lot of shots and battled hard, especially in a game against a dominant team from Winnipeg."

7th Round (#135 overall,) - Brenden Harlos (8-3-91), Right Wing, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Played AAA Bantam hockey in Moose Jaw, posting (13-17-30) with 88 PIM in 27 games. Called up to the Moose Jaw AAA midgets at the end of the season and had no points in 2 games.

"He's a pretty good skater and works really hard. Brenden is a gritty forward that has some bang to his game. He doesn't mind sticking his nose in."

8th Round (#156 overall) - David Hauptman (2-11-91), Center, 5'11, 165, Morinville, Alberta. Played AAA Bantam hockey for Ft. Saskatchewan, Alberta, posting (19-15-34) in 33 games. In the playoffs, David posted (3-3-6) with 10 PIM in 5 games.

"Another guy that skates pretty well. David's most notable asset is his work ethic. He really works incredibly hard. He battles like crazy. We tried to pick guys with grit. It was a big point of emphasis with our scouting staff this year, and I think we were able to succeed with a number of the guys we drafted."

9th Round (#177 overall) - Andrew Saunders (11-28-91), Size 6'1, 160, Defense, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Played for the Saskatoon Frostbite in the highest bantam league in Saskatoon. (no stats available)

"He is an average skater, but he plays pretty hard. I really liked the way he played in the playoffs. Andrew looks like a guy that really cares. He played against a team that was quite a bit better than his team and he never gave up. He battled right to the bitter end."

10th Round (#198 overall) - Traded to Swift Current last year for a pick in last year's Bantam Draft. Swift Current ended up trading the pick to Prince George.

11th Round (#211 overall, pick obtained by trade from Chilliwack) - Justin Rose (2-10-91), Center, 5'7, 150, Gibbons, Alberta. Played AAA Bantam hockey for Ft. Saskatchewan, Alberta, posting (47-34-81) in 34 games, # 5 in league scoring. He added (5-3-8) in 5 playoff games.

"He and David Hauptman were teammates in Ft. Saskatchewan. Justin is a small, really skilled centerman that sees the ice very well. He is a good passer - a very gifted offensive player."

11th Round (#219 overall) - Dylan Cosford (1-1-91), Defense, 5'11, 160, Portland, Oregon. Played for the Portland Junior Hawks Bantam Rep team. (No stats available).

"I am going from what I have been told by our Portland area scouts. He is a good skater, handles the puck, sees the ice well and doesn't mind getting involved."

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