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WHL Spokane Chiefs

Chiefs Select Betz In First Round

May 3, 2007 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Spokane Chiefs News Release


The Spokane Chiefs selected 6'1" forward Michael Betz in the first round,12th overall, in today's WHL Bantam Draft. Betz was the first of 13 players (seven forwards, five defensemen and one goaltender) selected by the Chiefs in 10 rounds of the draft.

"Overall, we're excited and optimistic about our draft," Chiefs General Manager Tim Speltz said. "The players we drafted are a great combination of skill, size and compete. Our first and second picks are forwards that we feel can be top line players in the WHL and hopefully NHL prospects."

The 180 pound Betz played last year with the Kelowna Jr. Rockets Bantam AAA Club. In 31 games, Betz scored 36 goals, 25 assists and 61 points with 68 penalty minutes.

"Michael is a big kid who shoots the puck like a pro," the Chiefs Director of Player Personnel Chris Moulton said. "We felt he had the best shot in the draft. He'll shoot it on the power play, off the wing. He's also 6'1"; a big kid who is going to create a lot of room for himself and be an impact player in this league."

With their second round pick, the Chiefs selected forward Blake Gal (pronunciation - GAHL) from Lethbridge, Alberta. In 32 games with the bantam AAA team in Lethbridge in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League (AMHL), Gal scored 15 goals and 51 points to help his team finish 29-1-3 on the season and win the league title.

"Blake's biggest attribute is that he plays a physical game, which is saying something because he is an explosive skater," Moulton said. "He has some offensive flair to the game and isn't afraid to be the first one to the puck."

Spokane nabbed two defenseman with a pair of third round picks, Brenden Kichton of Spruce Grove, Alberta with the 55th overall selection and Landon Oslanski from Camrose, Alberta 56th overall. Kichton is an offensive minded defenseman who scored 11 goals and 36 points in 33 games with Spruce Grove in the AMBHL. Oslanski had 10 goals and 23 points in 30 games for Leduc of the AMBHL.

The Chiefs made it three straight defensemen with the selection of 6'0" Luke Madill in the fourth round. The Red Deer, Alberta product tallied three goals and 20 points in 33 games playing for the Red Deer Chiefs in the AMBHL.

"Our plan going into the day had eyes on selecting a forward in the first round and maybe a defenseman in the second, but when Gal was still available we couldn't pass him up," Moulton said. "We knew we wanted to take some defenseman with the next few picks and it worked out that we took the best available player at that time. Kitchon is a smart, smooth defenseman who can play on the power play and Oslanski is a trigger guy, someone with a great shot and a one timer on the power play."

Spokane then selected goaltender Chase Martin with their fifth round pick. Martin sported a 2.91 GAA and 11-6-2 record for the Medicine Hat Hockey Hounds in the AMBHL. Martin is a 5'10" Medicine Hat product.

T.C. Cratsenberg from Seattle was taken with the first of two sixth round selections. Cratsenberg is a 6'1" forward who played for the Seattle Sno Kings AAA Bantam team.

Anthony Bardaro, a 5'7" forward from Delta, B.C., was selected eight picks later in the sixth round. Bardaro had 19 goals and 38 points in 30 games to finish second on North Delta's Bantam AAA team.

Edmonton native Briemen Snell was selected with the Chiefs eighth round selection.

In the ninth, Spokane selected defenseman Ian Young out of Missouri City, Texas.

The Chiefs rounded out the bantam draft with three picks in the 10th round; forward Ryan Krawchuk from Edmonton, defenseman Mitchell Boy out of Balmoral, Manitoba and Tyler Swerdylaik from Grande Pointe, Manitoba.

"With the depth of our draft because of excess picks, we feel comfortable with our future," Speltz finished.

"It was a long day, but even in the 10th round we were excited about the guys that were still on the board. Overall, we were very excited about the day," Moulton said.

The Draft is the WHL's talent identification process and serves as the first opportunity for WHL teams to add 1992 born players to their respective 50 player lists.

Check out the Spokane Chiefs Statistics



Western Hockey League Stories from May 3, 2007


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