WHL Brandon Wheat Kings

Five Rounds Complete at Bantam Draft

Published on April 30, 2009 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Brandon Wheat Kings News Release


Edmonton, Alberta -- The 2009 Western Hockey League Bantam Draft has resumed in Edmonton and through the first five rounds, the Wheat Kings have chosen three forwards and two defencemen.

With the 18th overall selection in round one, the Wheat Kings chose 6'2" 170 lb. Eric Roy of Beauval, Saskatchewan. In the second round (40th overall), Brandon selected 6'1" 185 lb defenceman Dylan Kuczek from the Winnipeg Bantam Sharks and in round three (49th overall), they opted for 6' 155 lb left-winger Dakota Conroy from the Edmonton SSAC Bantams.

A member of the Meadow Lake Bantams of the Central Four Bantam League, Roy scored 25 goals and 42 points in nineteen regular season games last winter. He becomes the first Saskatchewan born player to be chosen by the Wheat Kings in the opening round in three years. In 2006, Brandon opted for center Brayden Schenn with the ninth overall selection.

In 30 games with the Sharks this past season, Kuczek (pictured player) scored nine goals and 25 points to lead all defencemen in scoring in the Winnipeg AAA Bantam Hockey League.

An Edmonton product, Conroy averaged close to two points per game last season, finishing the year with 36 goals and 64 points in 33 games.

With the 73rd overall pick, obtained from Everett in last year's deal involving Daniel Bartek, Brandon drafted Choiceland, Saskatchewan's Tyrel Seaman. A 6'1" 170 lb left-winger, Seaman scored 17 goals and 41 points in 24 games with the Tisdale Bantam Trojans this past season.

The Wheat Kings then used their fifth round pick (106th overall) to take Carter Proft from Spruce Grove, Alberta. A member of the St. Albert Bantams in 2008-09, the 5'11" 165 lb. center scored 39 points including nineteen goals in 33 regular season games this year.

The Portland Winter Hawks, who had the first pick in this morning's draft, chose defenceman Derrick Pouliot from Weyburn. In fact, the first four players chosen Thursday morning were blueliners. Rounding out the top three were Morgan Rielly of Vancouver (Moose Jaw, 2nd) and Griffin Reinhart of Vancouver (Chilliwack, 3rd).

Killarney's Reid Gow was the top western Manitoban to be chosen, going to the Spokane Chiefs 16th overall. Kuczek meanwhile was the second Manitoban to be selected.

The top Brandon born player to be chosen was Landon Cross, who went to the Kamloops Blazers with the 54th overall pick (3rd round). Cross played last season with the Brandon Bantam Wheat Kings.

Players eligible for today's Bantam Draft will be 1994 born players who reside in Alberta, B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Territories, Yukon and western United States.

The 20th Annual WHL Bantam Draft is being posted live on www.whl.ca. Fans can click on the WHL Bantam Draft icon.

Wheat King fans looking for live updates can do so by visiting the hockey club's twitter site, located at www.twitter.com/wheatkings2010.

Twitter is a real-time short messaging service that works over multiple networks and devices. Account holders follow the sources most relevant to them and access information via Twitter as it happens - from breaking news to updates from friends.

Fans can also set up their account to receive text messages, called "tweets", to their cell phone or personal handheld device every time the Wheat Kings post an update on their Twitter account.

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Western Hockey League Stories from April 30, 2009


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