WHL Seattle Thunderbirds

T-Birds Select Center/Right Wing in First Round of Import Draft

Published on June 29, 2010 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Seattle Thunderbirds News Release


Kent,June 29, 2010 - The Seattle Thunderbirds selected center/right wing Marcel Noebels with their first round selection, 10th overall, in the 2010 CHL Import Draft.

Prior to their first round selection, T-Bird traded a fourth round pick in the 2012 Bantam Draft to the Red Deer Rebels for the Rebels first round selection, 34th overall, in the 2010 CHL Import Draft.

The T-Birds selected defenseman Dave Sutter with the 34th overall selection in the Import Draft.

"Noebels is a big, good skating forward, that has the potential to help us right away," said T-Birds general manager Russ Farwell. "We made the trade with Red Deer to improve our chances of having two players that we could add for this year."

Noebels played for the Krefeld Penguins program last season. He split time between the Penguins Under-18 team and the Penguins team in the German Elite League (DEL).

With the Under-18 team Noebels appeared in 25 games and had 17 goals and 36 assists for 53 points. He also had 52 penalty minutes.

Noebels appeared in 33 games with the Penguins team that plays in the DEL. He had one goal and two assists with 29 penalty minutes.

After finishing the season in the DEL Noebels was a member of Team Germany at the Under-18 World Championship Tournament. Germany was in the B Pool and played their games in Krynica, Poland. Noebels led the B Pool in scoring with 19 points on nine goals and 10 assists in five games.

Noebels, a left-hand shot, is 6'2 and 205-pounds and was born March 14, 1992. NHL Central Scouting had Noebels ranked number 100 in its rankings of Europeans players eligible for the 2010 NHL Draft. Noebels was not selected by a NHL team at the Draft. He has received several invitations from NHL teams to attend a NHL Training Camp prior to the 2010-11 season.

Sutter, at 6'4 and 195-pounds, played for Team Switzerland at the U-18 World Championships in Belarus. He appeared in six games and had two assists. Switzerland was in the A Pool at the tournament and competed against Team Canada. T-Birds head coach Rob Sumner was a member of the Team Canada coaching staff at this tournament.

Sutter, born February 21, 1992, is a right-handed shot and played last season with the Geneva Junior Elites team in Switzerland.

The T-Birds will open the 2010-11 season at ShoWare Center on Saturday, September 25, against the Portland Winterhawks at 7:05 p.m.

Fans can receive two free tickets to the home opener against Portland with the purchase of a 24-Flex Ticket Package by Wednesday, June 30.

The Western Hockey League (WHL), along with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) and the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), are the three leagues that take part in the annual CHL Import Draft.

An Import Player is defined as a player whose parent(s) do not reside in Canada, or the United States, as of January 11 preceding that year's CHL Import Draft. If a CHL club has no Import Players, they are eligible to draft two Import Players, if they have one import, they are allowed to draft one, and if they have two Import Players they are not eligible to participate in the draft.

T-Birds season tickets are currently on sale. Season tickets can be purchased by calling the T-Birds office at 253-239-7825.

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Western Hockey League Stories from June 29, 2010


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