Super Saturday for Members of Hound Power
With the first round of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft in the books on Friday night, Hounds’ fans anxiously waited for the festivies to resume on Saturday to see which teams would be home to members of the Soo Greyhounds. Fans didn’t have to wait long as the road to the NHL for three members of the Hounds’ roster became a little clearer during the second and third rounds of the draft late Saturday morning.
With the 55th overall pick in this year’s draft, the Detroit Red Wings selected defenceman Ryan Sproul followed by Philadelphia using the 68th pick for forward Nick Cousins. Not to be forgotten, Buffalo used their 3rd round pick to select Daniel Catenacci 77th overall. Three rounds later another Hound was happy he made the trip to Minnesota as Brian Burke and the Toronto Maple Leafs selected David Broll with the 152nd pick of the draft.
After a midterm ranking position of 124, Sproul, a Mississauga native led all defenseman and rookies on the Hounds with 14 goals and 33 points in 61 games. His 10 goals after January 1st helped him to skyrocket to a final ranking of 54th. In pre-draft media coverage, Yahoo had Ryan listed as one of the top 10 sleepers of this year’s draft.
Following a block-buster trade on Thursday that included the movement of Soo Greyhounds’ Alumni Jeff Carter from the Flyers to Columbus and Wayne Simmonds to the Flyers from the Los Angeles Kings, the second Hound picked is the latest member of the Greyhounds’ organization to be with the Philadelphia Flyers. Nick Cousins stayed pretty close in the rankings by Central Scouting all year moving up to a final position of 71 from a midterm review of 76. The Belleville native more than doubled his point production with the Hounds during the 2010-2011 season and is expected to make a even greater impact this season.
The Greyhounds’ 2009 OHL Priority Selection Draft first pick overall only had to wait nine more positions to hear his name called by the Buffalo Sabres. Daniel Catenacci has continued to prove his ability on the ice as a mainstay with the Hounds. In his two season with the team, Catenacci has complied 101 points in 132 games and has represented both his province and country on the international stage as a member of team Ontario at the 2010 U-17 Challenge where he won a Silver Medal and as part of the Canadian team which playing in the 2010 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament.
Mississauga native David Broll was selected by his hometown team the Toronto Maple Leafs with the 152nd overall pick in the 6th round. David had slipped in the Centra Scouting rankings from 78th position at the midterm to a final spot of 139. After joining the Hounds from the Erie Otters during the 2010-2011 Season, Broll racked up 12 points in 24 games.
For complete Draft Coverage visit www.chl.ca for all the updates on Canadian Hockey League players drafted during the weekend.
