T-Birds Select Center Elijah Brown In 1st Round of Bantam Draft
T-Birds make nine selections in 2015 Bantam Draft
KENT, May 7, 2015 — The Seattle Thunderbirds selected center Elijah Brown in the first round, 15th overall, in the 2015 WHL Bantam Draft Thursday morning in Calgary, Alberta.
Brown is 5’7 and 150 pounds and played for the Bantam AAA Southside Athletic Club team in Edmonton, Alberta, this past season. In 31 games Brown had 18 goals and 23 assists for 41 points.
“Elijah is one of the top skaters in the whole draft,” said T-Bird general manager Russ Farwell. “He has speed that creates opportunities all over the ice. Elijah’s work ethic and speed will make him an exciting, fan favorite in Seattle.”
In the second round with the 37th overall pick the T-Birds selected goalie Carl Stankowksi from Calgary. Stankowski, at 5’7 and 170 pounds, played for the Calgary Northwest Flames AAA Bantam team this past season.
Stankowski, played in 16 games for the Flames and had a 9-3 record with two shutouts. He had a 1.88 goals against average and .920 save percentage.
“Carl is a strong technical goalie who competes and battles every game. We feel he has all the elements to develop into a top WHL goalie,” said Farwell.
The T-Birds selected left wing Connor Pyne in the third round, 52nd overall. Pyne is 6’1 and 181 pounds and played 31 games with the Prairie Storm in the SBAAL last season. He had 18 goals and 14 assists for 32 points with 52 penalty minutes.
“Connor is a strong, hard working winger who plays hard both ways. He brings a physical dimension to every shift,” said Farwell.
The T-Birds did not have a fourth round pick in the draft. This pick was sent to the Kamloops Blazers as part of the trade for Taran Kozun at the 2014 trade deadline.
In the fifth round, with the 103rd overall pick, the T-Birds selected defenseman Kabir Gill from the North Shore Winter Club in Vancouver.
Gill is 6’1 and 195 pounds and played 63 games this past season. He had 20 goals and 50 assists for 70 points with 64 penalty minutes.
“Kabir is a good puck moving defenseman from the western Canada Bantam championship team”, said Farwell. “He ran the power play, has good size and a lot of potential to improve.”
The T-Birds had two picks in the sixth round, 111th and 125th overall. With the first pick in the sixth round the T-Birds selected 5’11 and 148 pound left wing Dillon Hamaliuk from the Leduc Oil Kings Bantam AAA team.
Last season Hamaliuk had 22 goals and 15 assists for 37 points in 33 games for the Oil Kings.
“Dillon is a very hard working, physical winger. His extra effort and physical style are his trademarks”, said Farwell. “His attitude and skill will be a great fit for our style of play.”
With the second pick in the sixth round the T-Birds selected 6’3, 180 pound forward Tyler Carpendale from the Powell River Kings. Stats for Carpendale are not available.
“Tyler has huge potential to be a big two-way power forward. He has good hands and hockey sense”, said Farwell.
In the seventh round the T-Birds selected defenseman Tyson Terretta from the Pursuit of Excellence Bantam Prep team. In 15 games with the team Terretta had one assist and 20 penalty minutes. Terretta is 6’0 and 168 pounds.
“Tyson is a big, mobile defenseman with a physical presence. He plays with urgency and an intense style,” said Farwell.
The T-Birds selected Chase Sakic in the eighth round with the 169th overall pick. Chase is 5’4 and 130 pounds and played with the Colorado Thunderbirds this past season. He had nine goals and six assists for 15 points in 14 games.
“Chase is a very focused, smart player that just needs time to grow to get ready to play”, said Farwell.
Chase is the son of Joe Sakic who is the Executive Vice President, General Manager and Alternate Governor of the Colorado Avalanche. Joe played for the Swift Current Broncos and had a 20-year NHL career with the Quebec Nordiques and Colorado Avalanche.
In the 10th round with the 213rd overall pick the T-Birds selected right wing Isaiah Cockerill from the Winnipeg Warriors. He is 6’1 and 180 pounds.
Cockerill played in 31 games and had 10 goals and five assists for 15 points with 34 penalty minutes.
“Isaiah is a big, hard working power forward with a good hockey IQ”, said Farwell.
The T-Birds made nine selections in the 2015 Bantam Draft. They selected one goalie, two defenseman and six forwards.
The Bantam Draft allows for the orderly transfer of players to WHL Protected Player Lists (PPL) from the bantam ranks (14-15 year old players).
The WHL drafts bantam players from Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba and the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
Players from non-North American countries are allowed to be added to rosters via the CHL Import Draft held in June.
T-Birds 2015-16 season tickets are currently on sale. Season tickets can be purchased by calling the T-Birds office at 253-239-7825.
