BANTAM DRAFT TAKES PLACE THURSDAY MAY 4TH

Category: ArticleMay 3, 2017

Medicine Hat, AB — The future is now for the Medicine Hat Tigers. The WHL’s annual Bantam Draft will take place this week, Thursday May 4th in Calgary to determine the next crop of future WHLers. Last season the Tigers selected Josh Williams with the 5th overall pick in the draft and the BC native has already made a splash as a Tiger suiting up in 4 games and scoring his 1st career goal.

The bantam draft is always a gamble as some kids will make the team that drafted them and sign, while other will continue to play hockey at other levels. However sometimes it is players who aren’t drafted who can make an impact. Like the story of Tyler Ennis who wasn’t drafted out of bantam. Instead the Tigers listed the shifty forward despite his small stature. Ennis would go on to be a star in the WHL, winning the WHL Championship in 2007.

This season the Tigers will pick 21st, their lowest draft pick since the 2007 Championship winning season. That year the Tigers would select Tyler Bunz. Bunz would go on to appear in 197 games between the pipes for Medicine Hat, the second most in franchise history. Bunz also left the Tigers after his 5 year career as franchise leader in minutes played and most wins.

Medicine Hat teams are traditionally built around the Bantam Draft rather than trades. In the 2016-17 season 14 of the 23 players were drafted by the Tigers.

Take a look at the previous 4 Bantam Drafts for the Tigers and the number of regular season games played in the WHL.

Year	Round	Pick	Player	Position	Hometown	WHL Games Played
2013	1	10	David Quenneville	D	Edmonton, AB	180
2013	2	32	Mason Shaw	LW	Lloydminster, AB	161
2013	2	35	Ryan Jevne	C	Edmonton, AB	140
2013	3	54	Marshall Skapski	D	Abbotsford, BC	0
2013	4	76	Austin McGrath	G	Lloydminster, AB	0
2013	6	115	Jordan Taupert	C	Medicine Hat, AB	0
2013	6	120	Max Gerlach	RW	Flower Mound, TX, USA	144
2013	6	123	Caleb Fantillo	RW	Coquitlam, BC	120 (70 w/ MH)
2013	8	164	Cale Makar	D	Calgary, AB	0
2013	10	208	Ryan Roberts	D	White City, SK	0
2014	1	17	James Hamblin	C	Edmonton, AB	123
2014	2	39	Rilan Rommelaere	G	Boissevain, MB	0
2014	3	56	Nicholas Doyle	D	Winnipeg, MB	0
2014	3	61	Tyler Preziuso	RW	Burnaby, BC	130
2014	4	72	Cameron Lockard	RW	Whitecourt, AB	0
2014	6	118	Dylan Cassie	D	Winnipeg, MB	0
2014	7	149	Sammy Walker	C	Edina, MN, USA	0
2014	8	158	Jack Harris	D	Prior Lake, MN, USA	0
2014	8	171	Kyle Kaufmann	C	West Vancouver, BC	0
2015	1	17	Ryan Chyzowski	C/LW	Kamloops, BC	58
2015	2	40	Layne Matechuk	D	Colonsay, SK	0
2015	3	46	Cole Clayton	D	Strathmore, AB	4
2015	4	83	Baxter Anderson	C	Burnaby, BC	6
2015	5	91	Duncan McGovern	G	Winnipeg, MB	7
2015	5	106	Michael Johnson	RW	Calgary, AB	0
2015	6	128	Trevor Longo	D	North Vancouver, BC	0
2015	7	150	Dawson Heathcote	LW	Nanaimo, BC	1
2015	8	172	Josh McNeil	C	Sylvan Lake, AB	6
2015	9	191	Brennan Davis	D	Camrose, AB	0
2015	9	194	Tucker Zdunich	LW	High River, AB	0
2016	1	5	Josh Williams	RW	Langley, BC	4
2016	2	28	Daniel Baker	D	Edmonton, AB	0
2016	2	34	Henrik Rybinski	RW	Vancouver, BC	0
2016	3	55	Ryden Fedyck	D	Winnipeg, MB	0
2016	3	63	Jalen Price	RW	Campbell River, BC	0
2016	4	72	Mattie Boonstra	D	Garson, MB	0
2016	5	94	Kaleb McEachern	G	Penticton, BC	0
2016	7	138	Corson Hopwo	C	Duncan, BC	0
2016	9	182	Logan Ganie	LW	Irma, AB	0