The Kindersley Klippers set their sights on southwest Saskatchewan with three picks from our area in the recent SJHL draft.
"I don't think we really have an area we like to go to per say," said Klippers Coach and GM Clayton Jardine. "But if you want to choose that one it's great. We've had past players like Cash Arntsen that were really good for us. Anytime we can get players from down there... we're just really happy to acquire those three guys."
They include Maple Creek's Finn Gustafson in the 2nd round of the 2010 age group draft.
"He's got a good local connection," Jardine said. "He does everything extremely well. I was shocked he didn't get picked in the WHL draft. Hopefully he's a Klipper for a couple years and we can develop him and move him on to the next level."
The Klippers picked a young man who lives in Swift Current but was born in Kindersley when they added Jaxson Squires in the 4th round of the 2009 age group draft.
"He's small and crafty and not afraid of going to the dirty areas," Jardine said. "He came to our spring camp and that's where he got put on our radar. We were very thankful to get him where we did."
Kindersley took a shot at Lucky Lake's Jake Hargrave in the 5th round of the 2009 draft.
Hargrave is a draft pick of the WHL's Kelowna Rockets and had 40 points in 42 U18 AAA games with the Swift Current Home Hardware Legionnaires last season.
"It's a flyer," Jardine said. "If he plays for us for a year then great. We made it very clear to him we're not getting in the way of something special this year with the Kelowna Rockets hosting the Memorial Cup. We hope he makes that time. If he does need a place to play, Kindersley can be his home."
The Klippers made it back to the SJHL playoffs with a 25-26-3-2 record last season.
Now their goals are getting bigger.
"It's been a long two years taking over a team that only won 13 games," Jardine said. "Thankfully we can return up to 15 guys. For us now it's going to be fighting for home ice and fighting for the top four spots."
We will see if a few southwest connections could be part of Kindersley taking the next step.