The SJHL held their annual draft Thursday night. The draft included six rounds of picks for those who are 2007 born, and two rounds of picks for those who are 2008 born.
Ahead of the draft, the Richardson Pioneer Weyburn Red Wings were busy making some deals. They acquired the rights to 07-born forward Lucas Hvidston from the Nipawin Hawks in exchange for the rights to 06-born forward Logan Pickford and a PDF. This was followed up with a trade with the Kindersley Klippers. The Red Wings received 05-born defenceman Isaiah Arnold in exchange for future considerations.
The Wings then added a 2nd round pick in the 08-born draft courtesy of the Notre Dame Hounds. Going back to Wilcox was a player development fee. The final trade ahead of the draft had the Wings getting 03-born forward Jacob Visentini along with the 32nd overall pick in the draft in exchange for the 17th overall pick and a PDF.
As a result of the moves, the Red Wings didn’t select until the third round of the draft, where they had the 8th pick. They drafted Carter Bergen, a forward from Hague, SK who spent last season with the Warman Wildcats U18 AA squad. He played in 32 games, scoring 23 goals and adding 18 assists. In his final year of U15 AA hockey, he ended the season with 50 points in 31 games.
The next selection for the Red Wings was the 6th pick in the 4th round. The Red Wings selected Roan Burgess from Regina. Burgess, a forward, spent the season with the U18 AA Regina Vics, where picked up 44 points in 35 games, including 31 goals. In his final season of U15 AA with the Regina Aces, he had 51 points in 31 games.
The 5th pick in the 5th round was Weyburns, and they selected Moose Jaw’s Noah Thul. A forward, Thul played last season with the U17 Prep team at Prairie Hockey Academy. He skated in 26 games and scored nine goals and added 11 assists. The previous season, he had 31 points in 27 games along with 102 penalty minutes.
The remaining draft picks for the Red Wings in the 07-born draft were passed.
The Red Wings then had two picks, back-to-back, in the second round of the 08-born draft. Selecting 4th, the Red Wings chose forward Ryan Gibbs. In 29 games with the U15 AA Moose Jaw Warriors, he had 63 points in 29 games. He also scored two goals in four games as an AP with the U18 AA Moose Jaw Warriors.
Then, the next pick saw Weyburn draft Will Nicholson from Regina. In 29 games last year with the U15 AA Monarchs, Nicholson picked up 54 points in 29 games. He added 10 more points in seven playoff games.