The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League held its annual bantam draft on Friday, June 2. Coaches and staff from all 12 hockey teams in the league gathered in Nipawin to make their selections of bantam aged players to add to their lists for the years to come.
The Yorkton Terriers selected six players in the draft.
In the first round, seventh overall, they selected Conner Giebel of Balgonie, SK. The forward had six goals and nine assists for 15 points this past season with the Prairie Storm.
This was one pick in particular that Terriers head coach/GM Casey O鈥橞rien said he was happy with.
鈥�(Conner) is the younger brother of Tyler (Giebel) who played for us in 2012-2013, 2013-2014 years when we won back to back titles. By keeping it in the family sometimes we know that there鈥檚 a good chance to get the player to come when they鈥檙e a bit older,鈥� said O鈥橞rien.
In the second round of the draft, the Terriers selected forward Anthony Toporowski from Saskatoon. He scored nine goals and 15 assists this past season with the Saskatoon Generals for a total of 24 points.
Their third round pick was Ryan Conlon from Warman, SK. The forward played his last season with the Sask Valley Vipers. He racked up 26 goals and 15 assists for 41 points this season.
In the fourth round, Yorkton selected two players after a trade with Kindersley. First was Cole Youngman of Saskatoon. Youngman spent last season with the Saskatoon Stallions and racked up nine goals and 13 assists last season. Also in the fourth round, the Terriers selected Josh Groenwold of Saskatoon. He spent his last season with the Saskatoon Maniacs and had a total of 26 points stemming from 12 goals and 14 assists.
In the fifth round, Yorkton鈥檚 final pick of the draft was Leyton Holoein of Emerald Park, SK. The D-man spent last season on the Prairie Storm, and had three goals and 11 assists for 14 points.
O鈥橞rien said the entire coaching staff is very happy with how the draft went.
鈥淕arry Carson 鈥� our main scout and director of player personnel - did a great job. We kind of let him do the draft since that鈥檚 his area,鈥� added O鈥橞rien.
The Terriers have an auto protect on players from Yorkton, as all SJHL teams do in their hometowns.
The bantam draft gives organizations the chance to build relationships with players who might one day play for their teams, and gives all teams in the league an even playing field.
Terrier trade alert
While all coaches were gathered at the SJHL trade in Nipawin, the Terriers took the chance to work out a trade with the Kinderlsey Klippers.
The Terriers traded 1997 defenseman Tyler Baier and their sixth round draft pick to the Klippers for 1998 defenseman Kyle Sargent and their fourth round pick.
Baier acted as a solid D-man for the Terriers for a total of three years, including his AP year. O鈥橞rien said they鈥檙e sad to see him go, but explained it was strictly a hockey trade.
鈥淥ne of the areas of needs that we had this year was a 19-year-old defenseman,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e were able to add Kyle Sargent, who鈥檚 a 1998 born defenseman. He has experience in the league.鈥�
Sargent was out for the end of the season due to injury, but will be ready to roll in Yorkton when the players hit the ice in August.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to miss Tyler. He鈥檚 a great kid, a great ambassador and has a great family. It was very hard making this trade but at the same time, it was an opportunity to move Tyler closer to home,鈥� said O鈥橞rien. 鈥淏oth teams are very happy with the move. We had to give up a good 20-year-old player to get a good player in return.鈥�
League changes
Once the draft was complete, coaches went through a number of meetings with the SJHL president to make a few league wide changes.
The most noteworthy change made was regarding the survivor series for the final two playoff spots.
In the past, those survivor series consisting of four teams were played in a best-of-five format. Going forward, they will be best-of-three.
鈥淥ne of the areas of concern in the league is finances. The teams that are sitting out of those survivor series, the top six, are sitting out for 12 days without a game,鈥� explained O鈥橞rien.聽 鈥淲e want to keep the survivor series, but we also want to get the top teams playing and revenue, too.鈥�
O鈥橞rien said that he feels they came to a fair compromise.
鈥淥ne option was to drop the whole wildcard/survivor series all together and just go top eight. There were mixed emotions from all 12 organizations in the league. We met in the middle,鈥� he said.
Now, there will be only one week between when the regular season ends and the quarterfinals begin. The survivor series will be played within that one week period.
O鈥橞rien said the Terriers are hoping to finish in the top six next season to avoid playing in the survivor series.
