It wasn’t quite like last spring’s Western Hockey League prospects draft – in which two Semiahmoo Peninsula players were picked in the top 10 and a dozen members of the same Delta Hockey Academy team were drafted in total – but a handful of Surrey-area players still had their names called at the 2022 draft this week.
Just two B.C. players were selected in the top 10 this year, and just one from the Lower Mainland – Chase Harrington, a six-foot, 166-pound left winger from the Delta Hockey Academy.
At 11, Delta resident William Sharpe – who plays at the Abbotsford-based Yale Hockey Academy – was selected by the Lethbridge Hurricanes, and 11 spots later at 22nd overall, Delta Hockey’s Jakob Oreskovic was picked by the Vancouver Giants. Following that pick, a slew of young players from the prairie provinces were selected, until Delta Hockey Academy’s Kaleb Hartmann was picked by the Seattle Thunderbirds with a second-round pick, 37th overall.
A pair of Surrey players were picked back-to-back in the third round, with Savin Virk going to the Tri-City Americans at 46th overall, followed by Semiahmoo Ravens’ product Grant Reid – who plays at the Yale Academy – going to the Victoria Royals with the 47th pick. Ten picks later, Surrey’s Jack Bakker, who plays at the Burnaby Winter Club, was drafted by the Kamloops Blazers.
In the fourth round, Delta Hockey’s Isa Guram was picked by Kamloops 85th overall; Delta’s Damian Kravcak went two picks later to Tri-City.
In the seventh round, Surrey’s Coltan White – a member of the Valley West Giants U15 AAA team – was picked by the Edmonton Oil Kings; in the ninth round, Delta Hockey’s Dane Pyatt was picked by the Spokane Chiefs; Delta Hockey’s Jovan Sandhu was next off the board, going 193rd to the Red Deer Rebels, while Evan Cook went in the 12th round to Kamloops.
Both Sandhu and Cook are alums of Semiahmoo Ravens Hockey – which this week underwent a rebranding.
Rounding out the draft was Delta Hockey’s Brett Woodard, who was picked in the 13th round by Seattle.
The first overall pick in the draft was Whitehorse forward Gavin McKenna, who was picked by the Medicine Hat Tigers. The Langley-based Vancouver Giants, meanwhile, also made history by selecting Chloe Primerano, a 15-year-old defender from the Burnaby Winter Club, 268th overall. Primerano is the first ever female skater drafted in one of the CHL’s prospect drafts.
sports@peacearchnews.com
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