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Five P.A. players picked in WHL draft

May 4, 2018 | 8:00 AM

Prince Albert’s Gabe Klassen couldn’t have been in a more suitable place when found out where he was selected in the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft — he was actually in ‘hockey class.’

Klassen said his class was watching a live broadcast of the draft and saw Klassen get drafted in the first round, 19th overall by the Portland Winterhawks.

“All of our class was watching on the SMART Board,” Klassen said. “It was pretty amazing. I wasn’t quite sure where I’d be going, then I found out it was in the first round to Portland … It’s a great organization over there, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Klassen was one of five P.A. players from the the Prince Albert Venice House Pirates Bantam AA squad to get selected in the draft this year. That’s the largest number of P.A. bantam AA players drafted since 2011.

Marek Schneider went in the second round, 30th overall, to the Saskatoon Blades — one pick before the Raiders were on the board. The Medicine Hat Tigers drafted Ashton Ferster and the Spokane Chiefs picked Logan Cox, both in the fourth round. Chase Friedt-Mohr went in round five, also to the Spokane Chiefs, and all five players are committed to playing on the Prince Albert Mintos Midget AAA club next season.

Shawn Phaneuf coached all five players with the Pirates, and he said it’s encouraging to see Prince Albert heavily represented in the draft.

“I think it helps fuel the younger guys, the guys in our grassroots programs that have a dream of being players,” Phaneuf said. “I think it definitely shows the success of our program of Prince Albert minor hockey as a whole and our Tier I program, and it shows that P.A. minor hockey has done a lot of work developing our grassroots programs so our players are getting better and we’re developing skill.”

As far as coaching all the players at once, Phaneuf said it was surprisingly easy as they all worked together, avoiding selfish plays and other attempts to raise their own stock.

“Sometimes it can be a challenge because there are egos involved, but this group in general was really banded together,” Phaneuf said. “We had a common goal: we wanted to win the province. Obviously, we came a little short, but I think they actually complimented each other.”

 

Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW