And with the annual WHL Bantam draft now complete, in the midst of the 12 picks made by the organization’s brain trust, there are some future T-Birds. How many of those will ever don a Thunderbirds jersey is not known yet. We’ll see most of them at training camp and one or two might get a few games at some point next season but most likely we won’t feel the full effects of this draft until the 2011-12 season. Still though, like every other WHL team once the draft is completed, the ‘Birds are excited for what could be.
Russ Farwell and staff went fairly heavy with forwards in this draft (7 of 13 picks) which tells me they are happy with the defensemen on the team roster right now and those currently in the system who could make the club this fall, such as last spring’s second round bantam pick, Tanner Muth. Meanwhile the top two picks seem to share at least one common trait, good size but with room to grow. Those picks; Brandon Troock of Edmonton, Alberta, and Justin Hickman from Kelowna, British Columbia, who both just turned 15 in March, average 6’ ½” and 170 lbs.
Remember last year’s bantam draft was nearly the opposite of the one just completed and was weighted toward drafting more defenseman (4 of 9 picks were d-men). Of course there is still plenty of off-season left and trades are still a possibility, not to mention the T-Birds will add one player in the Import Draft and that could be a defenseman as well. The Thunderbirds did pretty well in that regard a year ago when the selected Stefan Warg from Sweden.
Of course the T-Birds may have had their eye on a defenseman in the earlier rounds of this draft but, picking middle of the pack, may have lost out to a team selecting ahead of them. I’m sure like any draft, be it the WHL or the NFL, the staff targets a number of players in each round and takes the one left that’s highest on their board.
The T-Birds also drafted two players both with the surname “D’Amico” which raises the odds of a player named “D’Amico” playing for the team in the next 3-4 years. It doesn’t appear at first glance the two are related. Eighth round selection Jared D’Amico is a goalie from Chestermere, Alberta, while 11th round choice Patrick D’Amico is a right winger from Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Six of the T-Birds draft choices hail from Alberta, four from B.C., one comes from Manitoba and Saskatchewan was blanked. And after taking two players from Texas in the 2008 Bantam Draft (Colin Jacobs, Trey Keenan), Colorado was the “state du jour” this time around as the names of two players from the Rocky Mountain state were called by the T-Birds Thursday in Edmonton. Seattle selected defenseman John Dora from Erie, Colorado, in the 7th round then finished the draft process by opting for goalie Dan Kowalski in round 13. If Kowalski ever makes it on to the T-Birds roster he’ll immediately become my wife’s favorite player. Not that she’s familiar with Kowalski but he hails from my wife’s hometown of Centennial, which is a suburb of Denver. Until recently it was unincorporated and considered part of Littleton, home of the WHL’s Bowman brothers (Drayson and Colin) but they apparently have a good hockey program there and if Kowalski came through the same program as the Bowman’s did then the T-Birds may have found a gem. One other note on the two players from Colorado; they played for a team called the Thunderbirds.
Now, as a broadcaster the one player I’m looking forward to making this club in a few years is third round pick Jetlan Houcher, or as I’m already calling him, “The Jet”. I’m trying to figure ways to get Boeing involved in a sponsorship if he ever gets to Kent. Come on, how can you not like The Jet taking off, flying down the wing and crash landing in the crease with the puck in the back of the opponents net?
