Pistons Pick 10 at MJHL Bantam Draft
As seen on Steinbachonline.com – Written by Clayton Dreger
Nicholas Kobelka, Dennis Bosc, Justin Beaudry, James Shearer, Adam Touchette, Riley Bruce and Michael King.
What do they have in common?
They were the Steinbach Pistons first pick in the last seven Manitoba Junior Hockey League Bantam Drafts.
King is the latest addition to the group as he was chosen Sunday morning.
“We’re very pleased with that selection,” said Pistons head coach & general manager Paul Dyck. “He’s a guy that showed interest in our program. He came to our spring camp. We like the way he plays the game. It’s inline with the identity of our club. He skates well. He’s going to be a big body. He’s got a good skill set and is a player that’s going to be difficult to play against down the road. we were very happy to get him in the 10th spot.”
King, who was selected by the Kootenay Ice in the 7th round of the 2015 Western Hockey League Bantam Draft, recorded 11 goals and 10 assists in 28 games with the Winnipeg Sharks this past season.
The Pistons also selected forward Isaiah Cockerill of Winnipeg in round two, forward Troy Beauchemin of Ile des Chenes, goaltender Matthew Thiessen of Altona and forwards Riley Sierhuis and Rylan Bettans of Winnipeg in round three, defenseman Curtis Ireland of Brandon in round four and forward Travis Penner of La Salle in round five.
Steinbach’s two auto protected list players were defensemen Jack Lenchyshen and Burke Heide.
“We identified a number of guys and you rank players in accordance to where you feel they rank within our province,” Dyck said. “To be honest, we were happy with all our selections as we kept going through the process.””If you look at our top three forwards (King, Cockerill & Beauchemin), they were guys that we had thought were likely going to be gone by the time we could get to that spot and then we went a goalie early. We selected the first goalie in the draft. We got Matthew Thiessen who has ties to Steinbach and also has had a tremendous year and showed very well at the POE’s and we feel he has a bright future. We were familiar with all the players we selected and we feel that they’re all going to have potential to fill a role for us down the road.”
Steinbach also dealt 20-year-old forward Tyler Garrioch and a fifth round pick in the 2015 draft to the Dauphin Kings for 18-year-old forward Bradley Schoonbaert and third round pick in the 2015 draft.
Dyck used that third round pick was used to select Troy Beauchemin.
The Pistons had acquired Garrioch from the Kings last December.
The Neepawa Natives had the first overall pick and selected forward Mackenzie Belinski of Vista.
Defenseman Cole DeKonick of Lorette was chosen by the Waywayseecappo Wolverines in round one. Forward Rylan Hoffman of Lac Du Bonnet went to the Wolverines in round two. Forward Matthew Osadick of Grand Pointe was selected by the Swan Valley Stampeders in round three. Goaltender Wyatt Emes of Anola went to the Virden Oil Capitals in round four. Forward Kyle Moore of Dufresne was chosen by the Neepawa Natives and defenseman Montana Onyebuchi of Dugald went to the Winkler Flyers in round five. Forward Owen Blocker of Cooks Creek was chosen by Virden in round six.