The Steinbach Pistons will once again be well represented at the MJHL/SJHL Showcase as the Manitoba Junior Hockey League announced this afternoon the 60 players from the league that will be headed to the two-day event in Regina.
Ten Pistons players have been selected to the Showcase and will be skating on two of the three teams during the event.
The event runs from January 21-22 at the Co-operators Centre, with every team playing two games against similarily selected teams from the SJHL.
Forwards Ty Naaykens and Kyle Bettens, along with defenceman Tucker Hodgson were selected to Team Garbutt, the only 18 and under team.
After being acquired from the Winnipeg Blues in the offseason, Naaykens is the team’s leading scorer with 15 goals and 35 points in 40 games played this season.
Bettens will be unable to attend this year’s event due to injury management, but the Bemidji State commit has been a point a game player for the Pistons in 2019-20 with 12 goals and 31 points in 31 games.
Hodgson has gotten better with each game he steps out on the ice, as the 18-year-old rookie from Grand Forks has put up 7 assists in 34 games in his rookie season.
Defencemen Declan Graham, Curtis Ireland, forwards Codey Behun, Ryan Butler, Carter Loney, Bryce Young, and goaltender Matt Lenz have all been selected to Team Belfour; one of the two 19 and 20-year-old teams for the Showcase.
Graham, the Pistons captain, is the team’s leading scorer from the back end with a career-high 4 goals and 22 points in 33 games played in his fourth MJHL season.
Ireland has put up 2 goals and 18 points this season and is just coming off of being named an MJHL Star of the Week from December 30th to January 5th.
In his first season with the Pistons, Behun is Steinbach’s leading twine tickler with 16 markers on the year while also registering 26 points. He also leads Steinbach with five game-winning goals.
Butler was just acquired by Steinbach at the trade deadline, as he put up 18 goals and 33 points with the OCN Blizzard before donning the white and blue for Saturday’s game against the Portage Terriers.
The 17-year-old Loney has had a spectacular rookie season with Steinbach, putting up 12 goals and 30 points in 34 games this season. The Minnesota-Duluth commit was a part of Team Canada West at the 2019 World Junior A Challenge in December and was selected by NHL Central Scouting to play in tomorrow’s CJHL Top Prospects Game in Hamilton.
Young has been productive in his tenure with Steinbach since being acquired by the team in early November. The 20-year-old from The Pas has also been a point per game player this season with 8 goals and 26 points in 26 games played.
Lenz has statiscally been the MJHL’s best goaltender this season, sporting a league best 21-3-1 record, a 1.99 GAA, a .926 SV%, and one shutout. The 20-year-old from Grapevine, Texas has also only allowed just 51 goals against in 2019-20 and was recently named an MJHL Star of the Week from December 30-January 5th.
The MJHL/SJHL Showcase will also serve as an opportunity for the MJHL to establish high performance team preparations for the upcoming 2020 Junior Club World Cup in Sochi, Russia.
The Pistons organization would like to congratulate all ten players that were selected to the 2020 MJHL/SJHL Showcase!