2018 MJHL Draft held in Winnipeg

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2018 MJHL Draft held in Winnipeg

Details: Published on Thursday, June 14, 2018

By Eoin Devereux

Neepawa Banner & Press

Southwest Cougars forward Grady Lane was the top pick in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) Bantam Draft on Sunday, June 3.

The 15-year-old Virden product was selected by the Winkler Flyers, who acquired the first pick from Waywayseecappo in a draft pick trade made the previous day. Lane accumulated 42 points (22 goals - 20 assists) for the Cougars last season.

The second player taken in the draft was Sloan Stanick of the Yellowhead Chiefs, who was picked by the Dauphin Kings. As for the Neepawa Natives, they had the third pick in the first round and chose defensemen Kyle Melo of the Eastman Selects. Melo had 40 points (23G - 17A) for Eastman in 34 games. The other players picked in the top five were Winnipeg’s Cole Assailly, by Swan Valley and Jared Chapel of St. Andrews, who was taken by Selkirk.

Six Yellowhead Chiefs selected

As for notable picks from the Yellowhead Chiefs, five additional players were selected along with Sloan Stanick. One of those picks included Sloan’s brother Slade, who was picked up by the Virden Oil Capitals with the 54th overall pick. Other Chiefs who heard their names called included Colby Wotton (7th overall), Brandt Young (12th overall) and Curtis Muir (65th overall), who were all chosen by Waywayseecappo.

Neepawa Natives pick six

To go along with Melo and Wood, four other players were chosen by the Neepawa Natives on Sunday. Those players were defensemen Aiden Litke (25th overall), forward Cameron Hibbert (36th), defensemen Aiden Dufault (47th) and Cody Gudnason (60th).

Auto protected

Each of the 11 MJHL clubs are also allowed to protect two bantam aged players from their local minor hockey association before the draft. For the Natives, they auto protected forward Dillon Birch of the Yellowhead Chiefs.

The complete draft results for all 11 MJHL clubs can be found online at mjhlhockey.ca.

MJHL first round selections

Team Player name Position Bantam team

1. Winkler Grady Lane Forward Southwest

2. Dauphin Sloan Stanick Forward Yellowhead

3. Neepawa Kyle Melo Defence Eastman

4. Swan Valley Cole Assailly Defence Rink H.A. Nationals

5. Selkirk Jared Chapel Defence Rink H.A. Nationals

6. Winnipeg Branden Huminuk Forward Winnipeg Sharks

7. Wayway Colby Wotton Forward Yellowhead

8. OCN Trentyn Crane Forward Pembina Valley

9. Portage Brett Tataryn Forward Interlake