The Dauphin Kings looked to the future as they selected eight players in the annual Manitoba Junior Hockey League draft, Sunday morning.
Prior to the draft, the Kings autoprotected forward Luke Myhre and defenceman Sam Swanton, both of whom played for the U18 Parkland Rangers last season.
In 44 games, Myhre tallied 16 goals and 16 assists for 32 points, finishing fifth in team scoring.
Swanton recorded one goal and 10 assists for 11 points in 44 games with the Rangers, last season.
With their first pick, seventh overall, the Kings selected Ethan Stewart from the U18 Brandon Wheat Kings.
Stewart dressed in 22 games with Brandon last season scoring seven times and assisting on 11 others for 18 points.
With their second pick, 21st overall, Dauphin took defenceman Ryan Gower from the Rangers.
Gower had two goals and 23 assists for 25 points in 42 games with Parkland last season.
The Kings had two picks in the third round, the first coming in a trade with Neepawa, which Dauphin used to select defenceman Cade McCallum, 32nd overall, who registered seven assists in 42 games last season with the U18 Pembina Valley Hawks.
With their own pick in the third round, 35th overall, the Kings selected Dauphin native Easton Odut from the U18 Brandon Wheat Kings.
In 38 games last season, Odut tallied 19 goals and 15 assists for 34 points. He was also scoreless in two games with the Western Hockey League’s Brandon Wheat Kings.
The Kings had two picks in the fourth round, as well, the first pick coming in a trade with Selkirk, 45th overall, which they used to take goaltender Chase Glover from the U18 Rangers.
Last season, the Laurier native posted a 7-11-4-0 record with a 4.59 GAA and .878 save percentage.
Four picks later, Dauphin chose forward Ryder Wolfe from Pembina Valley, where he scored seven goals and added four assists in 44 games.
In the fifth round, Dauphin selected forward Archer Ives, 63rd overall.
Ives played 29 games with the U17 Eastman Selects of the Winnipeg AAA Hockey League, scoring seven goals and 10 assists for 17 points.
With their final pick of the draft, 77th overall, the Kings selected forward Cam Sarna, from the Portage Collegiate Institute of the Zone 4 High School Hockey League.
In 22 games, Sarna scored 22 goals and added 33 assists for 55 points.
The Kings also made a trade, re-acquiring forward Connor Picard, as well as forward Jordan Bax from the French River Rapids of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League for future considerations.
