The La Ronge Ice Wolves ended up making seven selections during Friday’s SJHL Bantam Draft.
The Ice Wolves held the eighth overall pick and selected forward Rylan Williams from Kyle, SK. Williams had 66 points in 31 games with the Swift Current Broncos Bantam AA team this past season. Williams was also taken by the Lethbridge Hurricanes 236th overall in the WHL Bantam Draft recently.
“He (Williams) comes to play every night,” said Ice Wolves Head Scout Rob Fiola. “He played with the Lind boy in Swift Current, so he’s got some pretty high numbers, but when I did talk to his coach, his coach had nothing but great things to say about him.”
In the second round with the 20th overall selection, the Ice Wolves went with defenceman Evan Pinel from Pilot Butte, SK. Pinel tallied 24 points in 29 games with the Prairie Storm Bantam AA team during the 2019-20 campaign.
With the 34th overall pick in the third round, La Ronge took forward Zane Normand from Saskatoon, SK. Normand recorded 39 points in 30 games with the Saskatoon Stallions Bantam AA team this past season.
In the fourth round and with the 44th overall pick, the Ice Wolves drafted defenceman Ryder Knutson of Swift Current, SK. Knutson had 27 points in 30 games with the Swift Current Broncos Bantam AA team during the 2019-20 season.
La Ronge then selected forward Rowan Martin-Bryk with the 49th overall pick in the fifth round. He recorded 26 points in 22 games with the Saskatoon Bandits Bantam AA team this past season.
With the 56th overall selection in the fifth round, the Ice Wolves took defenceman Blake Ekren-Bratton of Porcupine Plain, SK. Ekren-Bratton recorded 37 points in 27 games with the North East Wolfpack Bantam AA team during the 2019-20 campaign. Ekren-Bratton was drafted 61st overall in the WHL Bantam Draft by the Medicine Hat Tigers.
La Ronge rounded out its selections by drafting forward Nate Allardyce with the 68th overall pick in the sixth round. The Saskatoon, SK product had 32 points in 30 games with the Saskatoon Generals Bantam AA team this past season.
“I know Rob Fiola and the scouts of Saskatchewan here I think have done a really good job for us,” said Ice Wolves Head Coach and GM Kevin Kaminski. “They had kind of every player listed in every round and we got five of the seven guys that we wanted to.”
The SJHL Bantam Draft started back in 2015.
(PHOTO: The Ice Wolves this past season. Photo courtesy of Brandon White.)