Eastman players selected in MJHL draft

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This article was published 08/06/2024 (389 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was another strong year for Eastman in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) draft, as over 10 players from the region’s catchment area were selected at the annual event .

Grayson Slaney was the first player from the area taken off the board, as the Dominion City centre was selected by Neepawa with the first pick of the second round.

Slaney jumped from the Eastman U15 team straight to the U18 team this year, appearing in 44 games as a 2008-born player.
Neepawa wasn’t done taking players from the region, selecting Daniel De Gagne of Lorette in the sixth round. De Gagne spent last season playing for the U17 Selects.

Fellow U17 forward Noah Stott was taken by Winkler in the third round. The Steinbach-born player scored 37 points in 36 games last season.

Winkler selected the most Eastman players of any MJHL team during the draft, selecting three, taking Ste Anne’s Zach Lansard in the fifth round and Grunthal’s Colter Martens in the sixth. Martens also played for the U17 Selects.

Lansard has already gotten a jump start on his junior hockey career, signing with the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League (WHL) last summer, after being drafted in 2023. The MJHL moved to drafting players in their age-16 season in 2022, while the WHL still selects 15-year-olds.

Lansard appeared in 10 games for the Rink Hockey Academy’s U18 team this season, with the forward scoring eight points.

Round four saw a single player selected, with Lorette’s Jacob Riemer picked by Swan Valley. Reimer was the region’s first defenseman picked off the board, posting 25 points in 36 games for the U17 Selects last season.
In round five, Kylan Olson was selected by the Blizzard after Lansard’s selection. Olson also suited up for the U17 Selects in the 2023/2024 season.
The sixth round saw a run on Eastman players, with six taken off the board. In addition to De Gagne and Laramee, Niverville selected Garson’s Kellan Sichewski and Virden took La Broquerie’s Lucas Laramee.

Lac du Bonnet’s Benson Hirst and Beausejour’s Peyton Thiessen were also selected in the sixth round.

Three players from the region in Steinbach’s Malachi Thiessen and Niverville’s Max Dowse and Noah Hudson were also selected this year by their local teams through the auto-protect process.