The 2015/16 Yorkton Minor Hockey season was punctuated recently as a total of four local players were selected in the 2016 WHL Bantam Draft.
Three members of the bantam provincial champion Yorkton Xerox Terriers were taken in this year’s draft, as well as one member of the Yorkton RawTec Maulers.
Mauler rookie defenceman Kaedan Korczak – who spent the 2015/16 season playing in the SMAAAHL as an underage defenceman - was the highest Yorkton player selected in this year’s draft, going in the first round, 11th overall to the Red Deer Rebels, who acquired the pick just prior via a trade with Regina.
The 6’1”, 162-pound Korczak had two goals and 13 assists for the Maulers this past season.
Bantam Terrier net minder Nolan Maier became the second Yorkton and area player selected in the draft when he went early in the second round, 25th overall to the Saskatoon Blades.
Maier, widely regarded as the top goaltender in Saskatchewan for his age group, went an impressive 13-0-2 in the regular season with the SBAAHL champion Yorkton Xerox Terriers, posting three shutouts and a GAA of 1.54 before going 7-1 in the playoffs.
Yorkton players had to sit back and wait for quite some time after the Maier selection before hearing a familiar name be called, as it wasn’t until the ninth round when another Terrier player was selected.
That player was diminutive and pesky forward Kishaun Gervais, younger brother of former Terrier captain Kailum Gervais. The younger Gervais was selected by the Portland Winterhawks in the ninth round, 185th overall.
Gervais put together a strong 2015/16 season in the SBAAHL, scoring 26 times and adding 27 assists for 53 points – tied for second on the Xerox Terriers. He then scored 14 goals and added four assists in nine playoff games to help lead the Xerox Terriers to the 2016 SBAAHL title.
The fourth and final Yorkton player to be selected in the 2016 WHL Bantam Draft was none other than the Yorkton Xerox Terrier captain Aiden Bulych.
Bulych, the younger brother of 2015 WHL draft pick Kaleb Bulych (27 overall, Vancouver Giants), was picked in the ninth round, 190th overall, by the Prince Albert Raiders.
The 2015/16 Xerox Terrier captain had 24 goals and 29 assists in the most recent hockey regular season, and added nine goals and nine assists for 18 points in nine post season games.
The four Yorkton players selected in 2016 makes it 10 players from Yorkton over the past two seasons that have been drafted by WHL teams, as Carson Miller (Prince Albert), Kaleb Bulych (Vancouver), Keenan Taphorn (Kootenay), Brett Kemp (Everett), Kaeden Taphorn (Vancouver) and Reid Perepeluk (Prince George) were all selected in the 2015 Draft.
