7 Saskatoon players selected in WHL bantam draft

Kevin Korchinski nearly skipped class on Thursday to see where he might play hockey one day.

The 14-year-old player from the Saskatoon Generals was flipping through his phone during gym class when he was selected 10th overall by the Seattle Thunderbirds in the Western Hockey League bantam draft.

“I was going to skip school to watch (the draft), but I had a gym test, so I was going to do that,” Korchinski said of his draft-day experience.

“Our gym teacher couldn’t come because he went to the Huskies (Dogs’ Breakfast) banquet. We didn’t have a gym test, so I was just checking my phone every 10 minutes.”

Korchinski was the first player from the province to be selected in the draft, and one of seven players from Saskatoon who heard their names called on Thursday.

Of the 228 players selected in the draft reserved for 2004-born players, Alberta led all provinces with 68 selections, while Saskatchewan had 30 players drafted compared to 43 in 2018.

Korchinski, who describes himself as a puck-moving defenceman comparable to Josh Morrissey, doesn’t mind the long trek to Seattle either — especially with an NHL franchise coming to town.

“That’s just the cherry on top; it’s going to be really cool to see how the fans transition,” Korchinski said of the NHL team expected in Washington by 2021. “Hopefully if I play there I get to play in their new rink.”

Blades drop down in draft

The Saskatoon Blades had some work of their own to complete on top of any draft priorities. Twenty-year-old Reese Harsch was shipped to the Winnipeg Ice along with the third overall pick to acquire the ninth overall selection, two second-round picks and a fifth-round pick.

At No. 9, the Blades selected Brandon Lisowsky out of the Burnaby Winter Club Hockey Academy Bantam Prep program.

“We really felt like we had a few holes in terms of draft picks we’ve moved in the last year,” Blades general manager Colin Priestner said of the draft-day deal.

“Luckily, we ended up getting Lisowsky, who was a guy in our top three all year. I didn’t expect him to be there at (No.) 9.”

Priestner has made a habit of building his team through the middle of the ice in recent years. The Blades have drafted at least one player at centre in the first round since 2015.

Wanting to use a high pick on a goalie every other year, Priestner added local product Ethan Chadwick with a third-round selection.

“(It was a) no-brainer for us,” Priestner said. “He’s a great kid, his family has been billeting Blades for years and he’s grown up in our rink. We feel like we really got an elite goaltender in the third round.”

The trade to start Thursday’s draft cleared up one roster spot for Priestner, but still leaves him plenty of work to do when it comes to solidifying his three overage players come training camp.

“We’re down to four or five to choose from,” he said. “I really like our forward group and our goaltending. If we can replace a few defencemen we lost, that will be our focus before camp.”