It’s Christmas in May for rebuilding Hitmen
Calgary selects ‘Dynamic’ forward Tschigerl with No. 4 pick in WHL draft
Following a disappointing season, the Calgary Hitmen took steps toward getting things back on track at the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft in Red Deer on Thursday.
The Hitmen, who finished the 2017-18 campaign with a 24-37-11 record, owned five of the first 47 picks in the draft and eight of the top 71 selections.
“It’s tough when you don’t make the playoffs, but it was kind of like Christmas (on Thursday),” said Hitmen director of player personnel Dallas Thompson.
They used the fourth overall pick to select forward Sean Tschigerl of Whitecourt.
“Across the board with our scouts, we were very high on him all year,” Thompson said. “We’re very happy to select him.
“He’s a hard-working guy who was the captain of his team. He plays both ends of the ice, plays with some will and a lot heart and determination.”
In 30 regular-season games with his OHA Edmonton bantam prep squad, Tschigerl found the back of the net 31 times and finished with 70 points.
The 5-foot-11, 173-pound forward then added 10 more goals and four assists in five playoff games and finished things off with a hat trick to power OHA Edmonton to a 5-1 win over Rink Hockey Academy in the 2018 CSSHL Bantam Prep Championship game in Penticton, B.C., on March 18.
“In that game, he was the best player on the ice,” said Thompson of the 15-year-old prospect. “He’s hard to play against and can score goals and has a will to score goals. He’s a dynamic guy.”
Tyson Galloway, who the Hitmen chose in the second round with the 25th overall pick, agreed with Thompson that Tschigerl is tough to defend.
“I’ve played against him lots,” said Galloway, who had three goals and 11 assists in 29 games with his Yale Hockey Academy bantam prep team in the CSSHL this past season. “He’s very hard to play against.”
After a season away in Abbotsford playing for Yale Hockey Academy, Galloway himself will return to his hometown of Kamloops to play at the Midget AAA level for the Thompson Blazers next season.
“I’m hoping to come in as a firstyear (player) and have a big impact on the blue line and hopefully develop lots, so hopefully I can be ready to play in the WHL,” said the 6-foot-3, 200-pound defenceman of this future with the Hitmen.
Since the picks from this year’s draft won’t be eligible to play in the WHL on a full-time basis until the 2019-20 season, Thompson and his scouting staff will do their best to keep tabs on them until that time.
“We know who we have now,” Thompson said. “It’s about watching their development next year, and we’re excited about that.”
Due to a pair of trades this past season that sent defenceman Jake Bean to the Tri-City Americans and forwards Matteo Gennaro and Beck Malenstyn to the Swift Current Broncos, the Hitmen had two more second-round selections that they used to take forwards Tristan Zandee of Airdrie 36th overall and Zackary Funk of Coldstream, B.C., with the 43rd pick.
“Everything kind of went how we thought it would as far as our plan going in,” said Thompson, who subsequently took goalie Marek Pocherewny of the Calgary Bantam AAA Bisons 47th overall in the third round. “We wanted to take a forward first and follow up with a defenceman and two forwards after that in the second round.
“And then, obviously, we got our local goalie later on. We’re very excited. (Pocherewny) had a real good year, and we think he can grow a little bit.”
The Hitmen went on to select defenceman Neill Rory with the 62nd pick in the third round before taking forwards David Hymovitch and James Gibson in the fourth round.
After nabbing defencemen Jacob Romanchuk and Rylan Jockims in the sixth and seventh rounds respectively, the Hitmen acquired a pair of draft picks in two separate deals with the Regina Pats.
In the first transaction, the Hitmen acquired Regina’s sixthround pick in the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft in exchange for 17-yearold forward Justyn Gurney.
“Sending Justyn to the Pats provides him with a fresh start while opening up a roster spot for one of our prospects,” said Hitmen general manager Jeff Chynoweth, who subsequently dealt away the team’s eighth-, ninth- and 10thround picks from this year’s draft for the Pats seventh-round selection in 2020.
“With an abundance of early picks in both the 2018 and 2019 drafts, we felt it was in the best interest of our team to move some of our later picks for an earlier selection down the road.”