DOGS PICK 10 IN QMJHL ENTRY DRAFT

VICTORIAVILLE, Que. – Draft day has come and gone for another year and it has resulted in the Saint John Sea Dogs gaining the rights to ten prospects.

It took awhile for the Sea Dogs to make a selection as they were without a first round pick because of the Alexandre Beauregard trade. With that 18th overall pick, the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies selected Alexandre Belanger.

The Sea Dogs were originally scheduled to select at No. 36 but they traded that to Rouyn-Noranda for the 19th overall pick. Saint John also traded a fourth round pick and a second round pick in next year’s draft.

With the first pick in the second round, Saint John selected Oliver Cooper. The forward spent last season with the New Brunswick – Prince Edward Island Major Midget League’s Fredericton Canadiens where he had 11 goals, 24 points and 52 penalty minutes in 33 games. He also participated with Team New Brunswick at the 2011 Canada Winter Games.

“It’s pretty flattering and it’s exciting to be part of this team and this organization,” said Cooper of Saint John trading up to acquire him. “It feels pretty good.”

Fast-forward to the third round, Saint John took defenseman Maxime Gravel with the 50th overall pick. Gravel posted 10 goals and 22 points in 36 games with Esther-Blondin in the Quebec midget ‘AAA’ ranks.

“There was a player there (Cooper) that we weren’t expecting to be there so we moved up to pick him. Oliver Cooper is a big strong forward that we think has got a ton of upside, then we picked Maxime Gravel, a right-shot defenseman with a real good shot,” said Sea Dogs director of hockey operations Mike Kelly in a release.

In the fourth round the Sea Dogs used the pick that they purchased in Friday’s Lewiston Maineiacs’ dispersal draft. They selected another Fredericton Canadiens forward in McKenzie Brown with the 68th overall pick. Brown, who also played in the Canada Games, had seven goals and 16 points in 36 games.

In the fifth round, the Dogs selected goaltender Alex Fournier from the Antoine-Girouard midget espoirs program.

In round six, Saint John took forward Steven Anderson – a Prince Edward Island native - who spent last season playing at Upper Canada College. Anderson played for Team Atlantic at the World Under-17 Challenge where he had a goal in five games. Current Sea Dog Devon Oliver-Dares was on the same team.

Saint John traded a 2012 sixth round pick to the Rimouski Oceanic in exchange for this year's 124th overall pick. The Sea Dogs took the gamble of drafting Connor Brickley, a forward who spent last season at the University of Vermont. In 35 Hockey East games he recorded four goals and nine assists.

Brickley was selected in the second round, 50th overall by the Florida Panthers in the 2010 National Hockey League Entry Draft. Here is what Hockey’s Future has to say about the 19-year old:

Brickley is a two-way player. He plays bigger than his size, but he needs to get much stronger on the puck and stronger on his skates. Brickley was the fourth of eight forwards selected by the Panthers in the 2010 draft and fits their m.o. in terms of size and bruising style of play. Brickley possesses the requisite skills necessary to play at the pro level but is still raw in terms of physical development and tactical play and will benefit from the extra time he will have to grow playing college hockey. Brickley comes from a hockey family. His father Craig played college hockey at the University of Pennsylvania and was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings and he is a second cousin of former NHL player Andy Brickley.

There has been no word yet on the chances of him reporting to Saint John this fall.

In round eight, the Dogs drafted another American in defenseman Ryan Segalla. He played at Salisbury School last season.

Saint John took another goaltender with the final selection of the ninth round. Shawn Jeffery, who played ‘AAA’ hockey with the Cape Breton West Islanders last season, joined Fournier as goaltenders selected by the Sea Dogs. Jeffery had a 4-16 record to go along with a 4.02 goals against average and a 0.880 save percentage in 22 games.

In round 10, the Dogs took another defenseman from Salisbury School in Marc Biega. The Quebec native has three brothers – all passed up junior hockey to play for Harvard.

With their last pick, the Dogs drafted defenseman Ryan Kelly, a defenseman who played ‘AAA’ in Charlottetown last year. Kelly is the son of the Sea Dogs’ Mike Kelly.

Photo Credit: Sea Dogs Website