Cougars Win 2010 WHL Bantam Draft Lottery

Wednesday, March 17, 2010 11:05 AM

It was certainly no guarantee the Cougars would wind up with the first overall pick in heading into Wednesday's WHL Draft Lottery in Calgary. The Cougars had the most balls going into the lottery and even if the PG ball didn't get drawn, the Cougars still could have had the first pick if Seattle, Regina or Prince Albert had a ball taken out of the shute first. That is 12 of 21 balls that could have gone in the Cougars favour, or 57.1%. Fortunately Wednesday morning, the odds played out in the Cougars favour, with the PG ball selected first and giving Prince George the right to choose first overall at the April 29 WHL Bantam Draft in Edmonton.

"Well, it's exciting," said Cougars General Manager Dallas Thompson following the lottery results. "We're done and got everyone back home and we've been patiently waiting for today. It's a big thing to get the first pick and we're excited to have it. We get to go to all the provincial camps now and instead of guessing what's going to happen in front of us, we'll get to make our own decision and let everybody pick after us."

Assistant General Manager and Director of Player Personnel Wade Klippenstein was in attendance in Calgary, with the lottery supervised by Andrew Mark of KPMG. The worst position the Cougars could have found themselves in was picking third, with the Edmonton Oil Kings and Lethbridge Hurricanes also in a position to win the first pick. Teams could move up or down no more than two spots. But that first pick was the Cougars to lose and Edmonton and Lethbridge's pick to win, leaving the Cougars brass with some anxious feelings heading into the lottery.

"We were nervous. If you look back, I think it was three of the six years, the team with the most balls didn't win it," said Thompson. "There was that chance and the lottery is in there for a reason and it is certainly something that took a long time to get here. The Monday, Tuesday and this morning certainly dragged on until it happened."

Now that the Cougars know they have the first pick and are now on the clock, the work now goes into deciding on who will be the first player taken in the 2010 WHL Bantam Draft.

"We've got our scouts out and about and now that the season's are pretty much over for all the bantam teams, everybody goes into a branch camp, so we get to see every province and their top 80 kids," added Thompson. "We'll be meeting a lot here and we'll be watching a lot of hockey in the next month and a half."

Nothing changed in the top six positions for the draft, with Edmonton getting the second pick, Lethbridge will choose third, the fourth pick will be by Seattle, the fifth choice belongs to Regina and Prince Albert will select sixth.

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Posted on Wednesday, March 17, 2010 11:05 AM in Sports by 250 Sports

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Comments

Posted by: Loki on March 17 2010 1:33 PM

Awesome! They won something!

Posted by: MrPG on March 17 2010 2:13 PM

I sure hope they'll take Alex Forsberg.

Posted by: P Val on March 17 2010 3:06 PM

I feel sorry for anyone they pick..come to the COugars to ruin your career and play for a completely incompetant staff.. Just say NO to the cougars until they do SOMETHING worthwhile..

Posted by: Loki on March 17 2010 3:11 PM

Come on pval, how are they to build a team without acquiring new meat?
Giving first pick to the most losing team is supposed to be equitable.

Posted by: MrPG on March 17 2010 3:14 PM

P Val is in a sour mood today. Don't poke her!

Posted by: dan on March 17 2010 4:10 PM

I don't think that anything PVal has said is out of line. The GM, his assistants, and the scouting staff have had how many years now to prove themselves??

And what exactly have they done to prove they are not "completely incompetant" as PVal says??
Other than work very hard to earn the first overall bantam pick.

There is a definite chance to rebuild here. But it seems obvious to everyone that they need a true hockey person running things. I really do hope they bring a new GM in, and if Rick just cannot have Dallas without a job, then perhaps he could work and learn from the new guy.

Posted by: HabsFans on March 17 2010 5:17 PM

Well, I think that the Cougs are going in the right direction.

They got rid of the old scouting staff and put Wade Klippestein in charge, who I think is doing a much better job of looking for talent.

They have lots of young and talented players.

They have a proven coach with a long term contract who can set goals beyond just a season.

Posted by: MrPG on March 17 2010 6:56 PM

While Dallas Thompson is everybody's favorite whipping boy, he is just one piece of the puzzle. If he was gone tomorrow, the Cougars would not all of a sudden be competitive.

They need on-ice talent (which they are starting to get), and a decent coach. I'm still not convinced that Dean Clark is doing the job, but we'll see how he does next year.

Posted by: Mr. PG on March 18 2010 9:28 AM

Noe that Dallas has actually won something, we may never get rid of him!

Posted by: ski50 on March 18 2010 9:58 AM

Last time Cougars had this honor they picked Ryan Kerr - did nothing here, and Jarret Smith - went from possible pro to not sure where he is now, and never reached his potential.

MrPG I would say that Dallas isn't a part of the puzzle, he's just the guy with the strings attached that Rick pulls. There's one constant in the Cougars dismal record and that's it's owner. We only once had top level coaching and management and both of them bailed after a year. Wonder why? :)

Posted by: MrPG on March 18 2010 10:35 AM

Since when are draft picks sure things? That's the nature of the draft, sometimes you score, sometimes you get burned.

At least with Alex Forsberg, they get a player who can score (at the bantam level at least) and he has a brother here, so he won't try to pull a Ryan Kerr.

And again, I don't defend the ownership, because they have a lot to answer for. Just trying to see the forest for the trees.

15+ years of generally poor hockey is not acceptable. Hopefully with all of their prospects they can turn it around.

Posted by: P Val on March 18 2010 11:50 AM

sweet..another 17 years of rebuilding.. cant wait..

Posted by: cougs78 on March 18 2010 9:20 PM

P Val take a pill. We have seen a lot of good players go from PG to the NHL. Why would any player like playing for negative people like you. Mr. P Val must be so happy!