The USHL Entry Draft should be getting underway any minute now, and I'll try to keep live updates as it goes along.
This got insanely long, so I'm putting it all after the jump...
Tri-City selected first and took Justin DeMartino, a big power forward from the Little Caesar's program that is committed to Ferris State.
2nd overall is Austin Coldwell, a defenseman from the Springfield Jr. Blues of the NAHL. Coldwell is originally from Vancouver, Washington.
Willie Yanakeff, the goalie kicked off the NTDP U17 team earlier this spring was selected third overall by the Sioux City Musketeers. He's got tremendous talent on the ice, and should be a good player if he can control things off the ice.
Des Moines selected 4th overall by Des Moines and took '92 defenseman Brandon Carlson out of the Chicago Mission AAA program. Carlson is originally from California, and maybe could have made the team for the Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL last season, but instead chose to keep all of his options open for at least another year. Carlson was a third round draft pick of the Thunderbirds in 2007.
Des Moines looks to be rebuilding their defensive corps after a rough last season last year. They've had two picks in the top four and took two D that can step in right away at the USHL level and be solid contributors.
Youngstown made their first ever USHL Draft selection at 5th overall and took Dan Senkbeil out of the San Jose Sharks U18 program. Senkbeil was rated as a 'C' prospect in NHL Central Scouting's preliminary Players to Watch list. He's got a pretty big frame at 6'3" and a lot of upside.
Sioux Falls is up next at 6th overall and they select MIchael Voran, originally from Livonia Stevenson HS in Michigan, who played for the Wenatchee Wild in the NAHL last year. Voran drew some college interest as a youngster when he made the US Select 15 Festival. That interest faded a little his last two years of school, but then he had a nice year at Wenatchee which put him back on the radar.
Fargo selected next and took Zane Gothberg, a goalie from Thief River Falls in the northwest part of Minnesota. Gothberg has been one of the best goalies in the state of Minnesota the past two years, but has done so quietly since he plays in TRF. The Force already have Cody Campbell in goal for at least the next year, and if they add Gothberg some day, that gives them a great 1-2 punch in goal.
Omaha drafted 8th overall and took Mathieu Brisson. USHR had this say about Brisson when he committed to Cornell last November: "Brisson, the leading-scoring defenseman in the Quebec Midget AAA League, plays for College Charles Lemoyne and was named last week to the Quebec Under-17 Team that will represent the province at the World Under-17 Challenge in British Columbia Dec. 27-Jan. 4.
Brisson, a Montreal native, is a strong skater who projects to be a key player on the Big Red power play sometime after he arrives there, which will be the fall of ’10.
A 3/9/92 birthdate, Brisson was projected by the Q’s Central Scouting to go #8 overall in June’s draft. His NCAA aspirations spooked teams however, and he dropped to the second round where he was selected by Prince Edward Island. "
Waterloo selected 9th overall and took defenseman Tyler Amburgey out of the NTDP program. Amburgey is a big Texan that never quite developed as hoped at the NTDP and seemed to fall out of favor with the coaching staff, but there's still definitely talent there and he should make a decent college player some day as he matures and develops a litlte more.
Lincoln had to pass the 10th pick because they traded it to the now defunct Ohio franchise two years ago.
With the 11th pick in the first round, Tri-City selected again and took defenseman Taylor Aronson from the LA Jr. Kings. Like a lot of kids out in California, Aronson looks like an accomplished roller hockey player.
Cedar Rapids selected Nolan Zajac, a '92 defenseman from Winnipeg. He is the younger brother of all those other Zajacs that you know.
Green Bay selected 13th overall and took defenseman Max Hartner from the Colorado Rampage. Hartner played two games for Sioux City last December against the Gamblers and scored a goal in one of them. He must have impressed the Gambler's staff.
That ends the first round of the draft.
Tri-City leads off the second round of the draft and selects Blake Coleman, a forward from the Dallas Stars AAA program. I'm a little surprised Tri-City has started things off with two forwards and a more offensive minded defenseman considering their defense and goaltending was brutal last season.
Sioux Falls selected Ryan Misiak who played for Little Caesar's AAA program before having an impressive year with the Motor City Machine of the NAHL and committing to Mercyhurst. Misiak is a physical presence, but also has the ability to score points.
Sioux City selected Jeff Silengo, a New Hampshire recruit that played for South Kent last year.
Garrett Ross is the second Ferris State recruit to be selected today by Cedar Rapids 17th overall. Ross scored a lot of points for the Belle Tire U16 team that was very strong, before moving over to the Victory Honda program last season.
Youngstown's second selection at 18th overall is JD Carabino. It looks like Carabino played at Avon Old Farms with Lee Moffie(Michigan), Pat Mullane(BC), and Cam Atkinson(BC).
CJ Motte a goalie out of the Detroit Honeybaked program was selected 19th by Sioux Falls.
Blake Doerring was selected by Fargo. He's another Minnesota kid that played at the Blake School and is committed to Vermont. Doerring isn't overly flashy, but plays a very solid game.
At 21st overall, Omaha selected Erik Haula, the talented Finn from Shattuck-St. Mary's. He's committed to Minnesota, and I think I remember hearing that he'll be spending his senior year in Omaha, rather than staying at SSM.
DJ Vandercook is the second Wenatchee Wild player to get selected, going 22nd to Des Moines. That's a nice feather in the cap of the Wild to be moving players on to the next level like that.
Brendan Woods is a forward from Pennsylvania that went 23rd overall to Chicago. He played for the US Select 17 team last summer.
Indiana drafted 24th and took Justin Agosta, a big defenseman from Long Island that recently committed to New Hampshire.
Evan Kovacs from Grosse Pointe North HS was selected 25th by Cedar Rapids.
Green Bay selected goalie Ryan McKay from the Chicago Young Americans
That ends the second round. Onto the third round.
Tri-City selects first again in the third round and takes Carson Chubak, a goalie from Saskatchewan that was traded from the SJHL to the BCHL last year. The Storm hopefully finally get the goalie they need.
Another goalie goes next at 28 overall. This time it's Eric Mihalek from the bay State Breakers of the EJHL to the Des Moines Bucanneers.
Green Bay selected Alex Kubiak, a big scorer from the Chicago Fury AAA program.
Chicago drafted Mark Adams, a D from Malden Catholic in Massachusetts at 30th overall.
Forward Dean Pawlaczyk from Traverse City of the NAHL went 31st to Youngstown, and then Youngstown picked again and selected Michael Henderson, from the Surrey Eagles of the BCHL.
Wisconsin recruit Mark Zengerle was taken 33rd by Fargo. Zengerle scored a ton of points last year in the BCHL, but thanks to UW's ridiculous backlog of recruits, he'll have to play another year of junior hockey. The USHL might be a little bigger challenge for him.
Alex Vazzano a goalie from Gunnery Prep was selected by Waterloo at 34th overall. He's currently committed to Union.
UMass recruit Zach Phillips was taked 35th by Waterloo.
Cedar Rapids selected at 36th and took Kevin Liss, a nice defenseman out of Pittsburgh. Liss played two years of Midget Major hockey and is a very underrated prospect.
Indiana selected 37th and took Bryan Paulazzo, a forward from the Topeka NAHL franchise.
Cedar Rapids picked again at 38 and took Zachary Carriveau out of Nepean.
The Green Bay Gamblers selected forward Robert Franics, the second LA Jr. Kings player drafted.
That ends the third round.
The first pick of the fourth round is forward Jamie Hill from Team Comcast. He is the third player committed to New Hampshire to be picked today.
Des Moines takes F Kenny Agostino 41st and Sioux City takes D Scott McCauley 42nd.
Waterloo selected 43rd and took Michigan recruit Alex Guptill from Ontario. That gives him another option if he doesn't want to stay in Ontario for two years.
Youngstown selected Ben Paulides from the San Jose Jr. Sharks. They already selected his teammate Dan Senkbeil in the first round. Between the two, it seemed like one of either Paulides or Senkbeil, or both were on the ice at all times for San Jose.
Lincoln picked at 45 and selected Steve West, a former NTDP alum who struggled as a freshman at Ohio State. West only appeared in 7 games.
Indiana picked at 46 and took Billy Fitzgerald from Salisbury Prep.
Defenseman Steve Hensley from the very good Detroit Catholic Central team was selected 47th by Omaha.
Nick Sorkin is the fourth New Hampshire selected. He goes to Waterloo.
Jake Chelios, son of Chris, was selected by the Chicago Steel at 49th, which is where his older brother Dean played.
Sean Logue, who is going to St. Lawrence, was drafted by the Indiana Ice.
Chad Hudson, formerly of the Dallas AAA program, was selected 51st by Cedar Rapids. He played in the NAHL last year. He's a former teammate of Matt Donovan who starred for Cedar Rapids.
Green Bay selected J-P LaFontaine to end the 4th round. J-P is the nephew of Pat LaFontaine and his dad coaches at Shattuck where he plays.
Ok, Waterloo is done picking and I'm calling it a day. I'll update if any really interesting picks happen.