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2013 NHL Draft: NCHC Recruits Abundant in NHL Draft

20 future NCHC players were drafted in the 2013 draft, providing more of a reason to believe the new conference will be anything but easy.

By Matt Christians
Future North Dakota goalie Evan Cowley shakes the hand of the Florida Panthers Head Coach Kevin Dineen
Future North Dakota goalie Evan Cowley shakes the hand of the Florida Panthers Head Coach Kevin Dineen
Bruce Bennett

Future hockey players with NCHC ties made their presence known in the 2013 NHL Draft yesterday. 20 of the 63 collegiate athletes that were selected in this year's draft will be skating for a NCAA school in the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference this fall.

Michael McCarron was not only the first future NCHC player taken in this year's draft, but the first of 63 future NCAA hockey players. The Western Michigan recruit was selected 25th overall by the Montreal Canadiens, but will have a decision to make in the next few days on whether to honor his commitment to Western Michigan or venture to London of the Ontario Hockey League.

The Minnesota Wild was the next team to select an NCHC recruit, using their first pick of the draft and 46th overall on Gustav Olofsson. Olofsson will join the Colorado College Tigers in the upcoming season where his arrival is much anticipated.

North Dakota's Adam Tambellini (65th) and Keaton Thompson (87th), and Nebraska-Omaha's Jake Guentzel (77th) were all selected in the third round of the draft.

Guentzel, who's father Mike is the associate head coach at Minnesota, was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins.

"I had an interview with them (Pittsburgh) yesterday and they seemed pretty interested", said Guentzel. "It means a lot after seeing all of the players they've drafted over the years; I'm really excited".

North Dakota led all NCHC teams in the amount of recruited players that were drafted with six, followed by Denver with three.

Of the 20 players selected, 10 of the players were forwards, nine were defensemen and one was a goaltender. All eight teams had at least one committed player that was drafted, but North Dakota led all teams with six draftees.

Below is the complete list of all NCHC players that were drafted in this year's draft.

Drafted Name Pos NHL Team College Team Ht. / Wt.
25 Michael McCarron RW Montreal Western Michigan 6-5 228
46 Gustav Olofsson D Minnesota Colorado College 6-2 185
65 Adam Tambellini C NY Rangers North Dakota 6-2 158
77 Jake Guentzel C Pittsburgh Nebraska Omaha 5-9 153
87 Keaton Thompson D Anaheim North Dakota 6-0 187
92 Evan Cowley G Florida Denver 6-4 182
109 David Pope LW Detroit Nebraska Omaha 6-2 187
113 Adam Muir W Edmonton Western Michigan 6-3 182
123 Will Butcher D Colorado Denver 5-11 175
127 Tucker Poolman D Winnipeg North Dakota 6-0 170
134 Luke Johnson C Chicago North Dakota 5-11 178
137 Carson Soucy D Minnesota Minnesota Duluth 6-4 191
140 Teemu Kivihalme D Nashville Colorado College 5-11 158
144 Blake Heinrich D Washington Minnesota Duluth 5-11 192
148 Jonny Brodzinski C Los Angelas St. Cloud State 6-0 202
151 Gage Ausmus D San Jose North Dakota 6-1 211
153 Ben Storm D Colorado St. Cloud State 6-6 213
168 Quentin Shore C Otowa Denver 6-2 189
181 Anthony Louis C Chicago Miami 5-7 155
185 Wade Murphy RW Nashville North Dakota 5-10 173

A large amount of players were left undrafted as well. Most, if not all of these individuals are capable of being college-standouts but were unfortunately left out this year. Listed below are the names of a few players from the NHL's draft prospect rankings that could have been selected.

Mid-Rank Final Rank Name Pos College Team
108 192 Trevor Moore LW Denver
198 202 Kiefer Sherwood C Miami
174 141 Neal Pionk D Minnesota Duluth
NR 143 Alexander Iafallo C Minnesota Duluth
173 178 Willie Raskob D Minnesota Duluth
G-23 G-19 Charlie Lindgren G St. Cloud State
NR 204 Paul Stoykewych D Western Michigan