The Twin City Thunder added 17 players to its organization Wednesday afternoon as they took part in the USPHL’s National Collegiate Development Conference (NCDC) draft.
“We feel pretty good about it, we got a good range of kids and birth years (1999-2002) and very strong talent in the group,” Thunder’s NCDC coach Doug Friedman said. “Overall, we feel pretty positive about the day.”
The league only released the player names alphabetically by team. The order of the results were not made public.
Highlighted the Thunder’s picks is Greely standout Andy Moore, who had 15 goals and 41 assists and helped the Rangers to the Class B state championship in March. The Twin City organization has gotten to know him recently as he took part in their tryout a few weeks ago.
“We were really impressed with him at our camp,” Friedman said. “He’s a very smart player and he (has) a very good skill set, and, obviously, he has to get a little stronger, which will come. He still young, but it will be interesting to see how he does.
“He’s still trying to figure out what he wants to do, too. He’s in a good spot, he really likes the school and his friends. We respect that. We are going to work with him and his family to see what’s a good fit with our program with him. We are very high on him, and he’s a great kid, too.”
Friedman also is really high on Lativan-born forward Daniels Murnieks and goalie Connor Hasley, who’s committed to play NCAA Division I Bentley University starting in 2021-22.
“Daniels Murnieks is a 2002 (birth year) from Springfield (Jr. Pics 16U), he’s a Lativan player and he has a really high ceiling with potential and his skill set,” Friedman said. “Another strong pick for us, and that we were pleased to be able to get him, was Connor Hasley, who’s a goalie from Northfield Mount Hermon. He had a great season this past year in the prep (school) league. Like I said, we are really pleased because in our mind we got players on our list.”
In addition of being committed to Bentley, Hasley was a ninth-round draft pick in 2017 of the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League. The OHL is apart of the Canadian Hockey League. If he played in the OHL, Hasley would forfeit his NCAA eligibility.
Friedman doesn’t believe Hasley will be joining the Thunder for the 2019-20 season because he has one more year left in prep school. The team is looking at the 2020-21 season for Hasley to join the team.
Other prep school players the Thunder drafted, such as Tyler Bourque (Pomfret School) and Eamon Doheny (Deerfield Academy) still have at least a year of school left and are not expected to join the team for the upcoming season.
The Thunder are however working with the family of James Shea, who’s graduating from Culver Academy in Culver, Indiana, on joining the team next season.
The Thunder did draft players with some junior experience, such as Jacob Dirks, who played in the NAHL; and Kylar Fenton (the son of Eric Fenton, a former NYA and University of Maine standout and current Thunder scout), who played in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. Andrew Kurapov has experience in the USPHL, as does Lukas Vacin. Vacin also played in the Western States Hockey League.
“We are going to need to have players that have that experience,” Friedman said. “Some of the players that we took today certainly do. There’s a range, some of these guys are skilled guys, like Kurapov from the Islanders is a tremendously skilled player. You got Dirks from Chippewa, who had a great year out there (in the NAHL).”
In all, the Thunder drafted seven players who were born in Europe. Friedman believes some, such as Artur Bukharov, Carl Froblom, Levente Keresztes, Max Sazanvets and Adam Svensson are on the fence about joining the Thunder next season or in 2020-21.
The team also drafted Christian Blomquist and Kyle Peters.
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