Eight California players were among the 20 U.S. players selected in the Western Hockey League’s Bantam Draft on Thursday.
Five of the eight were members of the LA Selects Bantam AAA team that won a bronze medal at the USA Hockey Youth Nationals in Plano, Texas, in early April. Two were members of the San Jose Jr. Sharks and another played for the LA Jr. Kings.
Jr. Kings right wing Chase Souto (Yorba Linda) was the first Californian picked, going in the fifth round (98th overall) to the Kamloops Blazers.
Selects center Dennis Kravchenko (San Clemente) was selected by the Vancouver Giants in the seventh round (153rd). Teammate and left wing Nicolas Kerdiles (Irvine) was picked by the Kelowna Rockets in the eighth round (171st).
Ninth-round selections included: Selects left wing Nikolas Olsson (Escondido) by the Red Deer Rebels (181st), Jr. Sharks defensemans Chris Buchanan (San Jose) by the Spokane Chiefs (186th) and Selects blueliner Austin Ho (Chino Hills) by the Medicine Hat Tigers (187th).
Jr. Sharks left wing Nicholas Anderson (San Jose) also was drafted by Medicine Hat in the 10th round (202nd), and Selects center Luke McColgan (Manhattan Beach) went eight picks later to Vancouver.
Chris Bayee's Hockey Blog 