The Kenai River Brown Bears selected seven players in the North American Hockey League Entry Draft on Wednesday.
“The guys we took, the kind of cool thing is they all have junior experience in other leagues,” first-year Kenai River head coach Darren Banks said. “Whether that be in Canada or overseas or in the U.S., they’re all junior-experienced players.
“That’s something we wanted to target, as well as overall compete level.”
According to the league website, the number of draft picks each team gets is 30 minus the number on the team’s protected list. The protected list is made up of veteran players and tenders.
The Brown Bears had only four players age out after last season. While all those players are not necessarily protected, mix in that many veteran players with the tenders and the Bears had seven selections.
“We’ll be an older group for sure,” Banks said. “We’re looking for the guys over the summer to take a step and come in and compete.”
The team was able to make those seven selections in the first five rounds. Only four other teams in the 34-team league were also done with the draft by the end of the fifth round.
“The staff did a great job of identifying talent, trying to identify needs that we felt we had, and looking for those players to come in and compete at camp,” Banks said.
The Bears took five forwards and a pair of defensemen.
In the first round, with the ninth pick, Kenai River took Colton Getzlaff of North Dakota. Getzlaff is a 6-foot-0, 177-pound forward in his last year of junior eligibility.
The Bears grabbed a pair of forwards in the second round — Brett Kazmierski and Griffin Krone.
Kazmierski, of Buffalo, is 5-10.5 and 159 pounds and has three more years of eligibility. Krone, of Minnesota, is 5-8 and 170 pounds and has two more years of eligibility.
The Bears also had two more picks in the third round.
First, they took Braden Hansberger of Minnesota. He has two more years of eligibility and is 5-11 and 181 pounds. Then came Santino Canevari of Minnesota, a 6-1.5, 191-pound defenseman with two years left of eligibility.
Evin Andersson, a 5-11, 172-pound Swedish defenseman, was taken in the fourth round. Andersson is in his last year of junior hockey.
In the fifth round, the Bears wrapped the draft by taking Jack Williams, a 6-4, 190-pound defenseman from Anchorage. Williams has two more years of eligibility.
Tuesday, the Bears used their two picks in the NAHL Futures Draft on Alaska players.
This is the first year of the Futures Draft. Each team gets to select two players with a 2009 birth year.
The players get added to the affiliate list for each team, allowing them to play up to 10 NAHL games without getting added to the active roster.
According to the NAHL, this gives the players valuable experience at the NAHL level while continuing to play at the midget, high school or prep level.
In the first round, the Bears took Bodi Anderson, a 6-0, 176-pound defenseman from Eagle River. In the second round, the Bears took Brennan Lierman, a 6-0, 180-pound defenseman from Eagle River.
Banks said both players were at the team’s Alaska camp a few weeks ago.
“Both have good size and upside for the future,” Banks said. “We just really want to help in their development moving forward.
“We think both will be playing for an Alaska-based team next year, so we just want to be able to help them as much as we can.”
Banks said there was a lot of talent at the Alaska camp.
“There will be more players that play in our league from that Alaska camp,” Banks said. “We’re excited to monitor all of those guys.
“We want to help not only those two players’ development, but all the Alaska players that we can.”
On that trip to Alaska, Banks and new assistant Chris Heath also made their way to the central peninsula to meet fans.
“It was an amazing experience to be up there and see everything — the beautiful rink and the new field house,” Banks said. “The people were just wonderful with their hospitality.
“It was just a great trip.”
The next major date for formation of the team is the main camp from July 10 to 13 in Minnesota.
Banks said he’s happy with how everything is coming together.
“Just an emphasis on the staff, I’m just really happy with the direction that we’re bonding,” he said. “We’re excited about our returners, our draft picks and our tender players.”
