Hounds pick six on draft day
The Notre Dame Hounds selected five 2007-born and one 2008-born player during last week’s 2023 Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League draft.
Initially slated to pick fourth overall, ND moved back to 10 in a swap with the Flin Flon Bombers, and selected Pilot Butte, SK native Cruz Klapak. Klapak, 16, is a forward who posted 51 points in 36 games with the Regina Vics in the Saskatchewan U18AA league last year.
The skilled, speedy forward also spent six games with the AAA Regina Pat Canadians, adding four assists over that span.
Check out his elite prospects page here.
The Hounds grabbed another forward with their next pick when they selected Kanyan Unger out of the Moose Jaw Warriors U18AAA with the 34th overall selection. A Warman native, Unger was a half-point-per-game player on a developing Prairie Hockey Academy U15 Prep team two seasons ago and played with other Notre Dame prospects Dylan Duzan, Austin Woodley, and Cooper Buhay in Moose Jaw this past campaign.
Check out Kanyan’s elite prospects page here.
General Manager Brett Pilkington had two picks to use in the fourth round, and used them to get all-around defenceman Jack Taylor (40th overall), who played with Klapak on the Vics last year, and offensive blue liner Luke Silvernagle (47th overall) from the RINK Academy Kelowna U16 Prep team.
Taylor is expected to play for the Estevan Bears U18AAA in 2023-2024.
Here are Taylor and Silvernagle‘s EP pages.
The final 2007 selection came in the form of goalscorer and Meadow Lake, SK native Caleb Pockrant (6th round, 64th overall), who split his year between the North West Stars U18AA and Battlefords Stars U18AAA last year.
Check out Pockrant’s elite prospects page here.
Notre Dame’s lone 2008 pick, the fourth overall of that portion of the draft, was used on forward Ethan Dundas, the son of Hound Mike Dundas.
Dundas, who turns 15 at the end of June, dominated Saskatchewan U15AA with his Regina Monarchs, posting 32 goals and 76 points in 27 games in the regular season. He doubled down in the playoffs, notching 12 points in seven contests.
Ethan is expected to attend school at Notre Dame this fall.