Cochrane hockey player Riley Boychuk had likely barely taken his seat before he heard his name called in the Western Hockey League's (WHL) bantam draft on May 11.
Boychuk, the 15-year-old captain of the provincial championship-winning Airdrie Xtreme AAA squad this past season, was selected second overall in the first round by the Prince Albert Raiders.
The U15 AAA boys' team's captain, top scorer, and 2022-23 MVP said after the draft that he's excited to join the Raiders organization.
“A lot of people have been congratulating me, which has been a really cool experience,” said Boychuk, a Cochrane native who has played the last two seasons with the Xtreme. “It’s really great to get drafted and see how things will go with that.”
Boychuk said he knew before the draft that Prince Albert was going to call his name as the second pick, and said that assurance meant there was little stress heading into it.
“I’m so excited, I’m pumped,” he said. “They have such a good history and their fans are surreal. I’m just excited to see everything. It’s going to be really cool and I couldn’t be more excited to be drafted by such a great organization.”
While he was the highest-selected Xtreme player to be selected this season, Boychuk was followed in the WHL draft by several of his teammates. Overall, an impressive nine 2008-born players from the 2022-23 Xtreme squad were selected in the draft last week, including a few Cochrane-based players.
Cochranite Benett Kelly was one of the locals selected, as his name was called in the second round as the 27th overall pick by the Raiders.
In the third round, the Spokane Chiefs selected blue-liner Rhett Sather, another Cochrane-area player from the Xtreme, as the second overall pick of the fourth round.
As a result, the mostly 15-year-old players will join the U21 teams that drafted them for their upcoming training camps, though most will continue to play minor hockey (either U16, U17, or U18) for another year or two before making the jump up to the junior level.
Boychuk said the high number of players from the Xtreme who were selected by WHL teams this year was a testament to the team's dominance. The Xtreme coasted to a first-place finish in the south division of the Alberta Elite Hockey League, and then wrapped up a phenomenal campaign with their first provincial AAA title since 2018.
“It shows how good the Xtreme organization is, how good the coaches developed us, and how good the team was this year,” he said.
“For me, I was more excited to see their names called than my own. All those players earned it. They work so hard and it was a great season. I couldn’t have done it without them, so it’s cool to see their names called.”
