Tauros Draft Nine

By: Ken Oda, minotauroshockey.com

Minot, ND – The Minot Minotauros bolstered their roster today adding nine players through the NAHL Draft.  As the result of last season’s 35-19-6  record being the sixth best in the league the Tauros drafted 19th overall.  Trades over the last two seasons combined to have the Tauros picking five players in the first three rounds, before sitting the fourth and fifth rounds out, and then selecting one player in each of the sixth through ninth rounds. 

The NAHL Draft is slightly different than drafts sports fans may be more familiar with such as the NHL or NFL drafts in that teams draft until their protected list is full meaning there is no set number of rounds. This season the Tauros protected 21 players between veterans from last season and prospects whom have already signed tenders leaving nine spots for the Tauros to fill. 

A strong draft was a key to last season’s success with Cam McClue (1st round) , James LaDouce (2nd round), Grayson Gavin (6th round), and Zack Bross (7th round) all becoming big contributors in the first season as Tauros.  The year before that saw the Tauros grab Luke Davison (5th round), Quinn Fuchs (9th round), and Jake Dittel (13th round).  John Snodgrass (6th round) also was selected in the draft two summers ago and was a big contributor in his lone season as a Tauro. 

As usual the Tauros hockey operations staff lead by Head Coach and General Manager Marty Murray took a balanced approach in the draft selecting three players with junior experience, five Minnesota High School standouts, and one player from the elite midget ranks.  Murray was pleased with how this year’s draft played out “hopefully you always have a good feeling coming out of the draft, but this year we certainly do.  The staff did a great job finding talent, it was one of those years you wish you had more picks.” 

Of course the Tauros strong returning roster and tender class are the reason the Tauros had just nine picks this year and that freed up the coaching staff a bit said Murray, “we feel good about our roster, we have some guys who we’re not sure if they’re going to be in the USHL or not, but we picked guys who we think are ready to step in and play day one.”

Here is the full list of nine players the Tauros drafted today: