Minot, ND – In what has already been a busy off-season for the Minotauros, the team took the next steps towards their 2021-22 campaign in today’s 2021 NAHL Entry Draft. The Minotauros selected 15th overall in the first round but then did not draft again until the 69th pick of the draft having traded away their second round pick during the season. In the end the Tauros selected six players through seven rounds to reach the roster limit for the summer.
In the first round the Tauros selected Reid Pabich, an ‘01 forward with four seasons of USHL experience. He spent three seasons with the Madison Capitols and then played last season with the Sioux Falls Stampede as the Capitols were not playing due to covid. Over his last two seasons Pabich has posted 23 goals and 29 assists in the USHL.
Then in the third round the Minotauros selected Nick O’Hanisain a right handed defenseman from the BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies. Limited to just 10 games by the shortened BCHL season last year the Detroit native posted two goals and an assist in his first year of junior hockey. Prior to that while playing U18 for the Oakland Jr. Grizzlies he posted 26 points (10g 16a) as a 17 year-old.
With the first of two fifth round selections the Tauros targeted Micah Berger, the 12th youngest player selected on Wednesday. Berger, from Bethesda, MD, was a point-per-game player last season for the New Jersey Rockets posting 65 points in 68 games for the U16 team and a hat trick plus an assist in his single game for the U18 team.
The Tauros went even younger to picks later in the fifth round selecting goaltender Tom Kiesewetter, out of Thayer Academy out of Braintree, MA. Kiesewetter is the second youngest player drafted in the NAHL Entry Draft behind only Jack Laferriere (NEG). The young netminder will represent the United States on the United State U17 Men’s Select Team playing in the 2021 U17 Five Nations tournament in Visp, Switzerland in August.
Speaking of Switzerland, that is where the Tauros looked for their sixth round pick, finding Dean Schwenninger. From Zurich, the ’01 birthyear forward has played his entire career in Europe last season posting 16 points in 45 games for Zug U20. He has also represented his country in IIHF international play captaining Switzerland’s U16 team in 2016-17, wearing an “A” for the U17 team the next season, and playing on the U18 team in 2018-19.
The Tauros wrapped up their draft selections in the seventh round with NA3HL veteran Noah Roitman. Roitman, a defenseman, spent the last two seasons in the NA3HL posting 66 points in 72 games between the North Iowa Bulls and the Oklahoma City Blazers where he played for former Minotauros Assistant Coach Mick Berge. Prior to playing in the 3HL, Roitman finished his Minnesota High School career with three consecutive 20+ point seasons for Simley High School. Aside from posting points Roitman also finished his NA3HL career an astounding +99 in just two seasons.
The next step for these six new Tauros and every other player hoping to report for training camp in Minot in just over a month is a good showing at Main Camp in Stillwater, MN, in two weeks. Of course the Tauros have a long history of unearthing talented prospects at Main Camp who earn their way onto the roster.