It turns out that there will be a small Yorkton connection to this year's NHL Entry Draft June which takes place this Friday in Pittsburgh.
Former Yorkton AAA Harvest defenceman Damon Severson has been on more airplanes lately than anyone else his age.
And he'll be getting on another one this week to attend the National Hockey League's annual draft.
After spending the past month or so playing baseball with the Melville South East Senior Baseball League team, he's getting ready to go back into hockey mode.
"I found out a couple months ago, through my agent," Severson said over the phone following a baseball game which he played in in Yorkton that night.
The Draft comes following a busy winter for Severson which saw him play with the Rockets in the WHL playoffs, which they lost to the Portland Winterhawks.
Then Severson headed to the Czech Republic where he joined Team Canada's U18 team.
Then, it was a trip to Toronto to take part in the NHL Combine.
"Yeah, it's been a long process," he told the paper.
While in Toronto, he said he spoke with 22 NHL teams, including New Jersey, but says he has no preference of where he would like to end up.
"There's no real favourites," he said in terms of which team he thinks may select him.
"I'm so excited it's not going to matter. I'm so excited."
Scheduled for June 22 at Pittsburgh, all the teams in the NHL gather to one-by-one select Canadian Juniors, American college players and Europeans they think will help their team improve in the near future. As of Sunday evening, Severson, who was drafted into the Western Hockey League out of the Yorkton Harvest, was rated just outside of the top 40 (41st) out of all players, Canadian, American and European.
Severson has played the last two seasons out of Kelowna and before that, played one full season in Yorkton.
With the Rockets, he played in 56 games. He scored seven goals, and assisted on 30 others. He had a plus/minus rating of +5.
He is only 17 years old.
Severson is the lone member of the Rockets who have been projected in top 61, and one of only four members of the WHL in those rankings.
