Miguel Marques knows now where his WHL future lies.
The 15-year-old Prince George minor hockey product skates like the wind, so it’s somewhat appropriate he’s heading to the Windy City.
The Lethbridge Hurricanes selected Marques 10th overall in Thursday’s Prospects Draft. The five-foot-11, 170-pound Marques leads his Delta Academy U17 Prep team in scoring with 27 goals and 34 assists for 64 points in just 16 games.
Known as one top scorers available in the draft, many scouts consider his skating ability his best asset. The former Cariboo Cougar U-15 forward played last season at St. George’s School U-15 Prep in Vancouver.
“It’s hard to find a centre iceman like Miguel, he can skate, he’s a little bit of power forward, he gets to the dirty areas, he scores goals and he’s scored 63 points in 16 games – he’s the high scorer on his team,” said Hurricanes head scout Rob McLaughlan.
As the tournament MVP, Marques led Team BC to the WHL Cup title in October in Red Deer.
The Prince George Cougars held the 15th overall pick and selected defenceman Tyson Buczkowski of the Saskatoon Blazers U-18 team. The six-foot, 165-pound Buczkowski, whose father Paul was a prolific offensive-minded defenceman with the Saskatoon Blades from 1991-96, has four goals and 12 assists for16 points in 20 games with his hometown the Blazers. He becomes the eighth first-round pick the Cougars have had in the past four drafts.
“Looking ahead, we see Tyson playing a big role with us from the back end,” said Cougars head scout Bob Simmonds. ”He has a complete game, he’s a strong defender. He activates, he drives offence, he can play on the power play. He checks off a lot of boxes for us and we’re thrilled to get him.
“We think Tyson is going to be a great addition to that skilled group of players,” said Simmonds. “We hope to continue developing a quick-transition team that will excite the fans and generate offence and we’re excited about the future.”
The Cougars looked to their home province to select forward Hunter Laing of Rink Hockey Academy U-16s. Laing, a six-foot-six, 190-pound Kelowna native, has 12 goals and 14 assists for 26 points in 17 games this season.
In the third round, the Cats had two picks. They used their 56th overall selection on right winger Riley Ashe of the Saskatoon Blazers U-18s. In 19 games this season the Warman, Sask., native has four goals and six assists. Limited by the pandemic to just four games with his Warman Wildcats bantam team in 2020-21, he had four goals and 11 points.
The Cougars latched onto another tall tree with their 63rd overall pick, acquired in a trade from the Winnipeg Ice. Left-shooting defenceman Matt Lahey of Pacific Coast Hockey U-18 Prep team. The six-foot-five, 182-pound native of Victoria has one goal in 11 games for his U-18 team. He also played two games in the BCHL this season for the Cowichan Valley Capitals.
In the fourth round, 78th overall, the Cougars selected forward Terik Parascak of Edge School in Calgary. The five-foot-10, 166-pound Lethbridge native has 20 goals and 14 assists for 34 point in 14 games for his U-16 team.
Centre Berkly Catton of the Saskatoon Contacts U-18 triple-A team, was selected first overall by the Spokane Chiefs. The Saskatoon native has 11 goals and 12 assists in 15 games this season for the Shattuck-St. Mary’s 16 U team. The Chiefs have already signed Catton to a WHL Standard Player Agreement.
Three of Marques’s Delta Academy teammates went in the first 11 picks of the draft. Centre Jordan Gavin of Delta Academy went third overall to the Tri-City Americans. Gavin has 24 goals and 58 points in 14 games for the Delta U-17s. Tomas Mrsic of Delta Academy, went eighth overall to the Medicine Hat Tigers. The Vancouver Giants chose defenceman Colton Roberts of Maple Ridge 11th overall.
Two players with NHL bloodlines were featured in the first round and both are products of Rink Academy in Kelowna. Forward Tij Iginla, son of Hockey Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla, went ninth overall to the Seattle Thunderbirds, while forward Ryder Ritchie, son of former Calgary Flames/Vancouver Canucks forward Byron, was taken 14th overall by the Prince Albert Raiders.
The WHL draft is being held virtually and will continue throughout the day. The Cougars pick next in the second round with the 33rd overall choice. Go to www.whl.ca to monitor the draft’s progress.
On Wednesday the Cougars added two new players to the fold in the U.S. Priority Draft. They used their fourth-overall pick to get defenceman Yoonho (Roy) Chung of Rolling Hills, Calif. The six-foot-one, 161-pound Chung plays for the Los Angeles Junior Kings and through 34 games he’s collected six goals and 23 assists for 29 points.
The Cougars looked north for their second pick, 41st overall, forward Nick McLennan of the Alaska U-18 triple-A team. McLennan, a five-foot-nine 175-pound Edmonton native, has three goals and six assists in 23 games this season.
