Four Swift Current Broncos appeared on NHL Central Scouting's final rankings for the 2013 draft.
A few of them are big risers.
Among North American skaters, Defenceman Dillon Heatherington rose from 44th in the midterm rankings to 31rst now, forward Colby Cave went from 140th to 89th and forward Levi Bews went from being unranked to 179th. Finnish import Eetu Laurikainen is ranked 23rd among goalies who played in North America.
"It's nice to know that the scouts obviously thought that since the last rankings my game stepped up," Cave said. "It's such a huge honour just to be on the list."
The North Battleford product had 25 of his 41 points after Christmas.
Colby Cave Interview"I left to go home for Christmas and I talked to (Coach/GM Mark Lamb) and he said my consistency level wasn't really there for the first half of the season," Cave said. "I came back after Christmas and that was the biggest thing I tried to work on."
Cave, usually a centre, also benefitted from a chance to play left wing on a line with veteran scorers Adam Lowry and Coda Gordon.
"Being able to hop up on that top line with Lowry and Gordon I felt I could display the offensive game that I always thought I had growing up," he noted. "It was an unbelievable opportunity and I can't thank Mark enough for giving me that chance. It gave me an opportunity to move up in the rankings."
Cave finished with career highs of 21 goals, 20 assist and an improvement from -20 as a rookie to +1 in his second season.
Heatherington is ranked 8th among WHL skaters. The 6’4”, 196lbs Calgary product scored 4 goals and had 23 assists for 27 points. He was a team best +25 while playing on the top pairing all season. Heatherington is currently representing Team Canada at the 2013 IIHF U18 World Championship in Sochi, Russia.
The 6’, 181lbs Bews scored 21 goals and had 15 assists for 36 points in 60 games played during his first full season with the Broncos. The Longview, Alberta native went undrafted in his first year of eligibility.
Laurikainen dropped slightly from 20th to 23rd among North American based goaltenders. The 6’, 179-pound product of Jyvaskyla, Finland was among the top goaltenders in the WHL with a 2.39 GAA and a 0.922 save percentage in 60 games. This is his third season of draft eligibility but first since joining the Broncos.
Broncos forward Jay Merkley was listed in the midterm rankings but dropped out in the second half. He had 30 points in 73 games split between Lethbridge and Swift Current.
The 2013 NHL Entry Draft will take place June 28-29, 2013 at the Prudential Centre in Newark, New Jersey.
Click here for the Broncos press release
Click here for the full rankings
Video of Colby Cave highlights:
Video of Dillon Heatherington fighting Shaunavon's Dyson Stevenson:
Thu, Apr 18, 1:30 PM
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