PHOTO COURTESY Maddy Acorn
The Medicine Hat Tigers drafted Okanagan Hockey Academy Colorado forward Owen Hayes with the 13th pick in the first round of the WHL's U.S. Priority Draft on Wednesday.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers lengthened their forward prospect depth Wednesday.
The Tigers selected two forwards in the Western Hockey League’s U.S. Priority draft, selecting Colorado forward Owen Hayes with the 16th pick and Nolan Marto of North Dakota with the 38th pick.
Hayes, from Centennial, Col., put up 16 goals and 36 points in 17 games with the Okanagan Hockey Academy Colorado U14AAA team.
Tigers director of player personnel Bobby Fox says the Colorado Okanagan program is developing multiple high-end players and he touts Hayes as the go-to guy from the OHA team. Fox says the 15-year-old is a player coaches will love.
“He has high compete and is a high-skill two-way forward,” Fox said. “The things that had us attracted to him as a player was his two-way compete. He wasn’t one dimensional but he has high offensive ability as well.”
With their second pick in the two-round draft, the Tigers selected Marto from Grand Forks, N.D. The 5-foot-7 forward had 63 goals and 130 points in 58 games with the Grand Forks Bantam AA team.
Fox says the 15-year-old was the best player available for them with the 38th pick and he sees a lot of potential in Marto’s goalscoring abilities.
“He can be an elite offensive guy,” Fox said. “He’s got smarts, he has a high offensive IQ and the guy has a knack for scoring. He can score multiple ways.
“The level of competition he’s playing at is really good. It’s actually impressive what he’s able to do. So he was definitely a guy we were excited to get.”
The next step for the Tigers and the other 21 WHL clubs who drafted two U.S.-born players Wednesday is working to convince them their team is the right next step for their young careers. Fox says there’s always work to do when it comes to recruiting players from the United States to the WHL but he says they’re confident in their pitch to both players.
“We have to prove that we’re the best place for their development,” Fox said. “We believe we are and now the recruiting begins. What we can present is going to be very intriguing for them.”
The Tigers have had recent success with the U.S. draft, signing 2023 first-round selection Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll this offseason and putting pen to paper with defenceman Kolby Gapter from the 2022 U.S. draft.
Gordon-Carroll will push for a roster spot this fall while Gapter was traded to the Vancouver Giants at the 2024 trade deadline for more of an opportunity.
Fox says the signing of Gordon-Carroll illustrates they are a pathway for high-end American players.
“Shaeff’s going to be an impact guy for us moving forward and I think it’s just going to show other Americans that it’s definitely a path they should consider,” Fox said.
The focus of the Tigers’ scouting staff shifts to today’s WHL prospects draft, which gets underway at 10 a.m. The WHL will have pre-draft coverage starting at 9:30 a.m. on WHL Live and the league’s YouTube page. The first round is live-streamed with the following rounds playing out on a draft ticker found at WHL.ca
For the first time in three drafts, they will pick outside the top-10, holding the 16th overall selection.
Fox says it’s a different feel as their opening pick moves toward the later end of the first round.
“You just have to make sure you have the players in the order that you’re comfortable with and nothing changes in that sense,” Fox said. “You just have you sit there on draft day a little bit longer to start off when it starts at 10 a.m.”
He likes the upcoming draft class and self admits he sounds like a broken record, but Fox reiterated their approach remains selecting the best player at each pick.
“We’re looking to get the best player available at 16 and if that happens to be a forward, defenceman or a goalie, that’s how we are going to attack it,” Fox said. “These players are two years down the road and your depth charts change all the time. So you don’t draft for what you need now, you draft and you always have room for good players.”
The 2009-born draft class is headlined by Calgary-born defenceman Landon DuPont, who received exceptional status from the WHL and Hockey Canada.
The Everett Silvertips hold the first overall pick. The selection was originally held by the Kamloops Blazers who sent it to Everett at the 2023 WHL trade deadline when they traded Olen Zellweger and Ryan Hofer to the Blazers for 10 draft picks and four players.
