PHOTO COURTESY JAN BEHOUNEK
Forward Vasyl Spilka of Czechia was one of two players selected by the Medicine Hat Tigers in the 2023 CHL Import Draft on Wednesday.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers deepened their organization depth Wednesday with two selections in the CHL’s Import Draft.
The Tigers held the 27th and 87th picks in the draft and selected Latvian defenceman Bruno Petrovics and Czechian forward Vasyl Spilka.
General manager Willie Desjardins says they had both players ranked high and credited director of player personnel Bobby Fox for setting them up to have a successful draft.
“We’re excited, Bobby Fox did an outstanding job, this is the most prepared we’ve ever been for an import draft,” Desjardins said.
The 17-year-old 6-foot-1 Petrovics had three goals and 12 points in 35 games at the U18 level this season playing for Sports U18 in Finland. He also played five games for Latvia at the U18 Hlinka Gretzky.
“Bruno moves well, he played as an underage at the Hlinka Gretzky and played 18-19 minutes a game, which as an underage is really good,” Desjardins said. “He’s got some offence to his game, he’s big and he skates well. We’re really excited with him.”
Spilka, a 6-foot-2 17-year-old, played at both the U17 and U20 level this season with the Liberec HV Bili Jr. B Program. At U17 he had 21 goals and 45 points in 21 games and at U20 he had six goals and 19 points in 25 games.
“Spilka has a high-end upside, he’s going to be a good player,” Desjardins said. “He’s a big kid, really good down low around the net. He trains with Radim Vrbata who I coached for a little bit in Vancouver. He works with him in Czechia, so I know he’s a quality player and a quality person. We’re really lucky to get him in the second round, he was slotted higher than that so we’re fortunate to get him.”
Desjardins says they’re unsure when either player would make an appearance in a Tigers uniform as there are still things to be figured out throughout the roster. But he sees the future addition of these two 17-year-olds to the team’s young core as further supplementing “a special group.”
“We have (Cayden) Lindstrom and (Tomas) Mrsic in that age group, now add these two guys and a really good group of 16-year-olds following them, we have some excitement in our team,” Desjardins said. “We’re building something and you always have an eye on not just this year but also an eye on our future. We want to get back to being a championship team and we’ve started the process to hopefully get on track to do that.”
One of the decisions the Tigers have ahead of them that could clear up an appearance for their two newest players is where 20-year-old Latvian defenceman Bogdans Hodass will play next season. Hodass has patrolled the Medicine Hat blue line the past two seasons since being drafted 71st overall in the 2021 Import Draft, and he put up 18 goals and 59 points in 113 regular season games in the orange and black. CHL clubs can only have two active import players on their roster at a time.
With the next event on the Tigers’ calendar being training camp in late August/early September, Desjardins says they may make some moves between now and then only because they have too many good players. It’s a stark change from not so long ago when he says they didn’t have enough players to build a roster.
Until training camp starts, Desjardins says his offseason work is essentially done and it’s up to the players now to put in the work and be ready for what he hopes is a lengthy season for the Tigers.
“All those guys have the summer to prove how bad they want to be Tigers, how bad they want to win a championship,” Desjardins said. “That’ll show us when they come back what kind of shape they’re in, and that’s exciting for us. I’m looking forward to seeing them, I’m looking forward to seeing where our team is at.
“I hope guys have put in their time and they’ve worked hard at it because I know the fans are looking for a good year and I’m looking for a good year. We have a lot of players who are ready, too, we have a lot of guys who are putting in time.”
