USHL Draft

The USHL held their draft today. The results are here.

The first overall pick was former North Dakota Mike Forney who will be playing in the USHL for a year, and then returning to college, though it's not clear which college yet. Forney's career at North Dakota was derailed by a number of injuries after coming to school with high expectations. Forney probably would have been better off playing a year in the USHL before coming to North Dakota, and now it looks like he'll get a year in the USHL anyway.

Northern Michigan goalie Reid Ellingson was the second overall player selected by Green Bay. Ellingson showed promise in 9 games for Northern Michigan as a freshmen, but sophomore Brian Stewart saw the majority of the playing time, and another sophomore, Derek Janzen, also played in 7 games.

Recently released BU goalie Brett Bennett was also selected in the first round by the Indiana Ice.

The expansion Fargo Force had to give up their first three picks as compensation for receiving a number of players from the recently folded Ohio franchise, but the Force still ended up with a solid draft. They got three players already committed to colleges in Colton St. Clair, Corey Leivermann, and Johnie Searfoss. They also picked up a pretty good defenseman in Tom McCarthy, and also took a bit of a chance on talented '93 birthdate Shane McColgan. McColgan was recently selected by Kelowna of the WHL, and seems likely to sign there, but he can only play five games for them next year if he does sign, so perhaps he might see some time with the Force.