UMD's Three Drafted Recruits
Dylan Olsen loved the idea of being selected by one of the NHL’s original teams Friday night during the first round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft in Montreal.
He went to Chicago as the 28th pick overall and pulled on a Blackhawks jersey for photos at Bell Centre, but the 18-year-old defenseman from Calgary, Alberta, said Saturday his intention is to be in a Minnesota Duluth uniform this winter as a freshman.
“Coach [Joel Quenneville] seemed pleased that I was going to college and I’m pretty set on being in Duluth,” said Olsen. “If Chicago wants to me look at other things, like playing [Canadian] Major Junior hockey, then I’d look at what’s best for me.”
Two other UMD recruits were taken in the seven-round draft Saturday — recent Totino-Grace High School forward Dan DeLisle was chosen by Chicago and former Duluth East center Max Tardy was chosen by St. Louis.
DeLisle, 18, of Arden Hills, Minn., was chosen in the third round, 89th overall, and Tardy, 18, was chosen in the seventh round, 202nd overall.
DeLisle will be a freshman this fall, while Tardy will play a season with the Tri-City Storm of the U.S. Hockey League in Kearney, Neb., before joining the Bulldogs in 2010-11.
Olsen, 6-foot-2 and 206 pounds, led defensemen in scoring for Camrose in the Alberta Junior Hockey League and was named a league all-star. He played for Canada in the Under-18 World Championships.
DeLisle, 6-4½ and 222 pounds, was the leading scorer at Totino-Grace the past two seasons, had 167 career points and was a 2009 Associated Press all-state honorable mention pick.
Tardy, 6-0 and 168 pounds, was the 2009 News Tribune player of the year and was East’s scoring leader with 35 points and 26 assists for 61 points as the Greyhounds advanced to the Minnesota Class AA tournament.
DeLisle was projected to be taken in the fifth round, or later, but got a surprise.
“My elite team coach, Chris McAlpine, is in Montreal and he called me, saying I went in the third round. The announcement on the NHL Network is on a delay so I had to wait to make sure it wasn’t a joke,” said DeLisle. “I’m kind of in shock.”
Tardy also was watching the draft proceedings on TV with his mom, Addy; dad, Mike; and hockey-playing older brother, Weston, 25, who was a defenseman with the Nybro Vikings in Sweden the last two seasons and has signed with Idaho in the East Coast Hockey League for 2009-10.
“I was extremely thrilled to be drafted. It’s why you play hockey, to have a chance at being in the NHL,” said Max Tardy. “If everything goes well in Tri-City, and I improve, then the next step will be UMD and I hope to keep taking steps forward.”
Olsen is the second first-round draft pick from UMD in the past 30 years, following defenseman Matt Niskanen of Mountain Iron, taken by Dallas in 2005.
Olsen and DeLisle said they were offered congratulations by former UMD defenseman Norm Maciver, who has been Chicago’s director of player development for the past year and lives in Duluth.
All three draft picks will attend prospect camps starting July 6.
Other players with college connections taken in the draft’s first round include defenseman Nick Leddy of Eden Prairie, Minn., by Minnesota, 16th overall, heading to the University of Minnesota; forward Louis Leblanc by Montreal, 18th overall, to Harvard; forward Chris Kreider by the New York Rangers, 19th overall, to Boston College; defenseman John Moore by Columbus, 21st overall, who has signed with Colorado College; forward Jordan Schroeder of Lakeville, Minn., by Vancouver, 22nd overall, the 2009 Western Collegiate Hockey Association rookie of the year at Minnesota; and forward Kyle Palmieri by Anaheim, 26th overall, to Notre Dame.
Posted by: pates on 6/28/2009 at 8:08 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: college hockey, dan delisle, dylan olsen, max tardy, nhl entry draft
