The Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s annual draft of 15-year-old players took place this morning (June 4) in Winnipeg. The MJHL Draft began at 9 am and featured the 11 member teams selecting Manitoba players born in the year 2002. Waywayseecappo had the first overall pick in the draft and used it to select McAuley's Jake Poole.  Poole spent last season with the Yellowhead Chiefs B1AAA team where he amassed 77 points, in just 36 regular season games.  Reece Richmond, a teammate of Pooles last season with Yellowhead was selected 2nd overall by the Dauphin Kings.  The native of Forrest, MB played 36 regular season games last year, registering 47 points in the process.  In total, the Yellowhead Chiefs had 4 players drafted in the first round as Bray Rookes went to Virden with the 5th pick overall and Brody Wilson saw his name called by Waywayseecappo with the 7th overall pick. The first Brandon player selected was Calder Anderson who went 10th overall to Winkler.  A handful of other Brandon prospects were selected over the course of the morning including: Ty Thorpe (Steinbach), Cole Jordan (Wawayseecappo), Mitch Thiessen (Winkler), Jordan Boyechko (Waywayseecappo), & Mattew Ramsey (Portage). Click here for full draft results.

The Vancouver Whitecaps FC, a west-coast member of Major League Soccer, will be holding a Prospects Camp in Brandon, August 24-28. The camp, aged at boys and girls U9-U15, features Professional coaching led by Whitecaps international staff Head Coach, Ross Holtom. Other highlights include Whitecaps FC player visits and autographs, as well as an official camp t-shirt and poster. The camp, with different themed development sessions, will run daily from 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. at the Christian Heritage School. Camp registration is $159.00 and you can do so at the link provided here.

BDNMB.CA has learned that forward Tyler Coulter has accepted an invite to attend a development camp with the NHL's Arizona Coyotes, scheduled to take place two days following the NHL's 2017 entry draft. Coulter, from Brandon, played out his junior eligibility this season with the Wheat Kings. He was one of the Wheat Kings alternate captains the past season. This season, he had 63 points, including 30 goals, in 66 games. In 262 career regular-season games, all with the Wheat Kings, he had 76 goals and 100 assists. Last fall Coulter attended the NHL development camp of the Vancouver Canucks.

The Brandon Sun and the Victoria Inn present the return of International Softball to Brandon. The New Zealand Jr. Men’s team will play against the La Salle Bullets at Simplot Millennium Park on Tuesday, June 20th (7:00 p.m.). New Zealand is on a tour of Saskatchewan and Manitoba next month, a tour which also includes their participation in a tournament put on by Softball Manitoba in Portage on Father’s Day weekend. The tour is part of the preparation process for New Zealand in advance of the 2018 WBSC Jr. Men’s Championship in Prince Albert in July of 2018. New Zealand is currently #1 in the WBSC Men’s rankings, and their Jr. Men’s team claimed the silver medal at the Junior Men’s World Softball Championship last summer in Midland, Michigan. New Zealand’s opponent for the night is the La Salle Bullets, whose roster includes former Canadian National team member Brady Woods. The Bullets play out of the Winnipeg Men’s Fastball League, and will be representing Manitoba at the Softball Canada Men’s Championship in Saskatoon later this year. In addition to The Brandon Sun and Victoria Inn, the event is being put on by the Westman Softball Association, Brandon Minor Baseball Association and the Westman Softball Umpires’ Association. This is the first international softball event to be held in Brandon since Canada and the USA played at Curran Park in advance of the 1999 Pan-Am Games in Winnipeg. The game on June 20th will be the first of four major softball events to be held in Brandon in 2017. The Softball Manitoba U14 ‘A’ Girls’ Championship will be put on by the WSUA from July 21-23 at Simplot Park, the U16 Western Canadian Softball Championship will be held at the Ashley Neufeld Softball Complex from August 10-13 and Dickinson State Blue Hawks are scheduled to be in Brandon for the grand opening of the ANSC in September.

Foxx McColl registered a hat trick, and picked up an assist, to lead the 2005 Wolfpack to a 7-5 victory over the Crusaders in the 2005 final. Van Eger chipped in with 2 goals, while Jye Zawatsky and Carter McKay each picked up singles. Parker Dunn replied with 4 points (1g, 3a) for the Crusaders in the loss. Blaze Gutzke also picked up 3 points (1g, 2a) in a losing effort. The Wolfpack went undefeated over the weekend, winning all 5 of their games. The MB Bruins captured gold in the 2004 division after outscoring the Crusaders Gold 6-3 in an afternoon tilt. Stephen Arp, of the Bruins, lead all scorers with 4 (3g, 1a) points in the tournament final. Singles came off the sticks of Nolan Roberts, Carter Anderson, and Zane Dyck. The Crusaders received goals from Dawson Karol, Colton Leahy, and Declan Cosford. Nathan Braun stopped 25, of the 28 shots, he faced in picking up the win for the Bruins. In earlier tournament action, the Crusaders outlasted the Bruins 7-6, handing them their only loss of the tournament. Josh Thomson sniped twice to lead his Mallard Stars teammates to a 4-1 victory over the Sask. Nationals in 2003 action. Ryder Thompson, and Brayden Broome with an empty netter, notched singles for the Stars, who went a perfect 5-0 over the 3-days. The Stars were dominant in outscoring their opponents 28-12 over that period. Thomas Bartlett was the lone National to dent the twine and beat Stars goalie Keaton Ziprick. Earlier in the day the Nationals pounded the Norther Rage 6-1 to advance to the tournament final.