DRAFT CONTINUES STRONG YEAR FOR JUNIOR ICE ALUMNI AND PROGRAM 

INDIANAPOLIS—The Indiana Ice announced today that six players with Junior Ice connections were selected in the 2012 North American Hockey League Entry Draft.

The NAHL is a Tier II junior hockey league with 24 member clubs spread throughout the United States.  Several NHL alumni of this league include Patrick Kane (Chicago), Jimmy Howard (Detroit), Ryan Miller (Buffalo) and Zionsville native John-Michael Liles (Toronto).

The Springfield Jr. Blues program selected two of the club’s top players from the 11-12 season in defenseman Jack Sloan and forward Jon Hall.  Sloan led all U18 defensemen in scoring with 37 points (10G, 27A), while Hall finished third in goals (20) and fourth in points (35).  The four other Junior Ice alumni selected were defensemen Ian Spencer, Cory Lauer and Drew Newmeyer and forward Cody Gylling.

In addition to the draft picks, forwards Robert Haseman and Drew Doyon and defensemen Grant Hutton and Trevor Cowieson were offered NAHL tenders following the 11-12 season.

Three Junior Ice alumni played significant roles on NAHL clubs last year as forwards Taylor Burden and Matt Cessna were key contributors for Kalamazoo and Chicago respectively, while defenseman Patrick Pollock was a member of the NAHL runner-up St. Louis Bandits.

The NAHL has not been the only “hot bed” for the Junior Ice program as forward Mason Jobst spent the second half of last season with the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the USHL and Hutton was drafted in the 2012 USHL Entry Draft by the Ice in late May.

Prior to the NAHL draft, the Junior Ice made perhaps their biggest splash to date when former defenseman Cameron Schilling signed with the Washington Capitals following his senior year at Miami University (OH) becoming the first Jr. Ice alum to ink an NHL contract.