A Chilliwack-area hockey player was selected in the Western Hockey League bantam draft, which was held Thursday (May 19).
Centre Levi Benson, who lists Rosedale as home, was taken by the Swift Current Broncos in the sixth round, 118th overall. The 2007-born forward spent last season with the Yale Hockey Academy U15 Prep, producing four goals and 28 points in 30 games. He added one goal and two helpers in three playoff games.
The 14-year-old has skill but lacks size, and probably would have went a round or three sooner if he didn’t measure five-foot-two.
No one picked above him measured shorter, and only one other player in the entire draft class, Gino Cotroneo to Everett in the ninth round, came in below Benson at five-foot-one. But at 14, there’s plenty of time for a growth spurt, and that’s what the Broncos are banking on.
Benson was the lone local selected in the bantam draft.
Abbotsford had two players picked. Defender Jordan Martin went to the Saskatoon Blades in the second round (41st overall) and another blueliner, Lachlan Staniforth, was tabbed by the Kelowna Rockets in the sixth round (122nd overall).
The highest-drafted Lower Mainlander was winger Chase Harrington, from Langley, who was selected eighth overall by the Spokane Chiefs.
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