Kelowna selected first overall
The Victoria Royals selected six-foot Ukrainian defenceman Mykola Kosarev with their first pick Wednesday in the Canadian Hockey League import draft.
Because of their placing last season in winning the B.C. Division of the Western Hockey League, the Royals did not select until No. 55. Kosarev, who played for Ukraine in the 2024 Under-18 world championship, had eight goals and 30 points in 25 games for the U-20 Stavanger Oilers last season and two goals and four points with the Stavanger Oilers senior team.
The Royals selected six-foot-four Czech centre Stepan Hoch with their second selection, 71st overall, which was obtained from the Kelowna Rockets. Hoch had 12 goals and 29 points in 30 games last season for Budejovice junior team. The Royals concluded by selecting another Czech centre, five-foot-10 Frantisek Netusil, 116th overall. Netusil, a native of Prague, had 29 goals and 51 points last season with the Minnesota Wilderness of the NAHL.
Czech winger Tomas Poletin went first overall to Kelowna of the WHL, Czech centre Adam Benak second overall to the Brantford Bulldogs of the Ontario Hockey League and Russian centre Egor Shilov third overall to the Victoriaville Tigres of the Quebec Martimes Junior Hockey League.
A new rule recently passed allows CHL teams to carry three European import players, up from the previous two allowed.
The Royals concluded last season with one import player, Winnipeg Jets NHL draft pick Markus Loponen, a forward who is headed to play pro in his native Finland after signing recently with the HPK club.