The eagerly anticipated NHL draft was this past Friday and Saturday and the Tier 1 Elite Hockey League had an impressive showing. Our motto is "Where can you go from here? Everywhere" and we continued to demonstrate that at even the very highest level of professional hockey. At the end of the draft, the final tally was more than 20 former Tier 1 Elite Hockey League players selected in 2014! Roughly 10% of all players drafted were former T1EHL players. As far as American players picked, Tier 1 Elite LEague Alumni account for just under 1/3 of all drafts! 

Friday, June 27th was the first round of the draft and three Tier 1 alumni were selected. Brendan Perlini, who formerly played for Belle Tire, was selected 12th overall by the Arizona Coyotes. Another former Belle Tire player, Dylan Larkin, was selected 15th overall by the Detroit Red Wings. Sonny Milano, a former Cleveland Barons player, was chosen 16th overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets. 

Saturday finished the draft with rounds 2-7. A list of players selected in those rounds is below. 

• Thatcher Demko, former LA Jr Kings, selected 36th by the Vancouver Canucks
• Alexander Nedeljkovic, former Cleveland Barons and Belle Tire, selected 37th by the Carolina Hurricanes
• Joshua Jacobs, former Belle Tire and Victory Honda, selected 41st by the New Jersey Devils
• Ryan MacInnis, former St. Louis AAA Blues, selected 43rd by the Arizona Coyotes
• Maxim Letunov, former Dallas Stars Elite, selected 52nd by the St. Louis Blues
• Johnathan McLeod, former Cleveland Baron, selected 57th by the Tampa Bay Lightning
• Brandon Halverson, former Oakland Jr. Grizzlies, selected 59th by the New York Rangers
• Dominic Turgeon, former Colorado Thunderbirds, selected 67th by the Detroit Red Wings
• Connor Chatham, former St. Louis AAA Blues, selected 71st by the New Jersey Devils
• Blake Siebenaler, former Cleveland Barons and Belle Tire, selected 77th but the Columbus Blue Jackets
• Matt Iacopelli, former Belle Tire, selected 83rd by the Chicago Blackhawks
• Nick Maygar, former Cleveland Barons, selected 93rd by the Colorado Avalanche
• Fredrik Olofsson, former Colorado Thunderbirds, selected 98th by the Chicago Blackhawks
• Ryan Mantha, former Belle Tire, selected 104th by the New York Rangers
• Dakota Joshua, former Belle Tire, selected 128th by the Toronto Maple Leafs 
• Chris Brown, former Belle Tire, selected 151st by the Buffalo Sabres
• Aaron Haydon, former Belle Tire, selected 154th by the Dallas Stars
• Hayden Hawkey, former Colorado Thunderbirds, selected 177th by the Montreal Canadiens
• Jared Fiegl, former Colorado Rampage, selected 191st by the Arizona Coyotes
• Dwyer Tschantz, former Philadelphia Jr. Flyers and Team Comcast, selected 202nd by the St. Louis Blues.