BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — The USHL Draft is set to take place on Monday and Tuesday of this week and marks the Bloomington Thunder’s fourth draft as a member of the USHL.

Thunder Assistant Coach/Assistant General Manager of Hockey Operations Dan Jewell sat down to do a Q&A regarding the upcoming draft, discussing background information about the draft, including a rule change regarding Canadian-born players, and giving a behind-the-scenes look at what the draft process is like from a coaching perspective.

The Thunder have the sixth pick in the first round of the Phase I Draft on Monday. Bloomington will have the sixth pick in each round of both phases except for their seventh round pick in the Phase II Draft, which was traded to Sioux Falls earlier this season. 

What do you know about what you have for next season’s team?

“Our goaltenders are both going off to school. But other than that, we have players at each position that hopefully can take big steps leading into next year. That’ll be our expectation and hopefully we can do a good job in the draft at having those guys come in and be able to compete with the guys that have the experience in our league.”

Are there any areas you’re looking to address with this year’s draft?

“I think there are areas in need at all positions, but I don’t think there’s one spot that’s a greater focus than another. Hopefully we can lean on a number of our affiliate players to come up and fill those roles and we won’t have to lean on the draft too much. Each position there’s a few holes to fill. Some guys could end up going to school in the offseason. There’s always some unpredicted changes that happen and you want to protect yourself from that and that’s what the draft is for. You can protect yourself if anything unforeseen happens.”

For those unfamiliar with the draft, how immediate of an impact can these draft picks have with the Thunder?

There are two phases to the draft, Phase I and Phase II. Phase I is for the younger players and this year it’s the 2001 birth year. They’re more future players for the team. Phase II you have every age group eligible to play junior hockey, so for next year it’ll be 1997-2001. Phase II is generally focused on guys that you hope can make an impact on the team in the upcoming year. The short version is that Phase I is for the future and Phase II is for the short term.”

Can you describe the process of scouting and recruiting to get to the point of drafting players?

“We talk about it quite a bit, what’s right and what’s wrong. Some teams wait until the draft to sort through their lists and call people. Other teams are very diligent in the process and try to do homework and talk to the players. We try to fall on that side of things. We try to compile as much information as possible leading into the draft, whether it’s communicating with players, coaches, advisors. There are quite a different number of directions that you can go to learn about individual players. We try to exhaust all of those options and try to get the best amount of information available for each player. We’re really lucky to have some outstanding regional scouts. They are really the unsung heroes this time of year. We wouldn’t be able to be successful as an organization without our regional scouts.”

How does the new rule regarding Canadian imports affect your draft approach? 

“It does a little bit. You add two more imports. I think the misconception is that there are a lot of players outside the U.S. that have the ability to play in our league. I honestly don’t feel like that’s the case. U.S. hockey is so darn strong that most of our homegrown players and the talent pool is stronger than what is outside of our country. I think teams in the league including us will do some more homework on Canadian players and international players, but at the end of the day, I don’t think there’s going to be a drastic change in the numbers as far as the imports and Canadians go in our league.”

This season just finished and now you’re building toward next year. What’s this time of year like for a coaching staff?

“It’s never 100 percent clear in junior hockey. That’s the beauty of it in a sense and the beauty of our league is that there are guys who are constantly ready to take the next step. You have to prepare for that and prepare for guys moving on. That’s something we don’t hope for but we prepare for. The second you think you have it figured out, there’s a wrench that gets thrown into it. Nothing is predictable in junior hockey. The NHL is getting younger so college hockey is getting younger and the high talent in the USHL isn’t in our league for very long. It’s kind of the nature of it lately.”

How does the foundation of the team heading toward next season compare to years past?

“This year going into next year compares similarly to what we had go on from our first year to our second. We have a good core of players coming back, but some holes to fill at the same time. This past year we actually had quite a bit of players returning so we had less spots to fill. This year reminds me a lot of year one going into year two. As far as wins and losses and a solid playoff run, it worked out pretty well. We’re hoping for a similar result this year.”

Season tickets for the 2017-18 season are on sale now starting as low as $9 per game. Call the Thunder at 309-434-2980 for more information. 

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