The South Shore Lumberjacks made one selection in the 2020 MHL Territorial Selections in order to claim the playing rights of Kyle Hopkins.
Hopkins is from Conquerall Bank which means he’s in the Jacks territory and they had the first chance to claim him.
The 6,1″ defencemen helped the UPS Store South Shore Mustangs to their franchise first regular-season championship.
Cecil Taylor the leagues Vice-President says the program works well at keeping local talent close to home, “The program works very well and their’s lots of examples of players selected who have gone on to have great careers with their teams.”
Generally, teams can make territorial claims on any player in the midget level who plays withing their county, though some exceptions exist.
Fredericton’s Red Wings for example are able to go beyond city limits as geographically that area is quite small when compared to other counties.
The Jacks forego an extra draft pick in the second round in exchange for the selection, had they made more they would also miss out on an extra pick after the third round.
With the selection process done the MHL’s next major event is the Entry Draft which will take place on June 13. The event will be live-streamed for the first time ever on Eastlink Community TV.