The home of the South Shore Lumberjacks, The LCLC in Bridgewater, NS. Photo: Evan Taylor
The South Shore Lumberjacks hope their new draft selections will help them rebound from a disappointing season last year which saw them finish last in the regular season before the remainder of the season was called off due to COVID-19 concerns.
The Jacks did not have any picks in the first or second round, making their first selection the 35th overall pick. With it, they selected 16-year-old forward Tully Grant. Prior to being selected by the Jacks, Grant played with the U16 prep team at Notre Dame College who are well known for developing NHL-level talent.
Ahead of the draft, Jacks GM Brogan Bailey spoke about their need to improve scoring “That was an area we struggled in last season so we want to find some young players that we can develop into efficient scorers.”
Bailey went on to say it would take some time to get to that point as they don’t expect their young talent to come in right away and be prolific scorers.
With their second pick of the draft, the Jacks selected 16-year-old defencemen, Jake MacDonald, from the Halifax McDonalds U18 program.
The Jacks followed that pick with another selection from the Halifax McDonalds, taking 16-year-old forward Liam Welsh who racked up 22 points in 29 games in his last season with Halifax.
With the 49th overall pick, the Jacks selected took 16-year-old centremen, Max Sentner. The Charlottetown native played most recently with the Kensington Wild in an abbreviated season that saw him play only six games in which he scored two points.
The next two picks from the Jacks were used on talent from New Brunswick. With their 61st pick, the Jacks took defencemen, Owen Arnold of the Saint John Vitos, and the 78th pick was used on Samson Mayo of the Fredricton Caps.
The Jacks used their 85th overall pick to scoop up some local goaltending talent. Cooper Flemming was selected from the South Shore Mustangs, for who he played 17 games last season, posting a .870 save percentage.
The final selection of the Jacks was the 107th overall pick, with it the Jacks selected Luke Orr a defencemen from Rothesay Netherwood School in New Brunswick.
The MHL season is set to kick off on September 30, though no games have been officially scheduled at this point.
