For a team that at the start of the morning didn’t have a pick in the first or second round, the Bearcats did well in making the trades they needed to get the guys they wanted in the end.
The Bearcats would make a pick swap with Campbellton who held 4 picks in the first round. Truro sent next year’s 1st round pick plus a 3rd rounder to the Tigers in exchange for the 5th overall pick this year. The Bearcats used that selection to grab forward Jace Evans from the Dartmouth Steele Subaru. Evans put up 21 points as a rookie on a very deep Dartmouth club and was just last weekend drafted to the QMJHL’s Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. With the 2nd round pick acquired in the Lucas Canning deal, Truro elected to head up to Cape Breton and select Sydney Mitsubishi Rush defenseman Noah Tanner 17th overall. Tanner was a part of the leadership group for the Rush this past season as he put up 25 points en route to his Sydney squad hosting the Telus Cup.
Earlier in the week it was announced that the Bearcats had selected defenseman, Matt Merryweather(Hilden) and forward, Elliott Mullen(Shortt’s Lake) as their 2 territorial picks.
With the 3rd round pick acquired from Pictou County, Truro would select standout rookie defenseman Logan Trewin from the Halifax MacDonalds. Trewin put up 15 points in Halifax’s regular season and had an outstanding playoff run and Atlantics. Logan was selected in the 4th round by the Halifax Mooseheads in last weekend’s QMJHL Draft. Logan was also named the Top Rookie Defenseman of the NSU18MHL this season.
Another defenseman would be picked by the Bearcats in round 4 as Weeks U18’s Josh Ingram was selected. The Beaverbank product had 13 points and logged a ton of minutes for the Pictou based Weeks. Ingram was named the team’s MVP at the end of the year.
Truro would then head to the rock for 3 of their next 5 picks, selecting a trio of forwards. They took Adam Dawson(Tri-Pen), Micah Tucker(Pinnacle) and Luc Marnell(East Coast) in the 5th, 6th and 7th rounds respectively. Dawson, a Bay Roberts native served as captain of Tri-Pen this season, averaging nearly a point per game. Tucker from just outside of St.Johns in Portugal Cove put up 34 points for the Pinnacle Growlers as they won the Newfoundland U18 league this season. Marnell is a St.Johns product who was an assistant captain of the East Coast Blizzard putting up 26 points as his squad eventually fell to Tucker’s Growlers in the Newfoundland final.
Scattered between the Newfoundlanders, Truro selected 2nd round pick Noah Tanner’s teammate, Malcolm MacDonald from the Rush with our 2nd pick in the 6th round. The Coxheath product had a breakout season in Sydney putting up 31 points in 38 games.
With our first pick in the 7th round, Truro selected their lone goaltender of the draft picking up highly touted prospect Jordan Rittenberg from the Cole Harbour Wolfpack. Rittenberg appeared in 19 games with the Wolfpack posting a 10-7 record in the regular season. He was selected in the 8th round in last weekend’s QMJHL draft by Chicoutimi.
The Bearcats went local with their final pick of the draft selecting Weeks U18 forward Rylan Sutherland 113th overall. Sutherland, a native of Brookfield which is right down the road from Truro had an excellent rookie season with the Weeks putting up 26 points in 33 games.
We would like to welcome all 12 of our selections and their families to the Truro Bearcats organization!