The Draft
The draft has always been an interesting and exciting aspect of the Freddy Ball Hockey League. After recently completing our 12th draft, we now look forward to the upcoming season. But while we wait, here’s some history on the league’s yearly draft.
The league began with four teams and 30 players were drafted on September 5, 2005. During the first two seasons the draft order remained the same throughout the draft. The captain drafting first would draft first in every round. Reverse order was implemented for our 3rd season and has continued ever since.
Goalies and players have always been drafted together with the exception of our 10th season, when we started the draft with a goalie round. With the reverse order continuing on, this created an interesting split when considering the first overall pick. With that pick automatically going to a goalie, the first player was selected in the second round. A goalie has been drafted many times in the first round, but up until this season, the only time a goalie was drafted first overall was the season we split the goalies and players in the draft. Tony Bonnar was picked by Jon Loubert. Mike Moore was the first player picked by Rick Bartlett. Despite having the last pick (8th), Rick felt like he had the first.
Rick Bartlett is no stranger to picking first overall. As a matter of fact, he picked first in five out of our first seven drafts, and wasn’t even a captain in our 4th season. So he picked first 5 out of 6 seasons he was a captain. The only season he didn’t pick first, he picked 2nd. After taking a season off as a captain, he returned with first picks in the next three drafts, then followed that up with another 2nd pick in our 8th draft. His luck finally ran out the next season and ended up with the 10th and last pick. He drew last again the next season but due to the goalie round, was able to select the first player. After a break last season, Rick returns to the first pick again, and with this season’s first pick, he makes Brandon Leet-MacFarlane the first goalie to be picked overall with players included. Rick’s had quite a draft history. He’s always claimed he goes into the draft expecting the first pick. No other captain has ever drafted first more than once. They are Shawn Merrithew (2nd season), Troy MacDonald (4th), Ian Stevens (8th), Jamie Carson (9th) Jon Loubert (10th), and Darryl Moorcroft (11th).
Clay Bouzane has been picked first overall the most often. Clay went first in all three seasons he was drafted. Rick picked him twice and Ian Stevens picked him once. Mark Cress in the only other player picked first overall more than once. He was drafted first by Shawn Merrithew and Rick. Fred McAloon, Grant Donovan, Jim Taylor, Marc Guitard, and Sean Keenan were the other players drafted first overall. Grant and Clay were the only number one picks to finish the season with a championship.
There have been 34 different players selected in the first round, not counting our 10th season with the goalies and players separated. Mark Cress and Mike Moore have been drafted in the first round the most, with five times each. Jim Taylor, Troy Doyle, and Peter Wolters have been selected four times in the first round.
Easily the worst first round pick would have to be Yvon Mayer selecting Grant Donovan 3rd overall in our 4th season. Grant didn’t play a single game. Ironically, he could be considered one of the best first round picks the season before, when he finished with an overtime goal to win the championship. The most curious first rounder was Vince MacDonald selecting Dan LeBlanc 3rd overall during our 5th draft. Not because of Dan’s ability, but because of the fact that Vince traded him a month into the season for 3rd rounder Derek Brown. No other first rounder has ever been traded.
It’s a general consensus that the best draft pick ever was during our 7th draft, when Rick Bartlett drafted an unknown new player named Richard Kwiatkowski in the 9th and last round, which was 65th overall. I remember Rick saying, “That sounds like a good hockey name.” Richard went on to lead his team during the finals, while setting a record for the most goals on their way to a championship. That draft pick is the main reason we now have a rookie game before the draft, so the captains can assess the new players and draft based on the scouting, instead of a player’s cool name.
Before the draft began this season, a couple of captains traded their picking order. Marc Guitard moved into the 2nd slot and Mike Connor took Marc’s 8th pick. Only one other draft contained the swapping of draft orders. Before our 8th draft began, Tyler Morris traded the first overall pick to Ian Stevens for 6th. Tyler’s team went on to a regular season championship.
Doug Taylor returns as a captain this season. Both previous times Doug has been a captain, his team finished first place during the regular season, including one of those seasons continuing through to a championship. The league welcomes newcomer captains Denis Loubert and Scott MacLean. Strangely enough this isn’t Denis’ first draft though. He’s has the distinction of being the only non-captain to draft a team. His brother Jon was assigned captaincy for our 6th season but was unable to make the draft, so Denis picked the team in his place. The only condition imposed was that Denis had to be Jon’s first round pick.
This season marks the 4th draft that’s been broadcast on Facebook. Up until our 9th season, the drafts were relatively secret and only a few attended. It was primarily just the captains and committee members. We had designed it that way to guard against potential hurt feelings from players not being drafted as high as expected. Due to increased interest, it was decided that the 9th draft would be broadcasted and open to everyone. It continues to be successful and a great way to spend a few hours in anticipation for the upcoming season. Amidst all the expressions and discussions that occur after the draft has been completed, I’d say the most common statement I’ve heard is, “I can’t wait ’til we start playing.”
