The North American Hockey League (NAHL) hosted its 2021 Entry Draft on Wednesday afternoon, where all 29 member organizations participated virtually. During the 17-round event, nine Michigan High School Hockey players past and present were selected. Four of those players were chosen following the conclusion of their senior seasons and four after playing a full season of lower-level junior hockey.

First, to recap the eight players who signed NAHL tender agreements prior to the entry draft:

Leyton Stenman, Cranbrook
Tendered with the Aberdeen Wings

Nick Justice, Livonia Stevenson
Tendered with the El Paso Rhinos

Adam Pietila, Hartland
Tendered with the Bismarck Bobcats

Brenden Heard, Livonia Stevenson
Tendered with the Aberdeen Wings

Austin Salani, Hancock
Tendered with the Austin Bruins

Trevor Davis, Byron Center
Tendered with the Kenai River Brown Bears

Brendan Finn, Lake Orion
Tendered with the Odessa Jackalopes

Dean Loukus, Calumet
Chosen in Supplemental Draft by the Austin Bruins

The first MI-HS alum off the board was Jakob Peterson (Marquette, 2020) who was selected 32nd overall in the second round to the Amarillo Wranglers. He played his junior and senior seasons for the Red Men, totalling 15 goals and 57 points in 56 career games. After graduation, Peterson spent his first season of junior hockey playing for the Drayton Valley Thunder in the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL).

Parker Anderson (U-D Jesuit, 2021) was the first player from the Class of 2021 to be selected, after he joined Peterson in the second round. El Paso doubled up on MI-HS defensemen, adding Anderson along with Stevenson’s Justice to its D corps. Anderson left Meijer AAA to play for the Cubs during his senior season and had a breakout campaign during the team’s run to a Division-III regional championship, with nine goals and 12 points in 17 games.

Hunter Allen (Trenton, 2021) was chosen 20 picks later by Kenai River. He played his sophomore and junior seasons for the Trojans, making back-to-back Division-II Frozen Four runs. Allen scored 28 goals and 64 points in 56 career games before playing for the 18U Oakland Jr. Grizzlies in ‘20-21.

The 2021 Robertson Cup champion Shreveport Mudbugs have been a very popular destination for Michigan players, as the current roster sported four MI-HS alumni. With the 85th overall pick, Shreveport would maintain that pipeline with its selection of forward Logan Gotinsky (Detroit Country Day, 2020). Gotinsky was a four-year letterman for the Yellowjackets, winning back-to-back Division-III state titles in 2018 and 2019.

Max Marquette (U-D Jesuit, 2021) was one of the best players in all of high school hockey last season. He scored 10 goals and 18 points in 17 games for the No. 10-ranked Cubs. The three-year letterman was selected 101st overall by Kenai River in the fourth round, joining two other MI-HS alumni heading to Alaska.

Dylan Gajewski (Woodhaven, 2019) played two full seasons of junior hockey, first with the Powassan VooDoos in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League (NOJHL) and then in the North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) with the Willmar WarHawks. On Tuesday, he was chosen in the seventh round by Austin, and after climbing the junior hockey ladder, sets his sights on playing his final year of juniors in the NA.

In his second season of high school hockey, Alec Hamady (Brother Rice, 2021) anchored the Warriors’ offensive attack and helped win the program’s sixth state title. Now after graduating, the right-hand shot forward goes in the eleventh round to Amarillo. Hamady scored 15 goals and 33 points in 43 career games for Brother Rice.

The very next pick, fellow Warrior alum Ryan Murphy (Brother Rice, 2020) was selected by Jamestown with pick number 294. After playing two seasons with Rice, Murphy graduated and played his first season of junior hockey in the National Collegiate Development Conference (NCDC) with the Islanders Hockey Club. 

Matthew Cole (Saginaw Heritage, 2020) was a top forward in high school hockey his senior season, and after graduation, he played for in-state United State Premier Hockey League-Premier (USPHL-Premier) organization, the Metro Jets.  In three seasons with Heritage, Cole scored 47 goals and 134 points in 78 career games. In his first season of junior hockey with the Jets, he produced 47 points in 47 games and was second on the team in scoring. He was chosen in the 12th round on Tuesday by the Jamestown Rebels. 

Four seniors selected following graduation, and four more chosen after earning their stripes in another junior league the prior season. There’s lots of ways to ‘get to the next level’ and that can get lost in the shuffle a bit when prospects set their sights on the NAHL as a destination. It may take a stop in the AJHL or NCDC first, or two-or-three stops between the NOJHL and NA3HL and USPHL before finally making the jump. Nonetheless, now that 17 more MI-HS alumni turn their attention to the NAHL, the real work starts. Attending main camps in the fall and earning a roster spot will be the next hurdle to climb if they expect to join the 26 other alumni who played in the league last season.