Fans crowded Ri Ra Irish Pub on Church Street for the draft (in more than one way) party. Martin St. Louis, Jacob Trouba, Jonathan Quick, Jiří Tlustý, and Seth Jones were on hand to sign autographs for the fans, and Tlustý brought his shiny new Chairman's Cup, an award given to the best player on a non-playoff team, which he won in a landslide. Nobody even had half as many votes as the Czech forward, who produced 53 goals last season. "It's nice to be rewarded for my hard work, but I never want to even see this trophy ever again," said a hungry Tlustý. "We want playoffs, and mission playoffs began the minute the final horn sounded last season." The runner up was teammate Jonathan Quick after he posted a yeoman .894 save percentage, second in the league only to Atlantic Schooners' James Reimer.
Champlain's first selection came at #23, and the team wasted no time in announcing defender Shayne Gostisbehere as their first selection. Though he doesn't have the name value of other players available, Gostisbehere has the potential to be a top-pairing offensive defenseman. He suffered a nasty knee injury that led him to miss most of last season, hurting his draft stock, but Champlain management figures he'll come back better than ever. "You didn't see people giving up on Ryan Murray after he blew out his knee. Why should Shayne be any different? He's a dynamic offensive defenseman and will be in our top 4 for years to come," said GM Locria Fox. Gostisbehere was teammates with Jones and Trouba at the 2013 World Junior Championships in Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russia, and the three won a gold medal together for Team America.
The team's next pick didn't come until the third round, when they took William Karlsson. However, he was just a pawn in a trade, as he was packaged with Patrik Nemeth - another defense prospect coming off a nasty injury - and shipped to Starbulls Rosenheim. The Germans sent them 2nd round pick Michael Paliotta, who was captain of the UVM Catamounts this past season. "Michael is another criminally underrated defense prospect, and we're trying to build a fanbase here, so bringing in a recent Catamount captain is amazing for us," said Fox. "But we didn't just pick up Paliotta to score brownie points with the fans and sell tickets. He's a gamer, a leader, and he can play on both special teams. He is a terrific all-around defenseman, and a terrific person to have around. And we always planned on having him, it was just a manner of how, and we worked out a deal with Starbulls that we're both happy with." Again, there's a connection through USA Hockey - Paliotta was teammates with Trouba and Jones at the 2011 U18 World Championships, in which again, the US won gold.
The team's final pick came just five picks after the Karlsson/Paliotta swap, and after having Borna Rendulić, a friend of Fox, selected by the Kelowna Cats a pick before (much to the anger of the Champlain GM), the team regrouped and added yet another American, center Andrew Copp, captain at the University of Michigan. Thought the connections were over? Wrong. Copp was teammates with Trouba and Jones at the 2012 U18 World Championships (again won by the US), and was also teammates with Trouba with the Wolverines and US National Team Development Program. "Copp is your quintessential third-line center. He has all the physical tools and some of the technical tools. His game still needs refining, but like Paliotta, he's a leader, useful in all three zones, and he's fairly close to WHL ready," said Fox. "He was a quarterback when he played gridiron in high school and he shows the leadership qualities that such a position requires. He has the physical tools to be a solid power forward in this league, he just needs to fix some issues with technique, and I trust that our development program will be able to do just that."
As for team numbers, Gostisbehere will wear #14, Paliotta claims his #2 from his UVM days, and Copp has been allocated #51. The three will report to training camp immediately.
The team has one pick in Monday's fourth round and three in the fifth, though the team says they're likely to trade the fifth round picks.
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