Chilliwack Chiefs forwards Kienan Draper and Ethan Bowen have been selected in the National Hockey League draft.
Draper was the first pick of the seventh round (187th overall) by the Detroit Red Wings.
Draper is heading into his first season with the Chiefs after posting 26 goals and 51 points with St. Andrews College (Aurora, Ontario) in 2019-20.
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He now has a chance to be a second-generation Red Wing, following in the skate-steps of his father, Kris Draper.
Kris spent parts of 17 seasons with Detroit after starting his 20-year career with the Winnipeg Jets in 1990. He won four Stanley Cups with Detroit and captured a Frank Selke award as the NHL’s top defensive forward in 2003-04.
He’s currently the team’s director of amateur scouting and his son continues the connection between Chilliwack and Detroit. The Red Wings drafted former Chiefs D-man Dennis Cholowski in the first round of the 2016 NHL draft. Cooper Moore, a Chilliwack defenceman last season, was a fifth round pick of Detroit in 2019.
Bowen was the highest-ranked BCHLer on the NHL’s Central Scouting list of North American skaters, but fell to the late seventh round where the Anaheim Ducks got him 207th overall.
The 18 year old is heading into his third full season with the Chiefs after posting 12 goals and 31 points in 41 games in 2019-20.
The Chilliwack players and Penticton’s Matteo Costantini (131st overall to Buffalo) were the only BCHL players taken, with skaters like Langley’s Ryan Helliwell and West Kelowna’s John Evans bypassed by big-league clubs.
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