Monday, April 30, 2012

USHL Presents Online Broadcast of 2012 USHL Futures Draft

Press Release

The United States Hockey League will present a live online broadcast of the 2012 USHL Futures Draft on Tuesday, May 1st, 2012 at 6:00 PM (CST). The USHL and FASTHockey are partnering to present the first-ever draft show for free on USHL.com.

The live show will have the official announcement of all selections in the 2012 USHL Futures Draft and include player interviews, analysis, highlights, and much more from the USHL. To watch the show presented by FASTHockey, viewers can simply visit USHL.com and click the USHL Futures Draft page.

The 2012 USHL Futures Draft consists of six rounds as 15 USHL Member Clubs will select players from the 1996 birth year age group. The National Team Development Program does not participate in the Futures Draft as they conduct a separate player selection process, held separately but in cooperation with the USHL.

The selection order of the USHL Futures Draft was established earlier this season and is determined via a random lottery system so that each Member Club had equal opportunity to earn the top pick. The first overall selection for the 2012 Draft belongs to the Omaha Lancers. The draft reverses order at the beginning of each round. The team selecting last in the first round will select first during the second round.

Each USHL Member Club has six selections in the Futures Draft, unless the Club has used one of two available tenders available to all teams under the League’s new tender system. The tender offer option, available for the first time this year, gives each Member Club the opportunity to sign as many as two 1996 birth year players in advance of the Futures Draft. Teams using one tender surrendered their second-round selection in the 2012 Futures Draft; teams using their second tender also surrendered their third-round pick. A total of 12 players have been tendered by USHL Member Clubs in advance of Tuesday’s draft.

Every one of the 78 players that will be selected in the 2012 Futures Draft is automatically placed on the Affiliate List of the USHL team that selected him. The Club retains the draftee’s rights for three years and can add the player to its active roster at any point during the season. In general, players selected in the USHL Futures Draft have not reached the level to play in the USHL for the next season, but USHL Member Clubs will regularly monitor their players’ progress. This season, 42 players selected in 2011 USHL Futures Draft took the ice for at least one USHL game during the 2011-12 campaign.

Last year, the Waterloo Black Hawks selected Taylor Cammarata with the first overall pick in the USHL Futures Draft. The forward went on to lead the Black Hawks in scoring with 69 points (27g, 75a) while appearing in all 60 regular season games. Cammarata’s point total was the highest scored by a 16-year-old in USHL Tier 1 era history.



2012 USHL Futures Draft Order – First Round

Omaha Lancers

Waterloo Black Hawks

Tri-City Storm

Sioux City Musketeers

Indiana Ice

Chicago Steel

Fargo Force

Sioux City Musketeers (from Cedar Rapids RoughRiders via trade)

Sioux Falls Stampede

Muskegon Lumberjacks

Dubuque Fighting Saints

Youngstown Phantoms

Lincoln Stars

Green Bay Gamblers

Tri-City Storm (from Des Moines Buccaneers via trade)



USHL Tenders

Cedar Rapids RoughRiders – Paul O’Connor (D) and Chris Birdsall (G)

Dubuque Fighting Saints – Keegan Ford (D) and Seamus Malone (F)

Fargo Force – Butrus Ghafari (D)

Green Bay Gamblers – Brendan Lemieux (F) and Jake Linhart (D)

Indiana Ice – Joshua Jacobs (D)

Omaha Lancers – Ryan Tait (F)

Sioux City Musketeers – Ryan Mantha (F)

Youngstown Phantoms – Kyle Connor (F) and J.J. Piccinich (F)

Fargo, Indiana, Omaha, and Sioux City all give up their second-round pick in the 2012 USHL Futures Draft.

Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Green Bay, and Youngstown all give up their second and third-round picks in the Futures Draft.

(Nathan can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)

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