The Vancouver Giants selected Surrey’s Tyler Popowich third overall and Kaleb Bulych, from Yorkton Sask. With their second-round pick in the WHL Bantam Draft in Calgary May 7.
The six-foot-four, 190-pound Popowich had 57 points — 25 goals and 32 assists — in 47 games with the Okanagan Hockey Academy Bantam Prep this season. The 15-year-old centre also racked up 48 penalty minutes.
“Tyler is a big centre with tons of upside,” said Giants GM Scott Bonner in a prepared statement. “He competes, scores and makes plays. The last big centre we had as an organization was James Wright, and that draft class of players born in 1990 was highly successful. We’re excited to welcome Tyler to the hockey club.”
Bulych was selected 27th overall. Listed at six-foot-one and 161 pounds, the defenceman scored 13 goals and added 20 assists in 31 games with the Yorkton UCT Terriers Bantam AA team. He also had 30 penalty minutes.
“Kaleb is a big, right-shot defenseman that played on the top team in Saskatchewan,” said Bonner. “He’s a very smart player with a lot of upside.”
The Giants had two picks in the first round of last year’s draft and selected Saskatoon’s Dawson Holt at 8th overall and Kamloops native Brendan Semchuk at 10th overall.
This year’s draft was the second time that the Giants have drafted at third overall since 2001. The G-Men have held a top-five pick three times, opting to take Gilbert Brule at first overall in 2002, Daniel Bertram at second overall in 2002 and Tyler Benson at first overall in 2013.
