Scott Scoville didn’t have to travel far to find a player who figures to do wonders for the Everett Silvertips’ future.
Scoville, the Silvertips’ head scout, hails from Calgary, Alberta and he knew of Calgary Bison defenseman Eric Doyle.
“I’ve watched him all year,” Scoville said of the Silvertips’ first-round choice in Thursday’s 2004 Western Hockey League Bantam draft. “Truth be known, I’ve loved this kid from Day 1, just his proactive approach to things. He kind of slid under the radar, then at the Alberta Cup, he rose to the forefront. He was the guy all along that I wanted us to take with our first pick.
“To me, the upside on this guy might be as good as anybody taken in the draft.”
Scoville said the 6-foot-1, 180-pound Doyle has all the tools to be a top defenseman. His skating skills are very good and he finished with 26 goals and 20 assists in 32 games for the Bison.
So confident were the Silvertips of getting Doyle that they traded first-round picks with the Calgary Hitmen. The Tips traded their 13th pick overall for the Hitmen’s 15th pick and their fourth-round choice, the 75th pick overall, which turned out to be goalkeeper Chris Ward of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
The draft class is made up of 14- and 15-year-olds, most of whom won’t join their club for a year or two. Although Everett’s top Bantam draft pick last season, Zach Hamill, joined the Silvertips for the playoffs, few 15-year-olds can be expected to play at the WHL level.
“Zach is a very special player,” Scoville said. “To put that kind of pressure on any of these kids is very unfair. To come into the Western Hockey League at 15 and help a team like Zach is doing for us now is virtually unheard of.”
Still, Scoville said, the Silvertips came away with solid talent in their 11 draftees.
Having traded second-round picks with the Kootenay Ice, the Silvertips selected defenseman/left winger Keegan Bourelle, who scored 12 goals and added 22 points for the North Battleford (Saskatchewan) Barons last season.
At 6-0, 190, Bourelle is a very physical player who has very good skating skills and a hard shot.
“He’s a big, strong kid,” Scoville said. “He can play forward or defense. He has good awareness for the game. He gets his base because he’s so strong and other kids know it. He gets respect for that. He works hard. He’s such a complete player.”
Scoville said he was stunned that Bourelle was available that late. He said the team struggled in their decision to take Doyle or Bourelle with their first-round pick.
“Both of them were very high on our list,” Scoville said. “To get both of them, we absolutely felt like we stole them.”
Everett’s third selection was Zach Dailey, a 5-8, 170-pound center from Sherwood Park, Alberta, who scored 41 goals and had 52 assists in just 39 games.
“If you look around the Western Hockey League, those 5-9, 5-10 guys are the guys who score all the goals,” Scoville said. “He’s fast and so strong on the puck. He put up a lot of numbers. It was a no-brainer who we were going to take No. 3.”
In many ways, the Silvertips’ philosophy about player selection was identical to that of last season: They were looking for kids with a relentless work ethic, a staple of this year’s expansion team that opens play today at Medicine Hat, Alberta for the best-of-seven WHL championship.
“All these guys are team players,” Scoville said. “All of them were either captains or assistants on their teams. These kids will all go to war and that’s what the Everett Silvertips do. When you play the Everett Silvertips, you’re going to have to come to work. If you outwork us, that’s the only way you’re going to beat us.
“We’re going to continue that theory until it proves us wrong.”
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