Martensville team has three former players taken in 2023 NHL draft

Three U15 AA minor hockey players who played with the Martensville Marauders in 2018-19 have had a good start to their professional careers.

Martensville might have fewer than 10,000 people, but over the last 24 hours at the NHL draft in Nashville, Tenn., three of the team’s former players were selected by NHL teams.

Brayden Yager was the first of the trio picked, chosen 14th overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Riley Heidt was selected 64th overall by the Minnesota Wild in the second round, and Kalem Parker was taken 181st overall in the sixth round, also by Minnesota.

All three are products of the WHL. Yager is a centre with the Moose Jaw Warriors, Heidt plays centre for the Prince George Cougars and Parker is a defenceman with the Victoria Royals.

Shaun Priel was the head coach of that championship-winning AA team in Martensville. He said he knew the three players were going to succeed in their hockey careers.

“It’s pretty exciting. I knew that, back when we had those boys playing for us, they were exceptional hockey players,” he said. “The path they’ve navigated through so far is somewhat expected for all of them. I’ve kept tabs with all the boys over the process of their journey and they’re pretty excited about it.”

Priel said Yager and Heidt stood out because they were already playing with the U15 AA team as underagers two years prior to their last AA U15 season.

Parker, meanwhile, played a season in Warman prior to joining the Marauders in 2018-19.

Priel said the three were always determined.

“It’s not a surprise they’ve gotten to where they’ve wanted to. They’re driven. They’re great kids and they want to succeed and had their goals set for themselves since Day 1 to become elite-level hockey players,” Priel added.

During that 2018-19 season, Yager and Heidt ran the show statistically. Yager had 103 points in just 33 games, while Heidt tallied 99 points in 31 games.

Priel said while Parker might not have put up the crazy numbers that Yager and Heidt did, he stood out in a lot of different areas because he was a stay-at-home defenceman.

While some hockey markets in Canada are known for developing lots of NHL players, Martensville is not known as one of them — at least, not yet.

Priel noted just how rare it is to have three players from the same team drafted into the NHL.

“The only other kid that I’ve worked with from Martensville that’s played in the NHL was Jared Cowen,” he explained. “We aren’t a huge association, but it’s quite an accomplishment to have that (many players drafted).”

After a standout WHL career with the Spokane Chiefs, Cowen was picked ninth overall in 2009 by the Ottawa Senators.

While Yager, Heidt and Parker will grab all the attention from that Martensville team, nine other players from the squad went on to play major-junior hockey.

“It was just one of those squads that came along at the right time,” Priel said. “All the pieces kind of fell together. It was a fun year to coach. Every coach is excited when they get some high-end players like that.”