Chiefs take Holmberg

The Spokane Chiefs selected 12 players in 11 rounds of the 2008 Western Hockey League Bantam Draft on Thursday, including Sherwood Park, Alberta, native Mitch Holmberg, a right-winger, in the first round.

Holmberg scored 45 goals and 71 points in 33 games with the Sherwood Park Kings, who won the Alberta Provincial Championship and the Western Canadian Championship in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League. He was second in the league in scoring during the playoffs, with 14 goals and 21 points in 12 games.

The Chiefs also picked up defenseman Tanner Mort of Post Falls in the fifth round and Spokane’s Jesse Collins and Mitchell Fowler in the 10th and 11th rounds, respectively.

Forward Brady Brassart, from North Vancouver, British Columbia, was Spokane’s second-round pick, 43rd overall.

The Chiefs drafted two Manitoba-based players in the seventh round – goalie Brenden Edie and defenseman Matthew Lorange,

Others drafted include forwards Eric Kerluck (fifth round) and Michael Aviani (fifth round) from North Vancouver.