Thursday, May 22, 2008

Marquette takes five during NAHL Draft

The offseason preparations continued Wednesday for the Marquette Rangers of the North American Hockey League with the taking of five players in the 2008 NAHL draft.

The club added a goaltender, three defensemen and a forward to their potential lineup for the upcoming season that begins in mid-September.

“Overall, we are happy with the draft and the players we selected,” said Rangers head coach Kenny Miller. “We feel we selected the right players for what we are trying to do here. Each player will have a chance to come in here and be a big asset to our team”

By drafting three defensemen, Miller said he hopes to bolster the blue line of his team and work out from there.

“As a staff we felt it was important to go after players to help build our blue line,” he said. “We lost some key guys who aged-out after last season, so bringing in players who can contribute to our defensive effort was a big part of our thinking.”

The draftees include:

Kevin Kissaw, a goaltender who played last season for Belle Tire (Midget AAA) in Detroit and teammate Kevin Albers, a defenseman, Kevin Gravel, a defenseman with the Marquette Electricians (Midget AAA), Austin Accettura, a defenseman who skated last year for the Sioux Falls Stampede of the United States Hockey League and Rick Litchfield, a forward from Mankato (Minn.) West High School.

Since January, the Rangers have tendered 10 players in addition to the five drafted players giving the team a large pool to choose from at their final invitational camp at Northern Michigan University in July.

The Rangers will also host two more open camps in June searching for talent in both Stevens Point, Wisc., and suburban Detroit.

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