The Moose Jaw Warriors management and their scouting staff are going over their lists for this year’s bantam draft, and we’re looking at the best in team history.

The bantam draft was still only a few years old in 1996, when the third best bantam draft between 1994 and 2015 took place.

Things really started turning out well in the second round of the draft when the Warriors look Manitoba-born forward Shawn Limpright. He played four years with the club and scored over 200 points. Limpright was inducted into the Warriors and Legends Hall of Fame last year and captained Las Vegas' ECHL team for a couple of years in the mid-2000s. 

With the 50th overall pick in the third round, the Warriors picked up future captain Sean O’Connor. In his final year with the team, the Warriors performed a 24-point upset of the Regina Pats in the first round of the playoffs. O'Connor was a memorable thorn in the side of the Warriors' Trans-Canada rival. He played 14 years of pro hockey, including six years in Germany. 

The Warriors also selected future NHL first round pick Jamie Lundmark with their fourth round pick. Lundmark was selected ninth overall in the 1999 NHL entry draft after a 91-point season with Moose Jaw. He scored six goals in two stints with Canada's world junior team before beginning a 17-year pro career.

Their fifth round pick, Ryan Caldwell, was a defenceman decided not to play major junior and instead ended with the University of Denver, before being a late round pick of the New York Islanders and playing four games in the NHL. He played 14 years of pro hockey in North America, Germany, Finland, Norway, Japan and South  Korea.

In the eighth round, they took Lance Kopan, who blossomed into a 100-point scorer in the SJHL with the Yorkton Terriers in his final season of junior.

The criteria for the list includes quality of players picked where they were, whether or not they reached success with the WHL or with other junior, college or pro teams. Special consideration is made to draft day deals that have a significant impact on the higher end of the draft.

Bantam drafts before 1994 had far fewer players chosen than today – so a team with several good players in one draft will always be better than the one to three players chosen in the bantam draft’s infancy – and it’s too early to pass any judgment on the quality of drafts after 2015. The players selected in 2016 just completed their 18 year old seasons and there may be some late bloomers in that draft and 2017. 

Seventh best: 2001

Sixth best: 2015

Fifth Best: 2011

Fourth Best: 1997

Third Best: 1996