Detroit Gladiators Announce WHA Draft Picks
July 19 2004 - 11:34AM
PR Newswire (US)
Detroit Gladiators Announce WHA Draft Picks Dany Heatley, Kariya
Brothers Among Detroit Top Picks PONTIAC, Mich., July 19
/PRNewswire/ -- The Detroit Gladiators, the Detroit franchise of
the World Hockey Association, selected left wing Dany Heatley as
its first pick in the WHA Free Agent Draft on July 17. Detroit had
the third pick overall, behind Quebec and Halifax. (Logo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040630/DEW024LOGO ) Heatley
spent the last three seasons playing for the Atlanta Thrashers of
the NHL. Prior to that, he played for the University of Wisconsin.
"We are thrilled we were able to get a player the caliber of Dany
Heatley," said Gladiator Head Coach Moe Mantha. "We really wanted
him because of his agility, speed and ability to play on the wide
open ice. One of the things that will make the WHA exciting for
fans is the absence of the red line, which will open up the
action." Heatley's younger brother, Mark, was selected by the
Gladiators in the 16th round of the WHA Entry Draft. Detroit also
picked Steve Kariya and Martin Kariya in Rounds 5 and 13 of the
Free Agent Draft, respectively. They are the younger brothers of
NHL star Paul Kariya. The complete list of free agent picks for
Detroit are as follows, including round, overall pick number and
2003-04 team. Complete stats for each player can be found at
http://www.detroitgladiators.com/ : Round 1, #3 - Dany Heatley,
Left Wing, Atlanta Thrashers (NHL) Round 2, #14 - Drake Berehowsky,
Defense, Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL) Round 3, #19 - Mike Zigomanis,
Center, Carolina Hurricanes (NHL) Round 4, #30 - Chris Nielsen,
Center, Manitoba Moose (AHL) Round 5, #35 - Steve Kariya, Wing,
Albany River Rats (AHL) Round 6, #46 - Patrick DesRochers, Goalie,
Lowell Lock Monsters (AHL) Round 7, #51 - Alexander Perezhogin,
Right Wing, Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL) Round 8, #62 - Michael Henrich,
Right Wing, Toronto Roadrunners (AHL) Round 9, #67 - Todd Elik,
Center, Davos (Swiss) Round 10, #78 - Dmitri Yushkevich, Defense,
Yaroslavl Lokomotiv (Russia) Round 11, #83 - Brad Tiley, Defense,
Milwaukee Admirals (AHL) Round 12, #94 - Jason Jaspers, Center,
Phoenix Coyotes (NHL) Round 13, #99 - Martin Kariya, Forward,
Bridgeport Sound Tigers (AHL) Round 14, #110 - Darren Van Oene,
Left Wing, Providence Bruins (AHL) Round 15, #115 - Chris Hajt,
Defense, Washington Capitals (NHL) Round 16, #126 - Beat Forster,
Defense, Davos (Swiss) Round 17, #131 - Chad Wiseman, Right Wing,
New York Rangers (NHL) Round 18, #142 - Seamus Kotyk, Goalie,
Cleveland Barons (AHL) Round 19, #147 - Greg Jacina, Center, San
Antonio Rampage (AHL) Round 20, #158 - Jeremy Stevenson, Left Wing,
Nashville Predators (NHL) Round 21, #163 - Michael Schutte,
Defense, Houston Aeros (AHL) Round 22, #174 - Craig Anderson,
Goalie, Chicago Blackhawks (NHL) Round 23, #179 - Ryan Ready, Left
Wing, Worcester IceCats (AHL) Round 24, #190 - Chris Hartsburg,
Center, Albany River Rats (AHL) Round 25, #195 - Ted Drury, Center,
Kassel Huskies (DEL) Round 26, #206 - Andrew "Bubba" Berenzweig,
Defense, Utah Grizzlies (AHL) Round 27, #211 - Craig Mills, Right
Wing, St. John's Maple Leafs (AHL) Round 28, #222 - Patrick
Traverse, Defense, Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL) Round 29, #227 - Serge
Payer, Center, Ottawa Senators (NHL) Round 30, #238 - Mike Brown,
Wing, Binghamton Senators (AHL) The first overall pick in the Free
Agent Draft was Simon Gagne, center for the Philadelphia Flyers
last season, who was chosen by Quebec. With the first pick in the
Entry Level Draft on July 18, Toronto selected Sidney Crosby, the
17-year-old who has been called the next Wayne Gretzky. For its
first pick in the WHA Entry Draft, Detroit selected Andre Benoit, a
20-year-old defenseman who has spent the past four seasons with the
Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). A complete
list of Detroit picks for the Entry Draft is available at
http://www.detroitgladiators.com/ . The Detroit Gladiators will
take the ice this October in a newly-installed ice arena at the
Pontiac Silverdome, where it will play its 38 home games in this
inaugural season of the World Hockey Association. The Detroit
Gladiators are owned by Senticore, Inc. (OTC:SNIO) (BULLETIN BOARD:
SNIO) , a diversified public holding company based in Hollywood,
Fla. For complete draft information, visit the team's web site at
http://www.detroitgladiators.com/ or the league web site at
http://www.worldhockeyassociation.net/ .
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040630/DEW024LOGO
http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Detroit Gladiators CONTACT:
Kelly Smallegan-Maas, +1-616-235-9581, , or Lee Ann Welsh,
+1-248-471-2809, , both for Detroit Gladiators Web site:
http://www.detroitgladiators.com/
http://www.worldhockeyassociation.net/
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