Waterloo BlackHawks selects Jordan Kawaguchi and Yuki Miura in the 2016 United States Hockey League draft

WATERLOO — A year ago, the Waterloo Black Hawks tried to land highly-skilled forward Jordan Kawaguchi of Abbotsford, British Columbia, in Phase II of the United States Hockey League entry draft.

The Black Hawks took Kawaguchi in the 10th round of Phase II, but they couldn’t get him to camp.

Tuesday, Waterloo took Kawaguchi again with its first pick of the Phase II draft. Because of trades, the Black Hawks didn’t have a pick in the first two rounds before grabbing Kawaguchi, who scored 45 goals and dished out 38 assists in 56 regular-season games for the Chilliwack Chiefs of the British Columbia Junior Hockey League.

“He had a tremendous year in the BCHL and felt at this point last year it was in his best interest to go back to the BCHL,” Black Hawks head coach and general manager P.K. O’Handley said. “We hope that offense translates to the USHL, so we felt it was worth the pick.”

Kawaguchi, the cousin of former San Jose Shark 2005 first-round draft pick Devin Setuguchi, is committed to Providence College.

With both of their goalies — Cale Morris and Garrett Metcalf — leaving for college programs next season, the Black Hawks drafted three netminders Tuesday, including 2015 seventh-round NHL draft pick Ivan Fedotov of St. Petersburg, Russia, a huge 6-foot-6 keeper, and Colton Point, who made 107 saves in a 3-2 overtime win this past season.

Point is committed to Colgate University.

Tyler Wall of Leamington, Ontario, was the third goalie Waterloo selected.

“We hope to find two,” Waterloo Director of Player Personnel Shane Fukushima said. “It will be tricky with USHL rules. We can only have four imports and we have Shane Bowers and Kawaguchi and we can only have four 1996 birthdates.

“We took some stabs at goalie and hopefully it works out.”

In all, Waterloo took nine forwards, six defensemen and three goalies.

“We were able to add volume at positions and now we need to let the process play out,” O’Handley said. “I think everybody is excited. It usually is exciting for the organization and the kids we draft. It was a good day.”

With one of their picks, the Black Hawks took Yuki Miura, a Japanese forward who played in the top Czech Junior League this year, leading the league in scoring with 62 points for Kladno, a team owned by Jaromir Jagr.

This past season, Yuri Terao became the second Japanese-born player and first in the junior era to play for the Black Hawks. Terao had 18 goals and 22 assists in 45 games for Waterloo during the regular season.

“He’s friends with Yuri. He’s s a different player, probably not as strong,” Fukushima said. “He is quick and agile, probably most comparable to Brandon Schultz on our team.”

Waterloo will hold a tryout camp in Chicago from May 26-29 to begin forming its 2016-17 roster.

“We feel like we addressed all of our needs. We are going to have some tough decisions at the end of camp. There are going to be some good, healthy battles for roster spots,” Fukushima summarized.

Phase II Draft

The Waterloo Black Hawks selected 18 players Tuesday in Phase II of the United States Hockey League draft. Phase II came one day after Waterloo selected 10 2000 birthdate players in Phase I on Monday.Tuesday’s draft consisted of drafting players aged in range from 1997 birthdates to 1999.

Round;Player;Pos.;Last Team

3;Jordan Kawaguchi;C;Chilliwack Chiefs

5;Mitchell Martan;LW;St. Andrews College H.S.

5;Dylan Samberg;LD;Hermantown, Minn.

6;Chase Pilawski;LD;Detroit Little Ceasers 16U

7;Lucas Bahn;RD;Skipjacks HC 16U

8;Caleb Rule;RW;Shattuck St. Mary’s

9;Emil Ohrvall;RW;Shattuck St. Mary’s

10;Logan Jenuwine;F;Romeo, Mich.

10;Colton Point;G;Carleton Place Canadians

11;Trey LaBarge;LW;Hudson, Wis.

12;Ivan Fedotov;G;Nizhnekamsk Reaktor

13;Joseph Kinsella;D;Jersey Hitmen

14;Tyler Wall;G;Leamington Flyers

15;Yuki Miura;F;Kladno Juniors

16;Ryan Haag;F;Pittsburgh Penguins Elite 16U

17;Bobby Trivigno;C;Shattuck St. Mary’s

18;Peter Tabor;LD;Edina H.S. (Minn.)

Source: USHL hockey: Black Hawks complete 2016 draft | Waterloo Black Hawks | wcfcourier.com