Montreal Stars Add Six Players In CWHL Draft

The Montreal Stars, coming off of a CWHL Regular Season championship but falling short in the playoffs, added six players last night in the CWHL Draft.

The CWHL Draft, unlike most other drafts, is not a full pool of players for each team. Because the CWHL doesn’t play its players, they can’t just expect them to pick up and go anywhere. So the five teams in the league have to commit to play in either Brampton, Toronto, Calgary, Boston or Montreal.

It’s why Boston was able to grab a Team USA Olympian in Round 3, while Montreal was shut out of adding any National team members.

Montreal’s first round pick was Kim Deschenes from the University of Montreal. She was the captain of that team and should provide some more scoring depth for the Stars.

“Kim is an excellent addition to our team,” Stars general manager Meg Hewings said. “Her tremendous skill and leadership will be invaluable as we move forward into the 2014-15 season.”

In the second round, Montreal took forward Vanessa Gagnon from Clarkson University before returning to CIS players defenceman Sophie Brault (Montreal), and forwards Chelsea Saunders (McGill) and Erin Lally (Concordia). Their final selection was Plattsburgh State University goaltender Sydney Aveson.

The young players will try to earn a spot on the Stars 25 player roster come try out camp and try to help a team that is looking to win their first Clarkson Cup since 2012. Last year was the first time the Stars failed to make the championship game since 2010.

Brampton’s first overall pick was Canadian National team member Laura Fortino. Toronto took Team USA’s Megan Bozek second overall. Calgary took Minnesota Golden Gopher Sarah Davis before Boston took Team USA member Jenny Potter.

Boston added two more Olympians in Rounds Two and Three with Monique Lamoureux and Brianna Decker.