Day One of the USHL Draft took place Monday night, and four Wisconsin players were picked in the Phase I portion of the draft, involving only 2002 birth year players.

In the third round (41st overall) the Green Bay Gamblers selected USM defenseman Casey Roepke.

Two rounds later, Wausau West forward Cade Lemmer was picked by Youngstown with the 76th overall pick.

Tri-City chose Notre Dame forward Brendan Poshak in the seventh round with the 102nd selection. 

Also selected was Middleton native Jaxson Ezman. The Madison Caps U16 forward was tabbed by the Madison Capitols USHL squad with the 131st pick in the ninth round.

Phase II will take place Tuesday morning.

ABOUT THE USHL DRAFT PROCESS

The USHL Draft takes place during the first week of May each year and is completed in two “Phases”.

Phase I of the Draft is ten rounds of “Futures” age players only, which are U-17 players for next year’s season. (2002 birth year players only for the 2018 Draft).

Phase II of the Draft will take place the following day beginning with round one. This draft is open to players of all ages eligible to play junior hockey and are not currently protected by another USHL team.  Teams will fill their roster to a total of 45 players on this date; this includes players that were previously on a team’s Affiliate List. The total number of players that a team will draft will vary depending on the number of Affiliate players a team may have.  All veteran roster players are automatically protected by their current team until July 10.

Teams will have their training camps/tryouts in June and July. Teams will typically have 60-80 players at their training camps. By July 10th, teams must be down to a 30-man protected and 18-man affiliate list. Undrafted players have the opportunity to go to any team’s camp and make the team as a tryout player.

Before the season starts, teams will be required to have their team rosters cut down to 23 players and teams are allowed to carry an 18-man affiliate list of players.

Draft Dates:

• USHL Phase I of the Draft – May 7, 2018 - 6 PM CT
• USHL Phase II of the Draft – May 8, 2018 - 10 AM CT