Valley skaters selected in NA3HL junior hockey draft

WASILLA — A half-dozen Valley hockey players were selected in the North American 3 Hockey League Wednesday evening, including one in the first round.

Wasilla High School junior Porter Schachle was taken by the Missoula Junior Bruins with the 11th overall pick in the 2018 NA3HL Draft. As a junior, Schachle posted team-highs in goals, assists and points en route to leading the Warriors to the North Star Conference title and a fifth-place finish in the 4A state hockey tournament. The forward bagged 35 goals and 34 assists for 69 points. Schachle, who was named the North Star Conference Player of the Year, recorded at least a point in 25 of his team’s 29 games, and had multiple points in a game 16 times.

Schachle also skated for the Alaska Oilers 18U AAA team.

Schachle was one of two Warriors and three Valley players who recently completed the 2017-18 high school hockey season selected in the Junior A Tier III eight-round draft. Schachle’s teammate, junior Alex Engan, was also selected by Missoula with the 158th overall pick. Engan, a fifth-round selection, was second among Wasilla’s statistic leaders in goals, assists and points. The forward collected 28 goals, 11 assists and 39 total points in 24 games. He closed his season with a nine-game point streak. Engan also skated for the Alaska Oilers 18U AAA team.

The Montana-based Bruins grabbed another Alaska product and Oilers player in the draft, picking JJ Fabeck, a South Anchorage defenseman, with the 46th pick.

Houston High senior Reed Humphreys was also drafted. The two-time Greatland Conference Player of the Year was taken by the Alexandria Blizzard with the 244th overall pick in the seventh round. Humphreys, who led the Hawks to four appearances in Alaska’s Division II title game in four years, finished with 21 goals, 16 assists and 37 points as a senior. Humphreys also skated for the Valley Thunder 18U team.

Three players with ties to the Colony Knights hockey program were also selected. Gunner Stadem, a defenseman who skated with the Knights as a freshman, was selected by the St. Louis Jr. Blues in the fourth round with the 144th overall pick. Stadem most recently played with the Carshield 18U AAA tam in St. Louis, Missouri, in the NAPHL. Stadem’s Carshield teammate Otto Thiele, another former Colony hockey player, was taken by the Atlanta Capitals in the fifth round with the 168th overall pick.

Thiele, a forward, finished with six goals, 16 assists and 22 points in 25 games with the Carshield program. Stadem recorded 3-7-10 totals. Thiele was named first-team All-North Star Conference in 2017.

Former Colony goaltender Alex Gamez was taken by the College Station Spirit with the 220th overall pick. Gamez most recently played for the New York Aviators 18U of the USPHL.

Amateur players younger than 21 are eligible to be selected in the NA3HL Draft. Once drafted, the team holds the player’s rights for that league. Players selected in the NA3HL Draft can still be drafted in other junior hockey leagues. The USHL Draft is May 7-8 and the NAHL Draft is June 5.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.