Glace Bay’s Logan Shaw couldn’t have dreamed of a better day at the QMJHL draft — the hometown kid went to the hometown team in front of the hometown crowd.
The Cape Breton Screaming Eagles grabbed the 6-foot-2, 173-pound forward with their first pick, 12th overall, in Saturday’s draft at Centre 200 in Sydney, taking Shaw well before Central Scouting’s projection of 31st overall.
“My heart was beating so fast … it was a great honour,” Shaw said. “I wasn’t expecting to go this high.”
Shaw is tall and lanky, still wears braces, and was one of the youngest picks in the first round. He won’t turn 16 until October, a month into the 2008-09 season.
The Screaming Eagles consider him a can’t-miss pick.
“He’s a real hard worker, as we like to have, and he can play both sides of the ice,” Screaming Eagles head scout Yanick Lemay said. “He might be more of a defensive player to start, but he’s got a job on the second line in the near future.”
The Screaming Eagles had former captain James Sheppard of Lower Sackville on hand to announce the pick. They also held a moment of silence for former defenceman Luc Bourdon, who died two weeks ago in a motorcycle crash.
The crowd jeered the Montreal Junior and former Screaming Eagles head coach and general manager Pascal Vincent, who left Sydney on May 21 with a year left on his contract.
Cape Breton received what amounted to a third-round pick as compensation in an agreement with Montreal.
The Screaming Eagles also announced Howie Centre native Chris Culligan as their captain for 2008-09.
