Swift Current’s Cash Arntsen was a late pick by the Saskatoon Blades in the 13th round of the Western Hockey League Bantam Draft on Thursday.
Arntsen went undrafted in the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft and was amongst the surprised when he was selected this time around.
“No it didn’t even cross my mind at all. Yeah I didn’t know an overage could get drafted,” he admitted.
Unlike many young players who expect to get drafted, he was in school all day on Thursday.
“One of my buddies texted me and he was kind of confused. He was like ‘Is this you? Did you just get drafted?’ I was like ‘Yeah it appears to be that way.’”
One year ago, the rugged forward was dealing with the disappointment of being passed over in the WHL Bantam Draft, but was the first overall pick in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League Bantam Draft last year by the La Ronge Ice Wolves.
“I was probably like any kid that didn’t go [in the draft] that wanted to go. I wasn’t really feeling too good about myself at the time… I just tried to keep working. Probably the SJHL Draft helped with that to boost some confidence back up there going to La Ronge. Then I trained all summer and I got invited to some camps too so that helped.”
He eventually attended training with the Blades last summer. “Yeah I’m happy to go there. I didn’t go last year, so I am pretty happy.”
Arntsen won a provincial title this season with the Swift Current Abbey Resources Midget AA Broncos as they finished with a 47-1 record. The rookie forward finished with 47 points in 32 regular season games and added 12 points in 12 playoff games. He also skated in six regular season games with the Swift Current Home Hardware Midget AAA Legionnaires as an affiliate player and is expected to play with them next season.
“That was probably the best team I’ve ever been on, the funnest team I’ve ever played on. It was better than anything I could have asked for last year,” said Arntsen of his provincial championship team.
