YK’s Logan Cunningham selected 59th in WHL Bantam Draft

Yellowknife teenager Logan Cunningham was selected by the Spokane Chiefs in the third round of hockey’s WHL Bantam Draft on Thursday morning.

Cunningham, who played for Team NT at this year’s Canada Winter Games in Red Deer, was drafted by the Chiefs as the 59th overall pick.

Carter McLeod, also from Yellowknife – a grandson of NWT Premier Bob McLeod – was selected in the eighth round by Moose Jaw Warriors.

The draft sees Western Hockey League teams selecting players who have graduated from bantam.

Defenceman Cunningham, unusually, was drafted without having played for any significant length of time south of the 60th parallel.

This past year, he was based with the Yukon Rivermen in Whitehorse.

The 15-year-old, 6 ft tall, joins the Chiefs in Spokane, Washington. Spokane lost this year’s WHL western conference final in five games to the Vancouver Giants.

Right winger McLeod, also 15, was selected 170th overall by Moose Jaw, in Saskatchewan, which was swept in the eastern conference quarter-finals.

McLeod joins from the hockey program at Edge School in Calgary.