A pair of Canadian Sport School Hockey League alumni were selected in the first round of the 2019 NHL Draft on Friday.
Bowen Byram was selected fourth overall by the Colorado Avalanche and Dylan Cozens went seventh overall to the Buffalo Sabres.
Byram and Cozens were teammates on the Yale Hockey Academy Midget Prep team during the 2016-17 season.
This marks the second consecutive year that two CSSHL alums were selected in the first round of the NHL Draft and third time since 2016.
Byram becomes the highest NHL drafted CSSHL product, passing Matt Dumba, who was selected seventh overall at the 2012 NHL Draft.
Byram, 18, netted 29 points (5-24-29) in 20 games with the Yale Midget Prep team, along with adding four points (1-3-4) in three games at the 2017 CSSHL Championships.
The Cranbrook, B.C. product was named the 2017 CSSHL Midget Prep Division’s Top Defenceman.
Byram has spent the past two seasons with the WHL’s Vancouver Giants and is coming off a 71-point (26-45-71) regular season, along with adding 26 points (8-18-26) in 22 post-season games. The six-foot defenceman led all WHL defencemen in goals during the 2018-19 season with 26 and was named to the WHL’s Western Conference First All-Star Team.
Cozens, 18, attended the Yale Hockey Academy during the 2016-17 season and the Delta Hockey Academy during the 2015-16 season.
With Yale, the Whitehorse, Yuk. product registered 57 points (27-30-57) in 30 games with the Yale Midget Prep team, along with adding four points (2-2-4) in three games at the 2017 CSSHL Championships.
The previous season, Cozens played with Delta’s Bantam Prep team, netting 31 points (19-12-31) in 25 regular season games and six points (5-1-6) in three post-season games.
The six-foot-three forward has spent the past two seasons with the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes, where he has accumulated 138 points (57-81-138) in 128 career games. Cozens was named the 2018 WHL Rookie of the Year.