Former Yale Hockey Academy and current Wenatchee Wild defenseman Graham Sward has been named the October CSSHL WHL Alumni Player of the Month.
Sward currently leads all WHL skaters with 23 assists, while his 28 points in 15 games is tops among all Wenatchee skaters. Sward played 11 games in October, recording at least a point in all of them, with 7 games being multi-point efforts, including his last 5 of the month. In all, he finished October with 4 goals and 16 assists.
The Abbotsford, BC product spent two seasons in the CSSHL with Yale’s U15 Prep team. During the 2016/17 season he would tally 9 points in 30 games. The following campaign Sward finished with 18 points in 26 games, leading to the Spokane Chiefs selecting him in the first round, 17th overall at the 2018 WHL Draft.
Sward joined the Chiefs in 2019/20, playing in 55 games and recording 17 points. The following year he would play in just 11 games but the Nashville Predators would select him in the fifth round, 146th overall at the 2022 NHL Draft.
He would begin the 2022/23 season with the Chiefs, playing eight games with the team before being moved to the Winnipeg Ice. Sward would finish the season with 33 points in 52 games with the Ice, adding 12 more points in 19 playoff games.