The Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League certainly have many young prospects and you can now add another.
With the 29th pick in the WHL Bantam Draft, the Thunderbirds selected Brayden Dube of Roblin, Manitoba. The 29th overall selection is the seventh in the second round.
"I was so nervous during the whole thing, I'm honestly speechless right now," said Dube right after being drafted. "I'm so honoured that I've been drafted by a great organization."
"Seattle seems like a great city and they have a lot of fans," he added. "They also have a beautiful facility."
Dube is coming off a historic season with the Parkland Bantam Rangers. He led the league with 130 points (74G) in just 36 games. The Roblin native also set an all-time Ranger bantam record.
Coming into the season, Dauphin's Mark Liwiski had the most points in a single season with 91 and that was back in 2015-2016. Tyson Zimmer who was drafted sixth overall by Brandon at last year's draft had 69 in the 2017-2018 season.
Brayden is now on top by 39 points as he averaged 3.61 points per game. Dube is also the only bantam Ranger to ever score more than 50 goals in one single season.
"I was just confident in myself and I worked hard all season," continued Dube. "It also helped that I was playing with a great group of guys who helped me a ton."
When it comes to all-time bantam scoring, Dube is fifth all-time. Back in the 2002-2003 season, Jonathan Toews notched 193 points, the most ever in 12 more games. If Dube would have played 48 games this season, he would have been on pace for 173 points.
Here is the top five list for scorers in league history.
| 1. |  Jonathan Toews (C) |
2002-2003 | Winnipeg Warriors Bantam AAA | 48 | 98 | 95 | 193 | 4.02 | ||
| 2. | Colt Conrad (C) |
2011-2012 | Pembina Valley Hawks Bantam AAA | 53 | 79 | 71 | 150 | 2.83 | ||
| 3. | Eric Fehr (C/RW) |
1999-2000 | Pembina Valley Hawks Bantam AAA | 46 | 76 | 60 | 136 | 2.96 | ||
| 4. | Tyler Jeanson (C) |
2011-2012 | Pembina Valley Hawks Bantam AAA | 64 | 66 | 70 | 136 | 2.13 | ||
| 5. | Brayden Dube (F) |
2019-2020 | Parkland Rangers Bantam AAA | 36 | 74 | 56 | 130 | 3.61 |
When it comes to what's next for Dube, he's planning on playing with the U18 Rangers in the fall.
