By Elizabeth Huber /

Temperatures are reaching the teens, golf courses are opening and the Broncos Game 7 loss in the first round of the playoffs is already a distant memory in Swift Current.

As the fans hang up their favourite jersey until next September, the scouting staff has nothing but hockey on the brain.

The 2009 Bantam Draft in Edmonton on Thurs., April 30th is “likely the biggest day in the whole organization,” said Jaime Porter, Swift Current Broncos head scout and director of player personnel.

Porter took a moment out of watching the bantam tournament in Kamloops, B.C., to add some perspective to the Broncos’ position going into the draft.

The team doesn’t have many holes to fill, rather the scouting staff is just looking for the best overall player to round out the edges.

Picking 15th in the first and second round, Porter said he plans to choose approximately 10 players overall. Without a third- or fifth-round pick, but a few doubles later on, he is going to see how far he wants to go by the second round of the draft.

“We are just kind of looking for the best player In the first couple of rounds and then, after that, we will start to have an idea of what’s left, what’s available, what we want to fill up.

“We took some high-end D last year so we are quite comfortable there, we took a goaltender quite high last year. We are comfortable there. We have had forwards in the last three years that have worked out,” added Porter.

Reese Scarlett from Sherwood Park, Alta., was the 12th overall selection at last ·year’s draft.

Another of the Broncos’ top picks in recent years was Cody Eakin, the club’s first-round pick in the 2006 WHL Bantam Draft.

By combining skill with desire, Eakin has worked at making a name for himself.

The MVP for Team Orr at the CHL Prospects game in January, Eakin was once again named to Team Canada for the IIHF World Under-18 Championships in Fargo, N.D. He completed his second WHL season in Swift Current, totaling 24 goals and 48 points in 54 games.

While Porter kept an eye on the Kamloops tournament, Broncos GM/head coach Dean Chynoweth headed south to the prospects camp in Los Angeles, a testament to the larger field of players who need to be looked at at prior to the bantam draft.

“I think you are finding there are more players now in areas that you wouldn’t have thought of before,” said Porter.

In previous years, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina and Winnipeg were the focal points. Now, there are teams and players in lower mainland B.C. and the scouting staff is having to look further south into places such as Dallas, Salt Lake City, Phoenix and Seattle. 

“There are 22 teams in the league now and there is getting to be more and more of a battle to find guys,” said Porter.