Griffin Reinhart takes command during a game with the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings. Reinhart went fourth overall in Friday’s NHL entry draft, followed immediately by longtime friend and fellow Hollyburn Country Club product Morgan Rielly.
Photograph by: photo supplied , for North Shore News
A pair of West Vancouver boys who played together for years at the Hollyburn Country Country Club have gone back-to-back in the top-5 of the 2012 NHL entry draft.
Griffin Reinhart went fourth overall to the New York Islanders while longtime friend and teammate Morgan Rielly followed just one spot later, fifth overall to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The two defencemen drew rave reviews from the TSN commentators immediately following their picks.
“He’s the real deal,” Pierre McGuire raved as Reinhart made his way up to the stage. The Edmonton Oil Kings product now has bragging rights over his father Paul, a former NHL standout who was taken 12th overall in 1979.
Rielly, a Moose Jaw Warrior who missed much of the season with a torn ACL but made it back in time to play in the playoffs, was labeled a “rusher not a crusher,” by TSN’s Bob McKenzie.
“This is an outstanding pick by the Toronto Maple Leafs,” added McGuire.
Check back with the North Shore News next week for full coverage of the draft.
aprest@nsnews.com
