The Virden Oil Capitals had five picks in the 2017 Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) draft and selected three forwards, one defence and one goaltender.

All players selected in this year's draft have 2002 birth years.

Virden held the 5th overall selection in the six round draft held in Winnipeg Sunday morning. With this pick the Oil Capitals selected Bray Rookes who hails from Manson, and played for the Yellowhead Chiefs B1AAA team last year.

"Obviously very good. We've seen him play a lot," said Oil Capitals head coach Troy Leslie. "He brings an element to his game that we feel we really need here. He's a big strong kid, moves his feet really well, and shoots the puck very well. He has a real physicality element to his game too."

The other four picks for the Oil Capitals are as follows;

- Rd. 3, 27th - Brock Moroz - G - La Salle - Pembina Valley Hawks B1AAA
- Rd. 5, 45th - Drayden Jurbatoff - F - Grunthal - Eastman Selects B1AAA
- Rd. 5, 49th - Riley Zimmerman - F - Winnipeg - Winnipeg Monarchs B1AAA
- Rd. 6, 60th - Tyler Thoendel - F - Winnipeg - Winnipeg Monarchs B1AAA

"We are really happy with the day we had," explained Leslie. "Brock Moroz was a kid that our scouting staff and director of player personnel, Chad Leslie really thought highly of all year long. He was really a kid who stepped up in the playoffs. We got Drayden Jurbatoff, even thought he was injured he came to our spring evaluation camp and showed very well. I know that our staff is also very excited about Riley (Zimmerman) and Tyler (Thoendel). They bring an element to our team that we need and are really good players."

Also as part of the draft the Oil Capitals are allowed to auto protect a pair of local players and this year Virden protected Hunter Andrew and Ryan Colon.

"Hunter Andrew was a kid that is from Virden. What we like about Hunter is that he can play both positions a forward and defence. He's a very skilled player and works at his game very hard," shared Troy. "Ryan Colon was a kid that played with the Southwest Cougars "AAA" Bantam team as well."

Meanwhile, this MJHL draft featured a number of Southwest region players being drafted to a variety of different teams.

- Rd. 1, 3rd (Swan Valley) - Cory King - D - Souris - Southwest Cougars B1AAA
- Rd. 1, 11th (Steinbach) - Landon Roberts - F - Souris - Southwest Cougars B1AAA
- Rd. 4, 36th (Swan Valley) - Chase Tilbury - D - Melita - Southwest Cougars B1AAA