An Airdrie hockey player is highly ranked among North American skaters in NHL Central Scouting's final list prior to the July 7th NHL Entry Draft.

Eighteen-year-old Josh Davies, who's played for the Western Hockey League's Swift Current Broncos the last two seasons and was named to Team Canada for the U18 World Championships in Germany earlier this season, was ranked 69th among North American skaters.

Davies has played 87 games with the Broncos, scoring 22 goals and adding 23 assists for 45 points. This season with the Saskatchewan team he recorded 16 goals and 20 assists and had 119 minutes in penalties.  At the U18 World Championships in Germany, Davies had one assist in four games as Canada lost to Finland in quarter-final action. 

Davies is a former member of the U15 Airdrie Xtreme and the U18 Airdrie CFR Bisons.

In October, Davies was rated as a "B" prospect in Central Scouting's "Players to Watch" list. He was one of only five WHL players to receive the rating which generally means a player will go in the second or third rounds of the NHL entry draft. Davies is a strong left-winger who isn't afraid to go to the net to score goals.

Shane Wright of Burlington, Ontario, a centre for the OHL Kingston Frontenacs is rated number one among North American skaters and Juraj Slafkovsky (Kosice, Slovakia), a left winger for TPS in Finland, rank number one among International skaters on Central Scouting's list.

The 16 teams who didn't make the NHL playoffs will participate in tonight's NHL draft lottery with each one hoping to move up to claim future stars. The NHL Draft will take place July 7th at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

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