Fifteen-year-old Airdronian Caelan Joudrey had a very special last Thursday as he was selected in the third round, 66th overall by the Winnipeg ICE in the Western Hockey League (WHL) Prospects Draft.

This past season with the Airdrie Xtreme, Joudrey had a total of 56 points, 27 goals and 29 assists, including winning the U15 AAA Provincial Championship.

Joudrey explained how he felt about being selected.

"It is an honour to be drafted to the WHL, there are so many kids out there eligible to be drafted and are good enough to play, being selected was just amazing."

Multiple area hockey players were selected in the WHL Prospect Draft including 10 members of the Airdrie Xtreme according to Joudrey.

"Seeing the team have so much success this year, being rewarded for it, it was amazing."

Although being selected in the draft, Joudrey is unsure exactly what the future holds, he will be attending the Winnipeg ICE's training camp in September. If he does not make the roster just yet he mentioned he hopes to keep playing in Airdrie.

"I want to be trying out for the Airdrie Bisons U18 team next year."

Hearing his phone ring when he was selected was something he described as super special.

"Going through the draft, I was watching at school, I came home at lunch, and I still hadn't been picked yet. When I was picked, I got a call from the ICE to congratulate me, It was an ecstatic day."

Jourdrey mentioned he plans to do a lot of off-ice training to make sure he is ready for next season.

"There's a lot of teams that passed on me. I just want to go show that I'm fit to play and show everyone else what they missed."

The inspiration that made him fall in love with hockey was his dad who has been teaching him how to play since he was a little kid.

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