As the COVID-19 pandemic drags on into summer, sports leagues across the spectrum have been forced to make adjustments, including changes to their annual drafts. The NFL went digital, Major League Baseball cut its draft choices considerably, and, at the amateur level, the North American Hockey League. This year, the NAHL added a Supplemental Draft, held in May and concluded its Entry Draft on July 21. 

The Entry Draft covers amateur players who will be under the age of 21 on Dec. 31, 2020, who are not listed on a NAHL roster, or who played less than 10 games last season for a NAHL team. It also includes players who did not accept a tender from a NAHL team prior to the 2020 Entry Draft. Each NAHL team turns in a list of protected players and veterans to the league before the draft. 

Below is a list of Minnesota natives or Minnesota high school products taken during the Entry Draft and additional notes on a handful of players.  

Minnesotans find new opportunities after time north of the border

The NAHL Entry Draft featured Minnesotans from three Canadian junior leagues, with Bloomington's Joey Dosan (Steinbach) representing the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, Lakeville's Isaiah DiLaura (Swift Current) hailing from the Western Hockey League, and Maple Grove product Tyler Kostelecky, who skated in 15 games for the British Columbia Hockey League's Alberni Valley Bulldogs. 

NA3HL'S Grizzlies send two southern Minnesota products to NAHL 

Tuesday's Draft featured several selected from the NA3HL, the NAHL's Tier III feeder. A pair of players, Rochester native Dylan Schneider and St. Peter native Hunter Wilmes, both played for the Rochester Grizzlies. Schneider skated for three seasons with Shattuck-St. Mary's, while Wilmes played nine games in the NAHL after high school and then spent last season with the Grizzlies.

St. Louis Park to Fairbanks pipeline continues 

St. Louis Park product Sam Berry was scooped up by the Fairbanks Ice Dogs in the fourth round on Tuesday, a second Oriole/Ice Dog pairing that could pay dividends for both sides. Fairbanks selected two-sport star Jonny Sorenson in the 2018 Draft, who at the time was fielding multiple offers to play Division III football and baseball. Sorenson opted to suit up for the Ice Dogs, racked up 71 points, and parlayed his year in the NAHL into a scholarship to the University of Minnesota. Sorenson tallied 11 points for the Golden Gophers last season. There may not have been a better spot for Berry to be selected than Fairbanks.