It was a record two days for Canada at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft in Ottawa, ON, as the number of drafted Canadians hit marks not seen since the mid 1990s. Four of the top five picks, and 10 of the top 15 were Canadians, and 18 Canadian players made the walk to the stage in the draft’s opening round – no other country had more than five.

When all was said and done on Saturday afternoon, 121 Canadian players were selected by NHL teams during the two-day draft, the highest number since 125 were picked in 2004, and up significantly from the 102 drafted in 2007 and .

The Canadian players selected comprised 57.3 per cent of all selected players, the highest percentage since 1996 (58.1% - 140 out of 241) and the first time more than half of the drafted players were Canadian since 1998 (50% - 129 out of 258).

Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence was well represented in Ottawa, as 45 players who have pulled on the Team Canada jersey heard their names called (listed below in order of selection):

NATIONAL JUNIOR TEAM
(Stamkos, Doughty, Schenn, Boychuk)

NATIONAL MEN’S UNDER-18 TEAM
(Stamkos, Doughty, Pietrangelo, Schenn, Hodgson, Beach, Myers, Teubert, Boychuk, Del Zotto, Eberle, Cuma, Nemisz, Ennis, Allen, Deschamps, Trivino, O’Dell, Y. Sauvé, Robak, M. Sauvé, Hamonic, Scandella, Delmas, Toews, Lalonde, Brittain, McMillan, Wudrick, Holtby, Arniel, Tessier, Wright, Poulin, Cornet, Lagacé, Doyle, Carrozzi)

WORLD UNDER-17 CHALLENGE
(Doughty, Schenn, Bailey, Boychuk, Ennis, Goloubef, Y. Sauvé, Adam, Cormier, Delahey, Rai, Cornet, Doyle, Broda)

Canadians selected in the first round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft
1. Tampa Bay – Steven Stamkos (Unionville, ON/ Sarnia, OHL)
2. Los Angeles – Drew Doughty (London, ON/ Guelph, OHL)
4. St. Louis – Alex Pietrangelo (King City, ON/ Niagara, OHL)
5. Toronto – Luke Schenn (Saskatoon, SK/ Kelowna, WHL)
9. NY Islanders – Josh Bailey (Bowmanville, ON/ Windsor, OHL)
10. Vancouver – Cody Hodgson (Markham, ON/ Brampton, OHL)
11. Chicago – Kyle Beach (Kelowna, BC/ Everett, WHL)
12. Buffalo – Tyler Myers (Calgary, AB/ Kelowna, WHL)
13. Los Angeles – Colten Teubert (White Rock, BC/ Regina, WHL)
14. Carolina – Zach Boychuk (Airdrie, AB/ Lethbridge, WHL)
16. Boston – Joe Colborne (Calgary, AB/ Camrose, AJHL)
17. Nashville – Chet Pickard (Winnipeg, MB/ Tri-City, WHL)
20. NY Rangers – Michael Del Zotto (Stouffville, ON/ Oshawa, OHL)
22. Edmonton – Jordan Eberle (Calgary, AB/ Regina, WHL)
23. Minnesota – Tyler Cuma (Bowmanville, ON/ Ottawa, OHL)
25. Calgary – Greg Nemicz (Courtice, ON/ Windsor, OHL)
26. Buffalo – Tyler Ennis (Edmonton, AB/ Medicine Hat, WHL)
29. Atlanta – Daulton Leveille (St. Catharines, ON/ St. Catharines, OHA Jr. B)