For first time in club history, the Kootenay Ice chose the younger brother of a current player in Thursday’s WHL bantam draft.

They did so with their first pick in the 2010 draft in Edmonton, choosing West Vancouver’s Sam Reinhart 15th overall. A centre, he is the younger brother of Ice forward Max Reinhart.

Director of scouting Garnet Kazuik said Sam has the same good hockey sense as his eldest brother.

“At the same age, if you’re comparing the two, I think that Sam is maybe a little bit ahead. We can say that today, but we won’t know for a couple of years’ time,” said Kazuik. “The bottom-line with Sam is he’s got tremendous upside. He’s got good hockey sense; he obviously comes from a hockey family. He wants to be a hockey player, so he’s on the right track. We’re going to be patient with him just like with any other pick.”

Reinhart, whose dad Paul spent a fruitful decade in the NHL, was one of 11 players chosen over seven rounds by the Ice.

“I think we got a good combination of speed, skill and sandpaper,” said Kazuik. “There was some direction as an organization to go after those types of players. I think we’ve found that.”

They came away six forwards, four defencemen and a goalie.

“That was the plan going in, to go 6-4-1. Having said that, when you do get a few extra picks in some rounds, that does make it a little easier to fill that plan,” said Kazuik.

When it came time to make their first choice yesterday in Edmonton, Kazuik said three of the four players they’d hoped to pick were still available. A short conference narrowed it down to two, with Reinhart’s upside tipping the scales his way.

With their second selection — 33rd overall — Kootenay decided they had to have Faith. A native of Wilcox, Sask., Tanner Faith is a very big, very mobile defencemen.

Scouts give athletes letter grades for particular attributes, and Kazuik said Faith is a B-plus to A in skating.

Faith raised his game in the latter half of the year to become, in Kazuik’s opinion, Notre Dame’s No. 1 defenceman.

“He’s taken tremendous strides, and I think we’re very fortunate to get him.”

Four spots later, they Ice took goaltender Wyatt Hoflin. Kazuik said the Stony Plain, Alta. product was consistent throughout the year, capping the scouting season off with an outstanding performance at last weekend’s Alberta Cup tournament.

“He’s a very athletic goaltender,” said Kazuik. “We thought he was the best player available at that time, and we took him.”

With their fourth pick, the Ice got forward Luke Philip 59th overall.

“If you’ve ever seen him play, Luke has absolutely tremendous speed, he has tremendous skill,” said Kazuik. “All the way through minor hockey, he’s always been the top scorer. He was the top scorer on the Airdrie Xtreme (with 30 goals, 59 points) this year.”

Next, it was Jaedon Descheneau at 62nd, a winger with a similar skill package to Philip.

“He brings a bit of sandpaper to his game and sees the ice very well,” said Kazuik, noting Descheneau tied for second in the Alberta AAA bantam league with 77 points.

THINK FAST

With the first of two quick picks in the fourth round, the Ice chose defenceman Spencer Wand 75th.

Kazuik said the Shaunavon, Sask. product is a gritty player with more skill than many give him credit for, as Wand ran the power play for the Swift Current bantams.

The Ice stepped back up for the 77th pick, chosing 6-foot-1 stay-at-home defenceman Cole De Pape of the Winnipeg Warriors.

He is the younger brother of former Prince Albert Raider Ryan De Pape.

“His family is extremely excited that he’s coming to us,” said Kazuik.

De Pape had a season-ending injury in January, thus limiting his exposure to scouts. Still, he’d done enough to get Kootenay’s Manitoba spotters to vouch for him.

Jesse Wood-Schatz, of Sherwood Park was Kootenay’s fifth-rounder. He’s a big power forward with both a defensive side and a scoring knack near the crease.

Sixth-rounder Kyle Krabben was part of the Calgary Bison squad that finished second at the Western Canadian championship. Kazuik said he’s a puck-moving, smooth-skating offensive defenceman.

With the 135th choice, the Ice returned to Manitoba to chose forward Jonathon Martin (no relation to Kootenay rearguard James Martin, also of Winnipeg).

Kazuik called Martin a WHL prototype.

“If you’re going to build a player, he’s that guy: he’s big, he’s strong, he can score goals. I think he gets a little bit underrated for his offensive side, but anything that you ask of him he will do.”

The Ice wrapped up the draft by dipping back into NHL bloodlines.

Jakson Elynuik is the son of former Winnipeg Jet Pat Elynuik; his brother Campbell plays for the Everett Silvertips.

Jakson makes the players around him better and scores timely goals, according to Kazuik.

“He comes from good stock, and we’re excited to get him where we did in the seventh round.”

• The Ice will double up in several rounds of next year’s draft as well, with a pair of picks in each of the first, fourth, fifth and seventh rounds.

Those will complement slots in the second, third and sixth round.

“You’d rather have too many than too little,” said GM Jeff Chynoweth. “It’s a funny thing: draft picks mean nothing on Jan. 10 (the trade deadline) but they mean a lot at the end of April, early May.”

• Kootenay has gone to the brotherly well once before, choosing Britt Evans in the 8th round in 2005. Brennan Evans had come to the Ice through a trade with the Seattle Thunderbirds. The Reinharts, comparatively, are both Kootenay draft picks.