The Swift Current Broncos signed their tenth-and-final selection in the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft to a Standard Player Agreement on Monday.

Defenseman Owen Pickering, a product of St. Adolphe, Man., was nabbed 177th-overall in the ninth round last May after a Bantam AAA career with the Eastman Selects.

On the blue line this season with the Rink Hockey Academy Elite 15s squad, Pickering showed his skill, recording 21 points (5 G, 16 A) in 34 games. He also added three assists in two playoff games.

Pickering grew as much physically as he did on the ice as well since he was drafted by the Broncos. Originally listed at 5-foot-7 last spring, the 2004-born defender is now up to the 6-foot-2 mark, as noted in the Broncos' release on his signing.

The signed prospect had high praise piled on by his Bantam AAA coach in the days following last year's draft as well.

Check out the full story and listen to the interview below.

The Broncos are now set to inject another dose of prospects into the system Wednesday morning, as the 2020 edition of the WHL Bantam Draft looms on the horizon.

 Broncos' Draft Pick Pickering a "Student of the Game"

Written by Eric James

The fifth-and-final Swift Current Broncos draft pick profiles is ninth-rounder Owen Pickering, the tenth-and-final selection by Swift Current in the early-May WHL Bantam Draft.

The St. Adolphe, MB-born Pickering was taken 177th overall, after a season spent as part of a stellar blueline unit of the Eastman Bantam AAA Selects.

Fellow Selects defencemen Denton Mateychuk (11th overall) and Spencer Penner (29th overall) were prized prospects at the front end of the draft.

Meanwhile, Pickering posted steady numbers this past season in his draft year, with six goals and 17 points in 35 games.

"He's an offensive defenceman - he may not put up the points, but he's on the ice for a lot of goals for," said Selects head coach Jordan Wohlgemuth. "He steps into the play and becomes a threat really quickly, as well as he really defends well. He was a big part of our penalty-kill that ran over 90 percent this year." 

The 5-foot-7, 130-pound Pickering noticeably made some serious strides this season to put him in a position to be worthy of a getting drafted, according to his now-former bench boss.

"I saw his confidence kind of skyrocket as the year went on," Wohlgemuth shared. "He's got a great set of hands - he just needed to stay a little bit more poised, and he continued to work on that throughout the year, and really gained confidence in that first read, making that good first pass coming out of the zone."

Of course, the 15-year-old has some work still to do on his game, and to add size to his frame, though Wohlgemuth says Pickering is no stranger to putting in the time and effort.

"He worked so hard this year. He put in a lot of time on the ice and off the ice getting better - a real student of the game. I'm just really proud of him," he said.