The Sarnia Sting welcomed two additional prospects to the hockey club Friday morning through the 2022 Canadian Hockey League Import Draft.
General Manager Dylan Seca used the Sting’s first-round pick to select 18-year-old left shooting winger Sandis Vilmanis from the Luleå HF U20 team in the Swedish J20 Nationell League.
Through 40 regular season games played, the 6’1”, 194-pound native of Riga, Latvia tallied 18 goals and 14 assists for a total of 32 points.
Vilmanis also represented Latvia in multiple international tournaments this season. In the 2022 U18 World Hockey Championship, the winger served as an assistant captain and tallied two assists and a goal through four games played and at the U20 level.
Vilmanis recorded three points through five games played en route to a silver medal finish in the Division 1 World Championship.
With the Sting’s second-round selection, Seca then added right-shooting defenceman David Reinbacher.
The 6’2", 187-pound native of Hohenems, Austria spent the 2021-22 season between Kloten’s Swiss Elite Junior League U20 team and their Swiss League club.
At the U20 level, the strong skating defenceman tallied nine goals and 13 assists through 23 games of action while he recorded a goal and 11 assists in 27 games played in the Swiss League.
The 2022-2023 OHL season, set to start on Friday, September 30th, when the Sting head to the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium to take on the Rangers.
