Monday, June 28, 2004
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Pittsburgh Penguins finished off their draft Sunday by adding seven players, including a Czech defenseman with a scoring touch and another Minnesota high school player.
Michal Sersen, second in scoring among rookie defensemen with 25 points in his first Quebec Major Junior Hockey League season, was chosen during the fifth round of the two-day draft.
The 6-foot-1, 200-pound Sersen, 18, was rated 43rd among North American prospects by NHL Central Scouting.
Before taking Sersen, the Penguins chose center Tyler Kennedy, 17, in the fourth round. Kennedy (5-10, 183) had 16 goals and 26 assists in 63 games for Sault Saint Marie of the Ontario Hockey League.
In the later rounds, the Penguins added right wing Moises Gutierrez, 17, of Kamloops, Western Hockey League; defenseman Chris Peluso, 17, of Brainerd (Minn.) High; center Jordan Morrison, 18, Peterborough, Ontario Hockey League; goaltender David Brown, 19, Notre Dame; and center Brian Ihnacak, 19, Brown University.
Ihnacak is the son of former Maple Leafs center Peter Ihnacak.
Of the Penguins' 12 picks in the seven-round draft, all but the final two, Brown and Ihnacak, currently are 18 or younger. They picked three Minnesota high school players, including defenseman Alex Goligoski from Grand Rapids, Minn., in the second round and center Brian Gifford from Moorhead (Minn.) High in the third round.