The first two players with Michigan State ties to be selected in the 2012 NHL Draft both went in the third round on Saturday. Actually, they went with back-to-back picks in the third round. 2013 commit Mackenzie MacEachern was selected with the 67th overall pick by the St. Louis Blues and incoming freshman John Draeger was selected with the 68th overall pick by the Minnesota Wild.
MacEachern goes to Brother Rice High School in Michigan and put up huge numbers last season. In 29 games, he had 42 goals and 48 assists for 90 points. A season earlier, he also had big numbers with 34 goals and 36 assists for 72 points in 30 games.
Draeger, who is from Minnesota and will be headed to MSU this fall, has played for Shattuck-St. Mary's School the last two seasons. He had 11 goals and 30 assists for 41 points in 57 games last season and three goals and eight assists for 11 points in 54 games in 2010-11.
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