Ethan MacKenzie is a big story in Canada. How did UND land him early?

Dec. 19—GRAND FORKS — Canada's World Junior Championship team is loaded with first-round picks.

Of the 24 skaters at Canada's final evaluation camp, 19 are first-rounders and three will likely be top-10 picks in June. The other two are a second-rounder and someone who fell through the cracks and went undrafted last season.

That player is defenseman Ethan MacKenzie.

He is committed to UND.

MacKenzie, one of the fastest-rising prospects, has turned into one of the Western Hockey League's best defensemen while playing for the Edmonton Oil Kings.

The 6-foot-1, 189-pound defenseman has 10 goals and 31 points in 30 games this season.

How did UND find him early?

General manager Bryn Chyzyk said the entire staff — head coach Dane Jackson, associate head coach Matt Smaby and assistant coach Dillon Simpson — was on board with MacKenzie.

"Our whole staff was part of that process, for sure," Chyzyk said. "It wasn't just my evaluation."

What did they like about him?

"We saw an elite-skating defenseman that was highly competitive on the ice," Chyzyk said. "Once we peeled back the layers and got to know the kid a little bit more, how he was a late-developing kid, just sitting down with his family and talking about who they are and what makes them tick, we realized it would be a really good fit for our program."

MacKenzie, who is from Peachland, B.C., runs Edmonton's top power-play unit.

With Team Canada, he's been getting work on the penalty kill.

The Athletic's prospect analyst

Corey Pronman wrote after Canada's first exhibition

against Sweden on Wednesday night: "The undrafted Ethan MacKenzie was one of Canada's most dependable defensive players on the back end and has moved his way from relative unknown to a near certainty to be in the lineup on Boxing Day."

MacKenzie is expected to come to campus next season.

"We're certainly not shocked to see the success he's had this year," Chyzyk said.