Western Pa. hockey players selected in NAHL entry draft

Saxen Robertson made his mark this past hockey season for the South Kent Selects Academy 16U team in South Kent, Conn.

The Cranberry native scored 21 goals and added 21 assists over 36 games, adding to an already stacked on-ice portfolio.

Robertson, 17, a defenseman, hopes to continue making his mark in rinks across the country as he was selected by the El Paso Rhinos in the sixth round of Wednesday’s North American Hockey League entry draft.

The Pittsburgh Penguins Elite alum at the 14U and 15U levels is one of four Pittsburgh-area hockey standouts to be selected by NAHL teams.

The Jamestown Rebels took Wexford’s Dane Dowiak with the fourth pick of the 10th round. The very next selection, by the Springfield Jr. Blues, was Trafford’s Milan Cermak.

The Johnstown Tomahawks, the closest NAHL franchise to the Pittsburgh area and the only one in Pennsylvania, took Thomas Jefferson’s Hunter Fairman in the 16th round.

Dowiak, a 19-year-old center/left winger, is a Penn State hockey commit for the upcoming season.

Also a Pittsburgh Pens Elite alum, he has played for the Yale Jr. Bulldogs in 16U AAA, the Rochester Selects and Rochester Coalition in 18U AAA and in high school prep with the Kent School and Frederick Gunn School, both based in Connecticut.

He scored 14 goals and added 29 assists in 33 games for Frederick Gunn in 2019-20.

Dowiak was selected 155th overall (11th round) by the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders in last year’s United States Hockey League draft.

Also an accomplished lacrosse player, Dowiak helped lead Pine-Richland to the 2019 WPIAL Class AAA title and was named a U.S. Lacrosse High School All-American.

Cermak, an 18-year-old right wing and recent Penn-Trafford graduate, saw 12 games of NAHL with Johnstown during the 2020-21 season.

He also has played in the United States Hockey League with Tri-City and has skated locally with both the Esmark Stars and Pittsburgh Pens Elite.

Cermak scored 15 goals and added 22 assists in 46 games for the Pens Elite 18U AAA team in the 2019-20 season.

Cermak also is a standout volleyball player who earned All-WPIAL Class AAA second-team honors at outside hitter in 2021. He helped lead Penn-Trafford to third place in the WPIAL playoffs and a berth in the state tournament.

Fairman was the top goal scorer in the PIHL this past season as he tallied 38 goals and added 30 assists in 19 games for Thomas Jefferson, which made the semifinals of the Penguins Cup Class AA playoffs before falling to top seed and eventual champion Baldwin.

He added 21 goals and 36 assists for the Esmark Stars 18U AAA team.

The NAHL, one of the top junior hockey leagues in the country, will begin its 47th season in September. It is the only Tier II level junior league sanctioned by USA Hockey.

The 2021-22 season is slated to have 29 teams playing in four divisions. Jamestown and Johnstown both play in the East Division. Springfield is in the Midwest and El Paso is in the Southwest.