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Calgary Hitmen add young talent at bantam draft

Sometimes you gotta play hooky before you can play hockey.

But it’s a good thing Jackson Van de Leest was selected in the first round of the WHL Bantam Draft.

If he had to wait any longer he might have been in some hot water with some teachers.

The Calgary Hitmen took the 6-foot-5, 190-pounder off the board with the 16th pick in Thursday’s draft, which allowed Van de Leest to get to school.

He admitted to maybe, perhaps skipping the start of classes to watch the draft unfold.

“Yes, a little bit,” Van de Leest said when asked if he was playing hooky.