By Tom Robinson
For Sunday Dispatch
PITTSTON TWP. — Three members of the 2012 national champion Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Junior Knights team were selected by Pennsylvania teams in the National Hockey League Draft June 26 and June 27.
After Ivan Provorov, a defenseman, went in the first round to the Philadelphia Flyers as the seventh overall pick, two more players were selected on the second day.
Forwards Daniel Sprong and Nikita Pavlychev were chosen by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second and seventh rounds Saturday. Sprong was the first Pittsburgh pick.
Provorov, Sprong and Pavylchev helped the Knights to the 2011-12 USA Hockey Tier I U-14 national title. Provorov and Pavlychev returned for another season and helped the Knights to the Tier I U-16 national tournament.
Sprong was the leading scorer in the 2012 national tournament and Pavlychev scored the winning goal in the final.
Provorov spent the 2014-15 season with the Brandon Wheat Kings of Canada’s Western Hockey League. Sprong played for the Charlottetown Islanders of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Pavlychev, who has committed to Penn State University, played for the United States Hockey League’s Des Moines Buccaneers.
Provorov and Pavlychev are both from Russia. Sprong was born in the Netherlands and grew up in Canada.
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