They've been playing hockey together since atoms, they're both on the senior boys ball team and now two 14-year old Cochrane boys have both been selected in yesterday's Western Hockey League (WHL)  Bantam draft.

The only difference is this time they potentially could be playing for different teams.

Tyrel Bauer and Nickolas De Beurs were among the 230 players selected in the first 14 rounds of the draft in what is the next step in potentially playing high calibre junior hockey in years to follow.

Bauer was selected in the second round by the Seattle Thunderbirds in the second round,  41st pick overall. The 6'1", 185 lb. defenceman played the last two seasons with the Airdrie Xtreme 'AAA' bantam team and before that played hockey in Cochrane. He was also called up to play six games with the AC Avalanche 'AAA" midgets last season.

de Beurs is a 5'11", 165 lb.  left winger who was claimed by the Red Deer Rebels in the eighth round, 167th overall. Like Bauer he has played with the Xtreme for the last two season and finished his bantam career with a solid 13 goal, six assist season. He was also called up by the Avs for a few games.

Both were acutely aware of the draft. While in class they anxiously snuck peeks at their phones as the names rolled out.

"I was in school doing my work and there my name was," says de Beurs.

"It feels really good. It's an honour to be selected by the Red Deer Rebel and I look forward to a future with the team."

Next he's off to a Rebels development camp in early June.

For Bauer it was similar.

"It's a very cool experience for sure," says Bauer. " I was at the same school and looked down and my coach happened to text me before and told me he was excited and he was super proud of me," says Bauer.

His dad, Steve, was also closely monitoring the draft and was quick to text his son when word came down the pipe.

"I gave him a  quick text message but I have a feeling he was following it, too." he chuckles. "I'm pretty excited for that. It was a little unexpected, I would say."

Steve, who played at the junior 'A' level and continues to play in an oldtimers league, possibly could face a dilemma if his son suits up with the Thunderbirds.

"The funny part is we're from the Regina area originally so when we grew up the Pats were the thing," says Steve. "And now it's the Pats and Seattle in the final so I told Ty, 'OK, now we have to cheer for Seattle instead of the Pats'."

Both players know there's a long road ahead and making their respective WHL teams is not a given.

"It's definitely an accomplishment but it's not the end," says Bauer, as de Beurs nods in agreement. "There's still lots of hard work to go."

And should that day come the tandem team may be broken up on the ice, but the friendship will remain.

"We're good buddies. We'll make it work."

The pair were also part of winning team in the recent Alberta Cup hosted by Canmore and were joined on the team by fellow Cochranite Caleb Willms. The South went undefeated in the tournament, although they did tie the Northwest team in their opening game. They had a rematch with Northwest in the cup final and came away with a decisive 5-1 win.

All three Cochrane players contributed to the score sheet in the round-robin tournament, with Bauer scoring one and assisting with three, de Beurs assiting one two and Willms earning an assist.