The entire hockey world convened on Columbus and Nationwide Arena Friday for the first round of the 2007 National Hockey League draft.

A crowd of over 14,000 was in hand to see two Americans—Par Kane and James vanRiemsdyk selected by Chicago and Philadelphia with the first two picks.

The pair became the U.S. born players to be picked one-two in the NHL Draft. In 1983 and 2005, two Americans were selected in the top three.

“It’s good to have the No. 1 and No. 2 picks,” said Kane, a right-winger who had 62 goals and 83 assists in 58 games last year for the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League. “It’s unbelievable. It’s good to see the Americans start coming into the league.”

The Blue Jackets selected Jakub Voracek of the Halifax Mooseheads with the seventh pick of the draft. New Columbus General Manager Scott Howson received a standing ovation when he appeared at the podium to make the team’s selection.

“It was a big thrill for me,” Howson said. “It shows what great fans we have here. It’s an accomplishment for this organization to hold this draft. It’s a tribute to Mr. McConnell and I was very excited to be up there on behalf of the Blue Jackets to make that selection.”

Howson added that the Columbus fans were amazing during the first round of the draft. A good showing by Columbus could land the city a future NHL All-Star game, which brings the best players in the league to the city for a mid-season showcase of talent and skill.

“It was a tremendous atmosphere,” Howson said. “I had a lot of people remark to me that you just don’t see a full house like we had here tonight.”

There was little suspense with when the Blackhawks selected Kane with the first pick in the draft. He was rated the No. 2 skater in North America by the NHL Central Scouting Service and is expected to give the Blackhawks a creative scorer and deft puck-handler.

vanRiemsdyk had 33 goals and 30 assists in 42 games for the U.S. Under-18 team a year ago.

Phoenix took Kyle Turris of Burnaby with the third pick. Turris was the top-rated skater according to Central Scouting.

Los Angeles made the first surprise pick of the draft by taking Thomas Hickey of Seattle of the Western Hockey League with the fourth pick in the draft.

Washington selected Karl Alzner of Calgary with the fifth pick. Alzner, a defensemen, had 47 points with the Hitman last season.

Edmonton took London’s Sam Gagner with the sixth pick. Gagner, a center/winger, had 118 points (35-83) and was on Canada’s gold-medal winning team in the 2007 Junior Championship in Sweeden.

The rest of the top 10 include Zach Hamill (Boston), Logan Couture (St. Louis) and Keaton Ellerby (Florida).

The draft continues Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. at Nationwide Arena and should conclude in the mid-afternoon.