A couple of shoes dropped in Iceland yesterday and the moves are going to have a profound effect on the Ice this season.
Last one first:
D James Martin was signed by the Calgary Flames yesterday that sent some shockwaves through the club's line-up and put a big wrench into the club's plans this season.
Martin, 20, was expected to anchor the club's D that saw the loss of Brayden McNabb to the pros and Hayden Rintoul via trade with the Victoria Royals. It means the seven D-men still on the roster are in by default as one was going to be the odd-man out when Martin was to return.
The Winnipeg product could still return but it's unlikely, given the success he's had at the Flames camp. It leaves Leach, Niebrandt, Paulsen, Dirk as the club's only veterans on the blueline for the season opener in Red Deer tonight. Mike Simpson, 17, Jeff Hubic, 17 and Spencer Wand 16.
Wand joins five other 16-year-old's still on the roster. Ice coach Kris Knoblauch said yesterday there will be three more cuts (two now that Martin is gone) to the roster and that there would be a "16-year-old" line tonight. Likely Sam Reinhart, Deschaneau and Philp as Jonathon Martin still has another game in his four-game suspension to serve. Jesse Wood-Schatz is the other 16-year-old.
G Brett Teskey was released yesterday in a move that cleared up the goaltending issue within the club and the teams system. With Lieuwen back to play his overage year one of Skapski or Teskey had to go. Teskey was the odd-man out, setting up the Hoflin-Skapski tandem next year.
Skapski will need to get into more than 12 games (as Teskey started last season) to get the seasoning needed to assume the starter's role next season so it will be interesting to see if Lieuwen get's the workload he did last season. I would argue yes, especially since the team headed towards a youth movement, if not by their own design.
It was an intriguing question after last year's camp. Many thought that Skapski was the better of the two and it was a surprise that Teskey was kept. Then again the 20-year-old dynamic of still having Todd Mathews on the roster played a role in the decision to keep Teskey.
Season opener goes tonight in Red Deer and the hanging of the banner at the Plex goes tomorrow night. Mark the start time: 6:55 to get the festivities in that will include pyrotechnics etc.
For HockeyNow:
Lieuwen an Ice leader as WHL season starts
Kootenay Ice goaltender Nathan Lieuwen has seen his share of ups and downs as he embarks on his 5th and final season of junior hockey. It is safe to safe that the last season of hockey for the lanky puck-stopper has been up, wayyyy up.
Backstopping the Ice to a 2011 WHL championship, WHL Playoff MVP honours and then finally hearing the call to the NHL as a sixth-round selection of the Buffalo Sabres in June’s NHL Draft. He topped it off by helping the Sabre rookies win the Traverse City Young Stars tournament before being returned just days before the puck dropped on the 2011-12 season, Lieuwen’s role will now expand with the Ice as the Abbotsford product will now lead a younger club as they defend last season’s championship. “We expect to have a good team this year and we expect to do well,” said Lieuwen as the club drops the puck on the 2011-12 season in Red Deer Friday. Saturday night the club will raise the 2011 WHL Championship banner to the Rec Plex rafters against the Calgary Hitmen.
And though the club can return 15 players from last season’s roster the loss of the likes of C Cody Eakin, D Brayden McNabb and forwards Matt Fraser, Steele Boomer and Kevin King to graduation and trade of D Hayden Rintoul to Victoria means that there’s a lot of room for new leaders in all departments, save for the goal crease. “My role is that I’m the guy in the net and that’s my first responsibility but there is an added role as a 20-year-old and the leadership aspect from the experience last season that I want to pass onto the younger guys this year.”
The club’s roster moves just prior to the season opener in Red Deer reflected that team’s youth movement this season. The team released goaltender Brett Teskey, 18, who served as back-up to Nathan Lieuwen during last season’s championship run. Teskey, from Regina, got into 18 games last season and finished with a 9-3 record, posting a .859 save percentage and a 3.21 goals against average. "With three goaltenders vying for two spots we felt to be fair to the goalies it was important to get down to our roster sooner rather than later. It is always difficult when you have to release a veteran player and we would like to thank Brett for his contribution to our Championship team last year,” said Ice GM Jeff Chynoweth in a release. It wasn’t determined just where Teskey would play this season.
Where D James Martin would play this season however was determined just prior to the season opener and it looks more and more like it won’t be in Cranbrook with the Ice this season. Martin, 20, received an invite from the Calgary Flames to the club’s training camp and earned a contract. Martin is with the Abbotsford Heat for their camp and will likely stick with the team. “Unfortunately we still have guys at pro camps,” said Ice head coach Kris Knoblauch. “We’d like them here to start our season but really, it’s a good problem to have. You want to move your players along with the next level and develop hockey players. We’d love to have him back but we’re just going to have to wait and see.”
Quick Hits – Before Martin signed his contract with the Flames Knoblauch anticipated three more cuts from his roster, two forwards and one on defence. With Martin’s departure the club is left with seven defensemen, three of which are rookies; Mike Simpson, 17, Jeff Hubic, 17 and Spencer Wand, 16…. Knobluach also said the team would field a forward line of 16-year-old’s in Red Deer. Sam Reinhart, Jaedon Deschaneau and Luke Philp will likely start for the club. Jonathon Martin must served one more game of his four-game suspension. Jesse Wood-Schatz rounds out the club’s seven 16-year-olds currently on the roster.
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