Trade Deadline Madness (Part 2, KIJHL)

Just a quick update with some moves from the KIJHL.

The big news for Smoke Eaters fans is that the Castlegar Rebels acquired Scott Jago's KIJHL rights from Fernie. Jago is a Castlegar native who played earlier this year for the Smokies. He left the team a couple of months ago for medical reasons. That kind of a situation is completely private so I have not made any efforts to get an update on Jago to this point. However, if Castlegar picked up his rights, perhaps that means he's looking at making some kind of return to hockey before the season is up. If that's true I'd be thrilled to see him back in action. Jago will certainly be back in the BCHL next year when he's healthy. He has just terrific hockey sense and I would be very surprised if he didn't return to Trail. By the way, you can see Castlegar's new uniform Friday night when they host Nelson at 7:30pm. Bring your radio to listen to our broadcast of the Smokies/Vipers game while taking in KIJHL action there of at 8pm in Fruitvale.

Grand Forks sent their top scorers to Kimberly. 19 year old forward Andrew Green and 17 year old forward Jerris Gregory go to Kimberly for 17 year old forward Konrad Sander. Green has 48 points in 40 games this year while Gregory has 31 points in 34 games. Gregory is the brother of former Smoke Eater Connor Gregory. Connor has 16 points in 31 games with the Border Bruins this year and will be playing for them in this weekend's KIJHL All-Star game. Sander has 10 points in 25 games for Kimberly. The Dynamiters are in a very tight battle with Spokane and Creston for the last playoff spot in the Neil Murdoch East Division. Grand Forks would likely be in the thick of things in any other division, but they are all but eliminated from the playoff race in the very tough Neil Murdoch West. The Border Bruins actually only have 4 fewer points than Kimberly while playing more often against the very tough Nelson, Beaver Valley and Castlegar teams.

It's too bad for Grand Forks fans that they won't be in the dance again this year. However, when you look back at a 33 point season in 06-07 and a 12 point season in 05-06, there is reason for optimism. They have been a better team this season and the program is turning around.

Finally, the Beaver Valley Nitehawks added 18 year old defenceman Eric Gethers. My research shows that he's a 6'0, 165lbs blue liner from all the way down in Ashburn, Virginia. He played 5 games for the Manitoulin Islanders of the Northern Ontario Junior A Hockey League in which he had 1 assist and 11 minutes in penalties. Gethers also played 15 games for the Lindsay Muskies of the Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League. He had 1 goal and 2 assists as well as 8 penalty minutes. That doesn't tell you much except that he was a Junior A defenceman. Junior A in Ontario is not quite at the level of the BCHL in my opinion, but it's still Junior A hockey. From what I'm told, the Nitehawks could use an upgrade to their back end, and Gethers could be just what they're looking for.

Click here for a link to a Muskies message board. This post talks a lot about Gethers being a quality person more than it talks about him as a hockey player. Still, that's a positive sign for BV fans.

The KIJHL may not have reported all the deadline transactions just yet. If anything else happens for Beaver Valley, Castlegar, Grand Forks or Nelson I'll let you know. I also plan to go into the BCHL trades from yesterday as well when I have the time.

The biggest deal for Kootenay Boundary fans (outside of Trail's trades) was Christina Lake native Clinton Pettapiece getting dealt from Cowichan Valley to Westside in exchange for Alex Gellert and what's sure to be a heavy price in future considerations. Westside will have two dangerous weapons that local fans know very well. Pettapiece and former Smokie David Arduin could be a lethal combination on the power play.

Also, Vernon picked up goaltender Andrew Hammond from Surrey. They needed a starter after losing theirs to a mid-season college scholarship. We'll see if he gets the call against the Smokies. Should be fun to watch all the trades officially filter in. We'll get more details in the coming days.