Final Roster (Alaskan boys traded)

The Trail Smoke Eaters have made their finals moves to get the roster down to 23 players. After a long and very difficult evaluation, the Smokies decided to keep the remainder of their strong crop of rookie defenceman. As a result they had to move a couple of the veterans. Jim Ingram told me that this was a very tough choice for the whole staff. They liked everyone they had here and none of them did anything wrong. It was simply a numbers game.

The Smokies traded both their Alaska born products today, but to different destinations. 1989 born Braden Kinnebrew is headed to the St. Albert Steel in the AJHL. His friend, 1989 born defenceman Jimmy Geerin is going to the Cowichan Valley Capitals. Ingram says he made a ton of calls around both leagues to see if they could put something more substantive together, but in the end he had to get under the roster limit and settled for future considerations.

Geerin is still several weeks away from action, but will absolutely be a big addition for the Capitals. They have a ton of fire power on that team. However, I hear they could use some help on the back end. Geerin was terrific for Trail in the second half of last season. He joined the team from Penticton in the Nathan Westover deal and proceeded to be their best defenceman for the remainder of the year. His shoulder surgery after the season has kept him out of action to start the year. The Smokies are very happy with what they've seen in camp, so it looks like Geerin's injury made him one of the odd men out. He's going to a great situation in Duncan with former Smoke Eater Brett Corcoran and a lot of talented hockey players.

Kinnebrew got off to a bit of a slow start with Trail last year. That didn't last. He was easily one of the most improved Smoke Eaters in the second half of the season. He played with a ton more confidence and strength. His physical play really picked up, and he could be counted on to stand up for his teammates. Again he's the victim here of the numbers game as the Smokies were really happy with how his game had evolved. There were BCHL options, but Kinnebrew will get a better opportunity to play an important role in St. Albert.

Another thing playing against Geerin and Kinnebrew was their age. All of the rookies the Smokies kept were either 90s or 91s. Technically they will likely be available to Trail longer than either of the Alaskan boys could have been. That had to have been a factor. Good luck to both guys and I'm sorry to see them go.

With that the roster is set. You can take a look at it on the BCHL website. Some of the changes aren't yet reflected on the site but they will be. The nice thing for me now is that I can start memorizing numbers!

Some things that stand out for me on this year's roster include the bigger local contingent this season. Paul Mailey, Patrik Martin, Justin Brown, Travis St. Denis and Steve Koshey are all from the Rossland-Trail region. Two of them are alternate captains while the three rookies are set to play a big part on the team for years to come. Hopefully that makes the local fans happy. St. Denis was a big surprise at this year's camp. As talented as he is, a small 16 year old rarely makes the jump right to the BCHL. He clearly impressed the coaches and earned his spot. Lets hope he can make the kind of impact his brother Kyle did in the BCHL.

There's also a ton of rookies. I count thirteen in all. While the team looked good in exhibition play, I have to believe it's going to take them some time to gel. The departures of Geerin and Kinnebrew mean that now only five players are back from last year's team. Brown and Koshey played some games as APs, but really only Mailey, Martin, Ryan Bulach, Patrick Raley and Paul Barclay were permanent parts of last year's Smoke Eaters. Lots of new guys to get to know!

If you don't recognize one of the names on the roster from training camp or exhibition it's Sean Nugent. He was busy playing lacrosse at the Minto Cup. Nugent played for Coach Ingram on Vancouver Island. He's a 6'2, 205lbs bruiser who is going to keep the other teams honest. With guys like Nugent, Reardon, Loyst, Martin, Legassic and others we can expect some toughness and grit.

Forwards

18 JF Boisvert (89) rookie, import
21 Justin Brown (91) rookie
11 Ryan Bulach (88) CAPTAIN
26 Chad Gehon (88)
14 Brian Kang (88)
17 James Kellington (91) rookie
19 CJ Legassic (90) rookie
12 Riley Loyst (89)
25 Paul Mailey (90) ALTERNATE
27 Patrik Martin (88) ALTERNATE
20 Sean Nugent (89) rookie
10 Andrew Pickering (89) rookie
9 Travis St. Denis (92) rookie

Defencemen

4 Brandon Clark (88)
8 Danny DeKeyser (90) rookie, import
7 Steve Koshey (91) rookie
3 Patrick Raley (89)
5 Jayson Reardon (90) rookie
24 Skyle Smutek (90) rookie, import
2 Graeme Strukoff (91) rookie
22 Jeff Zmurchyk (90) rookie

Goaltenders

1 Paul Barclay (89)
35 Marco Raimondo (88)

Expect a ton of audio tomorrow afternoon. I've got interviews with Kang, Ingram and a bunch of the guys after the recent exhibition games. See you on Saturday night at Cominco Arena when Penticton is in town. Should be a blast.