Chiefs Near Full Strength For Friday’s Season Opener
Only Joe Cardarelli will be missing Friday night when the Spokane Chiefs open defense of their Western Hockey League West Divison championship.
Cardarelli, 19-year-old left wing, remains in training camp with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Chiefs coach Mike Babcock said Wednesday.
Otherwise, the Chiefs are set after clearing hurdles with Slovokian hockey officials over the eligibility of 18-year-old right wing Marian Cisar, the 37th pick of the National Hockey League June Entry Draft.
Cisar, back from the the Los Angeles Kings camp, will be on the bus to Kelowna today for Friday night’s WHL opener.
With their second game in as many nights Saturday night in Tri-City, the Chiefs are fortunate to be close to full strength.
John Cirjak returned Tuesday night from Colorado’s camp. Defenseman Hugh Hamilton was due in last night from Hartford.
The Chiefs cut to 24 players earlier, sending goaltender Dwayne Renaud, defenseman Jamie Pryor and right wing Rob Rishaug back to their local teams.
Nine of the 24 players on this year’s Chiefs roster are new.
The 16-year-olds are center Blake Evans and defenseman Kyle Rossiter.
Center Marc Brown, center Jared Smyth and defensemen Curtis Suter are new 17-year-olds.
Cisar and Egor Mikhailov, both acquired in the import player draft, and defenseman Andrew Milne are the fresh 18-year-olds.
Goaltender Marc Magliarditi, 20, comes in from Western Michigan University as one of two over-age players. The Chiefs can carry three. Should Jan Hrdina make his way back to junior hockey, or if the Chiefs decide to work a trade, there’s room for another 20-year-old.
Babcock wouldn’t name the four players who won’t suit due to numbers.
Kelowna is playing its first game under new head coach Peter Anholt, although Anholt was with the club last season. Anholt and Alen Kerr swapped roles. Kerr was temporary head coach after Marcel Comeau was fired. Anholt was hired as Kerr’s assistant.
Anholt’s promotion to head coach was reported as a popular choice among the players.
The Rockets expect to have Deer Park High School grad Scott Parker back from pro camp in time for the game. The 6-5, 225-pound Parker - who played Junior B hockey with the Spokane Braves - was the 63rd player chosen in the June draft, by the New Jersey Devils.
The Rockets also expect winger Luke Curtin - reportedly 20 pounds heavier than last season - back from Colorado in time. Curtin had an assist Tuesday night in Colorado’s 3-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings.
Defenseman Karel Betik is not expected in Kelowna from the Czech Republic for the opener. The Rockets are also without veteran right wing Ryan Wade, who suffered strained right knee ligaments in his first day in training camp.
Wade is expected to miss from four to six weeks.
The addition of center Scott King, son of former Calgary Flames coach Dave King, from Boston University will help a team that is bigger, stronger and slower than last year’s underachieving Rockets.
King reportedly had academic difficulties at Boston, missed a semester of hockey and left school. He had 11 goals in six exhibition games for the Rocks.
, DataTimes