Yesterday was the CJHL trade deadline for Junior A hockey clubs. There were more than a couple of interesting moves to followers of Junior A hockey but most interesting to UAA Seawolves fans is the trade of Wes McLeod from the BCHL's Prince George Spruce Kings to the AJHL's Spruce Grove Saints for future considerations.
The Saints are currently the #1 ranked Junior A team in Canada. Spruce Grove now has three future Seawolves on their roster with the addition of McLeod. Wes' new teammates include Brett Cameron (UAA '10) and Scott Allen (UAA '11).
Spruce Grove looks to be really solidifying themselves for a serious run at the RBC Cup by adding McLeod. He'll give them an additional strong presence on the blueline. Wes has all the tools ... sees the ice well, great skating, heavy shot and good size at 6ft 2in, 190lbs. They give up nothing at this point from a team that has only 3 losses over 44 games.
There are now 5 players from the Saints committed to Division 1 teams (the other two are off to Yale). Look for that number to grow dramatically as the season progresses. Strong teams attract recruiters in droves. Nate Fleming and Adam Henderson are two names that must be on the lips of quite a few programs at this point when talking 20 year olds. Henderson returned to Junior A this season after playing a year last season at Michigan State. He had visited UAA prior to selecting MSU.
18 year old Joshua Lazowski (5ft 9in, 170lbs) is likely to be a coveted target for some D-1 schools as well. He has 20 goals and 40 assists in his 2nd Junior A season and appears to be a real strong playmaking small forward. With UAA's strong presence in Spruce Grove, I wouldn't bet against seeing more players from that program come to UAA in the next couple of years.
Best of luck to Wes in Spruce Grove and here's hoping to adds some RBC experience to an already excellent resume before coming to UAA this fall.
Wes McLeod in action with Prince George earlier this season
4 comments:
I've visited Spruce Grove to watch the Saints and it's easy to see why they're a winner. Humble rink, humble volunteers, and great coaching. Quite simply it is the epitome of prairie hockey. Excellent synopsis, Donald. If UAA is going to grap a Junior A source, Spruce Grove is the one. Duluth did did the same thing with perennial AJHL powerhouse Camrose Kodiaks I believe.
Mark Hollick was probably one of the best coaches the Saints had.
Point of interest Brett Cameron and Mickey Spencer played on the same line in midgets for St. Albert and had a pretty good year.
NIce. I'll have to remember that and use it sometime next year.
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