Bearcats hold rm at trade deadline
Flurry of deals made by other teams as Yarmouth, Summerside add scoring depth
e Truro Bearcats of the Maritime Junior Hockey League stood pat on trade deadline day.
Bearcats general manager Shawn Evans didn’t make any moves before the Jan. 10 deadline, saying he is happy to send his current group of players over the boards for the remainder of the season and into the playo s.
“There’s a lot of players here that are going to get some experience for the rest of the season and beyond,” said Evans. “So I wasn’t really willing to add to move players out and wasn’t really willing to add to put players in the stands that aren’t going to get a chance to get better.
“At the end of the day, there’s a plan here; there’s a plan here for this year and beyond and standing pat – right or wrong – is the way I chose to do business this year.”
A urry of deals were made by MHL teams last week. The league-leading Yarmouth Mariners added depth up front with the acquisition of Landon Quinney from the Valley Wild- cats for a rst-round pick in the 2020 draft. e North Conferenceleading Summerside Western Capitals bolstered their o ence with the addition of Dylan Riley and Jacob Hickey from the Pictou County Weeks Crushers.
“I don’t react to what other teams do; I never have,” said Evans. “I stick to what I think is best for the Bearcats short term and long term, and I need this group to keep improving to have a chance in the end this year.”
e Bearcats, however, do have a new player in their lineup – 16-year-old forward Logan Camp. He made his Maritime league debut against the Valley Wildcats last Friday.
Camp, drafted by Truro last June, has been playing in the Quebec major junior league with the Baie-comeau Drakkar. He had one goal in 22 games before he was sent down to the Bearcats.
“He’s a young guy, we’re happy to have him,” said Evans. “He’s gonna come in here and I expect him to have a good attitude, I expect him to be excited to play. I don’t want to speak for him, but I’m going to assume his goal is to get back in the Q next year, so we got a good, young guy that’s going to be motivated to play and play well. I’m just looking for a young guy that is going to play 200 feet for us and that’s what I expect from Logan.”
e Bearcats sit third in the Eastlink South Division with a record of 19-11-1-1. ey are just four points behind the second-place Amherst Ramblers entering ursday action.
Tonight, Truro visits the Summerside Western Capitals, before weekend home games on Friday against Grand Falls and Saturday against South Shore. Both home games get underway at 7 p.m. at the RECC.