Wednesday thoughts

We have snow on the ground and with that, the SJHL trade market is beginning to heat up. There seems to be no shortage of league news from the past week to break down.

Melville shook things up on Friday with a pair of trades. Zach Rakochy and Mark Owen were shipped to the Steinbach Pistons for 18-year-old forward Russell Trudeau, who produced at nearly a point-per-game pace last year. Trudeau got off to a quick start with two points in his first SJHL game against the Bruins on Saturday.

The Mils then sent Roger Tagoona to the North Stars for 20-year-old goalie Blake Voth. Voth backstopped the Vernon Vipers for the past two years and was shopped around by the Stars after returning from a USHL tryout. Despite dealing Rakochy, the Mils' tandem of Voth and Alex Wakaluk is a formidable one, assuming Voth lives up to expectations.

Also on Friday, Flin Flon sent defenceman Gabe Minville to Portage for 19-year-old forward Andrew Allan.

For more thoughts on those deals, check out my column in today's Mercury.

Since then, one marquee player has returned to the SJHL and a second one is likely on the way. Defenceman Woody Klassen has returned to the Battlefords after a stint with the ECHL's Greenville Road Warriors. The 20-year-old made his debut last night against Flin Flon. Klassen is a premier point-producing blueliner who immediately makes the first-place Stars even more scary. There's no question they are a legitimate Credit Union Cup threat. It's good to see after they fell well short of expectations last year.

Meanwhile, Ice Wolves play-by-play man Daniel Fink is reporting that star centre Marc-Andre Carre has been waived by the CHL's Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees, and has since cleared waivers. It's very likely that he will now return to La Ronge to finish his last year of junior hockey.

The Wolves seem to be hitting their stride after a slow start and adding Carre, who tied for the league scoring lead last year, should make them a solid bet for a top-three finish in the north, at the least. Carre had one assist in five games of pro hockey.

Finally, Kindersley has shipped checking forward Ryan Elliot to Swan Valley for 18-year-old forward Beau Stewart, formerly of the Bombers. Elliot was brought in by the Klippers last December while I was covering the team and carved out a niche as an extremely hard-working energy guy who could chip in timely goals. It sounds like he's struggled to start this year though.

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You can read my story on the Bruins' weekend split against the Mustangs and Millionaires, along with injury updates, here.

Also, the Bruins are holding their AGM tonight at the Days Inn, so check out next week's paper for a look at their financial picture from last season.

Edit - Also, congrats to Dylan Smith on being named the SJHL player of the week. Smitty put up five goals and four assists in three games, including a hat trick on Friday and a four-point night Saturday.