Looking to get a bigger, more experienced defenceman, the Ridge Meadows Flames have made a deal with their rivals to the east.
The local junior Bs made a trade with the Mission City Outlaws, sending them forward Jacob Dorey for defenceman Brendan Murphy.
“I’ve been trying to get Murphy out of Mission for the past year or two,” said Flames general manager Jamie Fiset. “He’s a steady, stay-at-home, defensive defenceman.”
The offensive numbers don’t jump out at you – just three assists in 51 games played in the Pacific Junior Hockey League.
But he is a six foot, 200-pound defenceman out of Chilliwack, who plays a physical game without taking penalties. He won a league championship with Mission last year, and Fiset said his experience and size will be valuable to the Flames.
Dorey, a Surrey resident, had three points in 11 games with the Flames, and at six-foot-two and 190 pounds gives the Outlaws some size up front.
“Jake is a good, solid kid,” said Fiset. “It’s a good trade for both teams.”
In another move, the Flames sent local boy Brett Didyk back to Major Midget hockey. He had a goal in four outings.
The league has a roster cutdown deadline of Dec. 1, when it must be down to 23 players. Fiset said he wants to be down to 22 players, which would leave him with three remaining cards to sign junior players who become available late in the season.
In the more immediate future, Fiset wants to see his sliding team get back to its winning ways, when it was leading the league in September. He wants to see how the roster looks with the recent tinkering.
“We need to get back to how we were playing to start the season. Inconsistency is hurting us.”