Blenheim Blades Load Up At Deadline

Today, Jan. 10, 2015, is the Ontario Hockey Association’s deadline for teams to either sign or release players as they load up for the upcoming three-week run to the end of the season followed by the playoffs.

And loading up is exactly what the Blenheim Blades have done, in a big way.

To kick things off, earlier in the week the Blades re-signed veteran defenceman Brayden Seliga who, because of schooling, had decided in late August to put hockey on the back burner. However he got the itch to play, signed with the South Kent Juvenile Chiefs, and then AP’d to the Blades for six games before signing a card and getting back in a Blenheim uniform full time.

Then late this week general manager Wayne Cowell went to work to make the Blades an even better team. And it appears he has – in a big way.

It isn’t every day that a GM can pick up another team’s leading scorer, but that is actually what Cowell has done in acquiring Ridgetown’s Matt Clark from the last-place Wallaceburg Lakers.

Clark, a 19-year-old forward, has scored 13 goals and added 14 assists for 27 points for the Lakers, and he immediately becomes the Blades leading goal scorer and is second in assists. He is also a power-play specialist scoring four goals on the PP and helping out on nine more.

In their 33 games the Lakers have scored only 73 goals and Clark has been in on 27 of them.

“Wayne, as always, has done a great job for us in adding talent to the Blades,” said the team’s director of player personnel Bill Saunders. “Clark is a huge pickup for us. Not only do we get Matt for the stretch run this year, but he has two more years of junior eligibility left.

“Scoring goals has been a problem all year and our power-play, that went 0-for-18 at the start of the season, then jumped to 24 per cent, has dropped back to 13.11 per cent. We have just 19 PP goals, the lowest in the league by far, and Matt should be a big help as we look to improve on that front.”

As if that wasn’t enough, Cowell also added 19-year-old forward Dallas Richard.

Richard, a Canadian citizen born in Sarnia, just recently moved back to Canada from Switzerland, where his dad is currently coaching hockey. Dallas is working in his aunt and uncle’s business in Chatham.

While Clark is on the small side at 5’ 6” and 165 pounds, Richard is just the opposite standing six foot and weighing in at 220 pounds.

“Dallas skated with us at practice Thursday night and we were all impressed,” said Saunders. “He is a big body, handles the puck well, can skate and has a rocket of a shot. When you see all those pluses you say to yourself, ‘let’s take a chance’.”

There is plenty of hockey talent in the Richard family as Dallas’s father Mike played some games in the NHL with the Washington Capital, and then many more in the American Hockey League, before going to Switzerland to finish his playing career in 2007 before starting a coaching career there.

Dallas also has an older brother, Tanner, who played in the OHL with the Guelph Storm before being the 71st pick in the 2012 NHL by the Tampa Bay Lightning. He currently plays for the Syracuse Crush in the AHL.

To make room for Clark and Richard the Blades have released forwards Jordan Durston and Mike Myers (both from Wallaceburg), and put centre Bryce Broad on the medically unfit list. Broad will not play again this year because of a severe concussion sustained in a game in early November against the Lakeshore Canadiens.

With these three moves the Blades still have an open card should someone else become available.

Besides the addition of Seliga, Clark and Richard, the team is also in the process of adding ex-Blade Zach Horvath to their affiliate-player-at-large list. Horvath is currently playing high school hockey at Chatham-Kent Secondary School, and has just recently joined the South Kent Juvenile Chiefs.

Horvath will not be able to suit up for the Blades until the CKSS team is done for the season.

Also fans are urged to purchase Cash Club tickets at Sunday’s game against Alvinston Flyers. A ticket gives you a chance to win $1,000, $500 or one of 10 $50 prizes. The draw will be held Jan. 18 between the second and third periods of the Blades home game against Lakeshore Canadiens.