The Lloydminster Bobcats have some reinforcements on the way after a busy couple of days leading up to Wednesday’s trade deadline.
On Tuesday, the Bobcats acquired goaltender Bailey Brkin (99) from the Brooks Bandits in exchange for Future Considerations. A product of Sherwood Park, Alberta, Brkin comes to the Bobcats after spending the start of the 2017-18 season with the WHL’s Kooteney ICE playing in 23 games.
The 6’3, 174lbs goalie also comes with AJHL experience too, having played in 42 games with the Calgary Mustangs last season.
On Wednesday, the Bobcats made a pair of moves.
First, a familiar face will be returning to the Boarder City, as Shawn Harke (00) was re-assigned to the Cats by the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
A 6’0”, 209lbs forward, Harke played seven games with the Bobcats last season and played 23 games in Lethbridge this season, recording one goal.
The Bobcats were then back on the phones later in the day and were able to make a deal with the SJHL’s Battlefords North Stars.
Lloydminster acquired forward Jacob Tibbatts (99) in exchange for forward Cole Johnson (98).
Tibbatts, from Foxwarren, Manitoba registered three assists in 27 games with the North Stars.
The Bobcats resume their season on Saturday when they play host to the Calgary Mustangs for the first and only time this season.
QUOTES
“First of all, I want to thank Cole Johnson for his contributions to our team this season,” said Bobcats Head Coach and GM Travis Clayton. “These deadline days are a roller coaster, especially when you’re talking about trading young men, no older than 20. We think Cole will fit in well with the North Stars though and we wish him all the best.”
“We knew we needed to add another goalie to the roster and we feel extremely fortunate to land someone with the amount of experience that Bailey Brkin has,” said Clayton. “Pierce has been playing tremendous for us and now with Brkin in the mix, we feel we have a really strong one-two punch.”
“Last season we had a chance to see Harke in action with us, and we liked what we saw,” Clayton said. “He’s a big power forward that we feel comfortable putting in almost any role in our line-up.”
“Jacob comes from a very good hockey background and plays the game with a high hockey I.Q.,” said Clayton. “He proved in Midget that he’s fully capable of finding the back of the net and we think we’ll be able to provide him the ice time to really showcase his talents. He also played with Tucker Scantlebury in Midget, so there is some familiarity there as well. We feel really good about bringing him into our organization.”