Saints - PR

Saints Shuffle Pays off against hoity toity Flames

June 9, 2005

After a week long trading frenzy which is too complex to explain, GM Young finally announced today his intentions over the next (oh lets say 20 games). "This morning I assigned many of our underperforming 20 year old players to the Praetorian, in hopes to add to that already dominant farm franchise..." Joining the Praetorian are Andrei Kostitsyn, Denis Grebeshkov, David Turon and rejoining the farm team after a brief and successful Pro tryout (injury replacements) are future stars Devin Setogouchi and Frederik Sjostrom. Call ups include Mike Motteau, Bruno St. Jacques and GM Young also announced that Alexei Tezikov will now be called on to play roughly 20 min a game as the Saints #5 d-man - a unique honour, Tezikov is the only player from the original Saints Roster of the new TFHL (the one we joined with). "I hope that on the farm, some of these talented, yet young players, can develope their skills a bit more. Kostitsyn has showed promise on our pro roster by scoring a point a game since arriving here from the Wheat Kings but I don't feel that he can yet log the ice time needed of him."

Tucker rejoined the Saints roster for today's game - Tucker was the first player GM Young ever traded upon joining the new TFHL (to the Hurricanes for Radek Bonk). "Tucker has always played very well for us as a top end checker who can still rack up some points. The fans were very happy to see Tucker return for a run for the cup!" It is rumoured that Tucker will likely be dealt after this season as he is a RFA and starting next year there will be a surplus of younger talent available to the franchise.

On the goaltending front - after the shocking trade that saw league leading young goalie Ilja Bryzgalov leaving the Saints to join cross town Sasktoon rival Wheaties, the Saints goaltending situation looks better than ever. "I'm excited from what I'm seeing from Rask, our 18 year old starter on the farm...not to mention superb play by back-up Oliver Michaud!" And on the Pro, Martin Brodeur starts off with an impressive win over the "best of the west" Flames. The 3-1 win today over the flames came with the absence of #1 centre Sakic and Spezza line-mate McConnell...but to be fair to the Flames, Williams wasn't at 100% condition.

"We plan on winning the farm championship this year, and repeat the extraordinary season of TFFHL 11. We have the goaltending, we have the offence and now we have the defence which is comparable to many Pro lineups!" - Laurie Boschman, Ottawa Praetorian Head Coach.