PR - Apocalypse

The Coquitlam Apocalypse have had an unusually busy offseason when you
compare it with past years. It seems that GM James Sykes is taking a much
more agressive aproach in trying to improve his team. We'll have to wait
until the start of the season to see if this new tactic pays off but the
fans are already excited.

The first sign of GM Sykes' new attitude was his bold and, some say,
over-priced bid on restricted free agent Eric Brewer of the Atlanta Flames.
"We feel that Eric is well worth the price we put on him. He's a strong,
physical guy who can play a ton of minutes," Sykes said at a meet and greet
for season ticket holders yesterday. "Pat [Amantea, Flames GM] obviously
didn't but I think that that is our gain."

The Apocalypse ended up signing Brewer for a 2 year contract believed to be
a little more than $3M a year. The team also gave up a 2nd round pick in
next year's draft and backup goalie Wade Dubielewicz who became expendable
with the emergence of young Devan Dubnyk and the fact that the Apocalypse
drafted another goaltending prospect in this past draft. "Wade served us
well for the past few years but, to tell you the truth, I never could
pronounce his last name."

The Flames' Amantea then made a bid on Apocalypse superstar defenceman Derek
Morris sparking rumours that it was in retaliation to the Brewer signing.
"I don't think that's the case," Sykes replied. "Pat made bids for a lot of
guys. I would have prefered to have been able to work it out within the
organization but sometimes it doesn't work out that way." The Apocalypse
matched the offer which will see Morris under contract for two more years
when he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

Then Sykes got word that the Misconduct had a talented young playmaker
available in Brian McConnell. He and Misconduct GM Rob Maxwell pounded out
a deal that eventually saw the under-performing centre Sergei Anshakov and
stable defenceman Tomas Kloucek dealt for McConnell and Kris Beech, a
well-rounded player who could yet be a star.

"I couldn't pass up the opportunity to land a toung talent like Brian, who's
not only a brilliant playmaker but can play a ton of minutes, we've been
missing that at centre. I also wanted to add Kris to shore up our top 3
lines, it really worked out perfectly for us."

With the addition of McConnell the Apocalypse can boast two of the best
young playmaking centres in the game to help distribute the puck to snipers
like Sundin and Bondra. And we haven't even mentioned last year's team MVP
Michael Tessier who was having a break-through season until he fractured a
vertabrae in his neck in a game against the Flames. So it seems the fans
have much to be excited about.