Nova Scotia imports expected to have big impact on senior hockey league

CORNER BROOK This season the West Coast Senior Hockey League has adopted to move to a maximum of two new import per team with the exception of the Clarenville Caribous who have a third "make-up" import.

The move has been touted as a way to provide a better hockey product for fans of senior A hockey in western Newfoundland and it has been roundly panned as an unnecessary expense that will be a financial burden on the league and the teams leading to an eventual collapse of the league.

Whether the best-case or the worst-case scenarios ever come to fruition is something only time will tell. What remains as a fact is that the 10 imports reported to be signed, will have a definite impact on the game this season. It is almost implied in the word 'import.' If a team is going to pay to fly them in, they must be worth it.

To a man, all the new imports signed for this year hail from Nova Scotia.

Deer Lake Red Wings
Putting aside the rumours of former NHLer's like Tony Twist and Kelly Buchberger that surfaced on the senior hockey gossip/discussion website NLHockeyTalk.ca, the Red Wings will only be using one new import card at the present time and not on a former NHLer.

For a team known to be strong defensively, GM Andy Brake hopes the addition of Brian Sutherland, a graduate of the Acadia University hockey program, will strengthen the blueline.

Anton Mikhailov, originally from Moscow, will stay on as an import leaving the team with one more card to fill if it desires.

A native of Halifax, Sutherland played in the Central Hockey League last year.

"We wanted to make our D little better than it has been in the past," Brake said. "We are not looking for anyone else right now. For the opening weekend we will have just the one import. But it is something we will definitely look at in the future. Hopefully we won't need anybody, but if we see a weakness and a void we have to fill we will fill it."

Corner Brook Royals
The Royals have Chad Brandimore from Ontario who won't count as a new import this year, along with Norm Batherson, a 38-year-old centre who has been playing in Germany for the last seven years.

A native of Sydney, N.S., the six-foot 190-pounder had 56 goals and 57 assists in his last two seasons (99 games) there and is almost guaranteed to add punch to the one of the Royals to offensive units.

The other Royals import is Richard Paul, a friend of Brandimore who GM Wally Fitzpatrick said will add a level of toughness to the Royals' lineup that hasn't been seen in years. Paul, a defenceman, played 123 games in the QMJHL averaging 200 penalty minutes a season. In 2005-06 Paul played 22 games with the Missouri River Otters in the UHL and racked up 62 minutes in the sin bin.

Clarenville Caribous
The Caribous have signed two of the three possible imports the club is allowed to sign this season.

In Gary Zinck the club thinks they have the defensive anchor they were missing last year. The six-foot-four 220-pounder is 27 years old and has played in the QMJHL with the Halifax Mooseheads, a couple of years of university hockey and most recently with the Halifax Molson Canadians in their bid to win the Allan Cup.

Also on that team was the Caribous other import Graeme Power. Power lives in Dartmouth, N.S and has played in the QMJHL and on the university circuit.

He is a friend and ex-teammate of Dustin Russell from his years with St. F.X.. Power is a 190-lb, six-foot forward and also 27 years old.

Caribous spokesperson Todd Brett said the herd has no intention of filling the third import card at the present, preferring to let coach Randy Pearcey see what he has and see where, if any, holes might exist in the lineup before signing another import.

Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts
Triston Manson of Halifax has already made his presence known with the Cataracts getting into a pre-season scrum with Kerry Shears during a try-out last weekend.

Coach Barry Manuel said Manson is more than just a one-dimensional player however. The 21-year-old winger played 60 games with the Lewiston MAINEiacs in the QMJHL last season and put up three goals, seven assists and 113 penalty minutes.

Tyler Brown is the other import for the Cataracts. Brown played with the Halifax Wolverines of the MJAHL in 2005-06 and racked up 18 goals and 31 assists, while amassing 223 penatly minutes.

"He is someone we are hoping will make a big impact," Manuel said.

Goaltender Jason Stone of Duncan, B.C. is the Cats third import.