The Battlefords North Stars have brought in a couple of new faces to their forward core for the 2017-18 Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League season.
After acquiring Josh Sielsky of Maidstone from the Manitoba Junior Hockey League鈥檚 Neepawa Natives in a trade for future considerations last week, the Canalta Cup champions signed Foxwarren, Man. product Jacob Tibbatts from the Yellowhead Chiefs of the Manitoba Midget AAA Hockey League Wednesday.
Tibbatts, 17, had 32 points this year for the Chiefs and had a strong performance at the North Stars prospect camp in April at the Civic Centre.
鈥淭here were a number of teams that had a lot of interest in him when we invited him to the spring camp,鈥� North Stars general manager and head coach Nate Bedford said. 鈥淩ight from the first day, he was one of the better guys, which isn鈥檛 easy to do in an environment like that.鈥�
The Tibbatts name will be a familiar one to long time North Stars fans, as his uncle Trent played for the team from 1992 to 1996.
His father Derek was a member of the Western Hockey League鈥檚 Saskatoon Blades from 1989 to 1995.
鈥淓ven though he鈥檚 a younger guy, Jacob鈥檚 very mature for his age,鈥� Bedford said.
鈥淔rom everything I鈥檝e heard from his coaches and from having seen him play at the spring camp, he鈥檚 a tough player with a good two-way game. He works hard all of the time and I don鈥檛 think it will take him long to adapt to playing at this level.鈥�
Sielsky, meanwhile, is coming off of a rather busy 2016-17 campaign.
After starting the season with the Nipawin Hawks and playing in four games for them, the 18 year-old was traded to the MJHL鈥檚 Portage Terriers in October.
He had a goal and an assist in seven games for them before he was dealt to the Natives in November, where he had 15 points in 32 games.
鈥淲e were interested in him last year but we didn鈥檛 feel like we would give him enough ice time with the older lineup that we had,鈥� Sielsky said.
鈥淗e鈥檚 a guy that can score when given the opportunity, as he had a really good season (44 points) in his final year in midget (with the Beardy鈥檚 Blackhawks). It鈥檚 always tough for a guy to be on three teams in one year, so having him on our roster already will give him some extra confidence I鈥檓 sure coming into the fall.鈥�
Away from the ice, the North Stars are also in the process of promoting scout Wylie Riendeau to an assistant general manager position.
鈥淗e鈥檚 a guy that does a lot of work behind the scenes and we鈥檙e really happy to have him on board,鈥� Bedford said.
鈥淚f it wasn鈥檛 for him, I鈥檓 not sure our off-season moves would be going as smooth as they have been.鈥�
