Defensive crisis averted. Somewhat.
Published 7:19 pm Saturday, December 26, 2009
This evening the Tips held their one and only practice before the season resumes tomorrow against Tri-City. The biggest concern for the Tips at the start of the second half was on defense, where Everett potentially could have been without three of its top four defensemen because of international commitments, and possibly be short of a full contingent of six d-men.
Well, the issue turned out to be less of a problem than it could have been. Yes, the Tips are still without their top defensive pairing of Radko Gudas (World Juniors) and Ryan Murray (U-17s) for the first several games of the second half. However, as mentioned yesterday, Rasmus Rissanen did not make Finland’s team for World Juniors and has rejoined the Tips in time for tomorrow.
In addition, the Tips have brought in 18-year-old defenseman Paul Bonar for a look. Bonar was a teammate of Tips prospect Evan Morden with the Swan Valley Stampeders of the MJHL, where he had seven goals, 23 assists and 33 penalty minutes in 36 games. The 6-foot-1, 192-pound native of Brandon, Manitoba, appeared in 44 games with Moose Jaw last season, recording three assists and 55 penalty minutes, but could not crack the Warriors’ roster this season. Everett general manager Doug Soetaert said there was no specific plan regarding whether Bonar would be a temporary fill-in or remain with the team the rest of the season.
Everett was looking at the possibility of having just four defensemen available for the start of the second half. But with the acquisition of Curtis Kulchar prior to the break, the return of Rissanen and the addition of Bonar, the Tips now have a spare d-man despite the absence of Gudas and Murray. It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out once Gudas and Murray return.
