AMHERST, N.S. — The Amherst CIBC Wood Gundy Ramblers have made a pair of moves to add some size and youth.
The Ramblers sent 20-year-old defenceman Michal Sivek, acquired from Summerside last season, to the Grand Falls Rapids for Moncton native, 18-year-old forward Mark Richard and a fourth-round pick in the 2020 draft.
Amherst also sent future considerations to the Drayton Valley Thunder of the Alberta Junior Hockey League for 18-year-old rearguard Brock Bartholomew.
Bartholomew and Richard were both expected to play last weekend in games against Yarmouth, Grand Falls and Valley.
“We felt we needed to get a little bigger up front and on the back end. Both Richard and Bartholomew bring size, strength, good skating ability and youth. Both players make us better today,” GM Jeff LeBlanc said.
Leblanc said with the Ramblers tough schedule to start the season it was a great evaluation tool for the hockey staff.
“We were fortunate to play some of the best teams in the league during our first seven games. It’s been a great evaluation tool. It showed what we need to improve on moving forward and what our weaknesses are. It's tough to see that in preseason at this level. We feel with these trades we improved on some of those areas.” LeBlanc added
Bartholomew played last season in Drayton Valley as a 17-year-old. In 54 games he had seven points. Richard played last season also as a 17-year-old rookie for Grand Falls. In 44 games he had 11 points.
