In preparation for their season start on Friday, the Trail Smoke Eaters added four new players to their roster.
The Smoke Eaters announced the addition of defenceman Ryan Helliwell and forward Kalen Szeto (F) on loan from the Langley Rivermen. Langley is the only BC team that opted out of the 20 game BCHL season, which starts on Friday, Apr. 2 and will run until May, 8.
At six-foot-one, 175-pounds, Helliwell, 18, is a big addition to the Smokies back end. The Burnaby native is a University of Notre Dame commit, and scored seven goals and 23 points with the Rivermen last season. He also laced them up with the U-17 Team Canada at the World Hockey Championships in 2018-19.
The 18-year-old Szeto is a skilled playmaker who scored 10 goals and added 24 assists in 56 games for the Rivermen last season.
Szeto is committed to Yale and played on the same Burnaby Winter Club Prep team as former Smoke Eaters forward Kent Johnson. He and Johnson finished tied for first in points in the 2017-18 CSSHL season with 75.
Trail also added forward Hunter Floris and defenceman Carson Golder.
The 21-year-old Floris is familiar to Trail fans as he skated in 40 games with the Major Midget Kootenay Ice back in 2015-16. The Vanderhoof native played the last two seasons with the Olds Grizzlies of the Alberta Junior Hockey League where he tallied 36 goals and 63 points in 97 games.
Golder, an 18-year-old Smithers native, played 50 games for the Victoria Royals of the Western Hockey League last season and started this year with the Vancouver Island Junior League’s Campbell River Storm.
The Smoke Eaters open their 2020/21 season on Friday in Penticton against the Vees with the puck drop at 7 p.m.
Trail will remain in the Penticton bubble until the end of the season and play 10 games each versus the Vees and the Cranbrook Bucks.
Read: Trail Smoke Eaters wrap up quarantine
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