With the SIJHL’s Dec. 1 trade deadline approaching and the Fort Frances Jr. Sabres in sixth place in the seven-team league, there likely will be plenty of buzz all month about the team shaking up its roster through a trade.
But any attempt to deal captain Quinn Amiel, a 20-year-old who currently leads the SIJHL scoring race with 11 goals and 19 assists in 17 games, would seem unlikely.
When asked about his interest in a possible trade, Amiel answered with an emphatic “no.”
“Not gonna happen. It’s just not,” he stressed. “I’m gonna refuse anything. . . . I don’t even want it to come up at all.”
Sabres’ general manager/head coach Wayne Strachan said it would be unlikely that he would move Amiel, but added “we’ll have to maybe discuss it further with Quinn at a later date.”
Strachan admitted the team is looking to “shore up some key spots” and that he’s had “numerous calls for Quinn” from other GMs.
Amiel insisted he is happy playing for Fort Frances, saying he likes both his teammates and the town.
“The town support is what really got me,” he said, adding he was impressed when one of the team’s first intrasquad games in the pre-season attracted more than 300 fans.
“That’s better than what we had for a regular game” playing for the Lindsay Muskies of the OPJHL last year, he noted.
As for the idea of moving to a team with a better shot at a long playoff run, Amiel said he’s happy where he is.
“I’d love to win a championship, but it’d be even sweeter to win a championship with these guys,” he said.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
