Sabres name first additions to roster

    The Fort Frances Jr. Sabres’ roster building has officially begun.
    The expansion SIJHL hockey club has signed their first Fort Frances native, forward Kyle Turgeon, and made their first trade to bring in forward Ray Pressacco from the Swan Valley Stampeders of the MJHL in exchange for future considerations.
    “It’s always good to play in front of the hometown crowd and be a hometown hero, you know what I mean?” Turgeon said.
    He added he was “pretty happy” about the signing, “because I get to stay home and everything, eh? Looking forward to staying at home, staying with all my friends, graduating and playing a good year of hockey.”
    Turgeon, who last year served as an assistant captain of the Muskie high school hockey team, was one of the first local players head coach Wayne Strachan had in mind when he began looking for players for the team.
    “I think Kyle will be a big part of the team not only this year, but in the future,” Strachan said.
    “I like a lot of attributes that Kyle can bring to the team. He always works hard. He’s an excellent penalty killer. He’s an up-and-down two-way forward,” he added.
    Pressacco, a native of Trail, B.C., comes to the Sabres having produced six goals and six assists in 50 games with the Stampeders last season. Strachan said the 19-year-old is being brought in to provide some junior-level experience to the rookie team.
    “He’s a role player. We’ll be looking to bring him in as a leader of the team for the younger kids. He’s an energetic player. He plays hard all the time. I’m hoping maybe he turns into a Josh Baxter-like player, like the Borderland Thunder had,” he said.
    Further to the players, Strachan said the Sabres have finalized one of their assistant coaches—local Frank Redford. Strachan said Redford is relatively new to coaching but is “a good guy to have” in that many of his coaching skills and philosophies complement those of Strachan.
    “I think he’s going to be a good coach in years to come as soon as he gets more experience,” he said.
    The Sabres still have two camps in August to fill out the remaining spots on their roster.
    Strachan said that his signing local players will be a priority, and that he hopes to trade for players from Fort Frances who have gone on to play junior hockey out of town, although he added that he’ll look to bring in a couple of defencemen and a goalie experienced at the junior level to help some of the younger Sabres adjust to playing at the SIJHL level.