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Plenty of familiar faces expected on Raiders’ roster
Friday July 25 2008 By Eamonn Maher, Staff Writer With the general manager’s title added to his head coaching duties over the summer months, James Richmond’s workload with the Georgetown Raiders may have increased, but he’s pleased to report that half the roster is already in place for the 2008-09 season.
The OHA Provincial Jr. A Hockey League club has received commitments from 11 of last year’s team members and while no new signings have been filed with the OHA, Richmond expects to announce the acquisition of some players prior to the opening of training camp Aug. 18 in Georgetown.
“At the end of last season I asked all the eligible players to contact me if they weren’t coming back and only two did,” said the third-year bench boss, who assumed the GM’s job after Lonnie Freeman left the club in March. “All of the rest are on board and with the other players who we’ve been looking at, we’re really optimistic that we’ll be in the top three in our division again this year.”
Leading playoff scorer Marcus Pryde has requested a trade to a team in the Alberta Jr. A Hockey League, while big defender Peter Mrksic is headed for the Golden Horseshoe Jr. B loop.
Captain Evan Zych will return for a third season with the Raiders and is joined on the blue line by Chris Borges and Rob Brennan.
Eight forwards are back including top regular-season point-getter Mark McGowan, Trevor Branning, Jeremy Wick, Fred Gervasi, Kyle Essery, Lukas Ciotti, Mark White and Luke Reda. Speedy winger Anthony Luciani is also eligible to return but will attend the training camp of the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters first.
Goaltending remains the big question for Richmond after veteran Marc Stuart played his final season in junior last year. Backup Paul Claxton is an Owen Sound Attack draft pick who may play with the OHL team’s Jr. B affiliate in the Scenic City, leaving both netminder positions open.
“We’ve got about six pretty good goalies in mind right now and we’re just figuring out who fits where,” Richmond added. “But with Stuey leaving we’re obviously going to be looking for a true number one guy.”
Georgetown has a couple of home exhibition contests lined up with Streetsville on Monday, Aug. 25 and Orangeville on Thursday, Aug. 28.
The OPJHL’s regular season schedule is in limbo as the 36-team league has undergone a drastic realignment of its four divisions, with the Raiders apparently remaining in the West Conference.
So far, eight teams from across the province will make up the Central Division, a one-year pilot project that is focused on developing players for the OHL or U.S. and Canadian universities. Hamilton is the only West Conference team that has committed to playing in the new division, joining St. Michael’s, Wellington, Markham, Newmarket, Stouffville, the Toronto Jr. Canadiens and Cobourg.
“It’s still up in the air. I really can’t say anything about it right now,” Richmond said.
Raiders’ owner Ted Nishi could not be reached for comment.

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