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North Stars make more cuts

Sep 8, 2016 | 12:09 PM

More cuts for the North Stars were made on Wednesday, meaning the 2016-17 roster is almost finalized.

A total of four players were released and one placed on waivers. Goaltender Dawson Rodin, defenceman Dawson Boehm, and forwards Blake Fennig and Zane Jaber were all released, and forward Tayden Woods was placed on waivers.

The only difference between being released and placed on waivers is that Woods was signed to a card by the team, meaning he is still their property until Friday. The others are free to try out or sign with another team immediately.

Rodin and Boehm were in tough from the get go, as there were already two returning goalies and six returning defencemen. Fennig and Jaber are younger guys who were just a step behind and Tayden Woods was expected to score a little bit more.

The current North Stars roster is now at 24 players: two goaltenders, nine defencemen, and 13 forwards, although two of those defencemen – Connor Jensen and Connor Manegre – were tried out as forwards during various parts of camp.

Carrying a large group of defencemen is something head coach Nate Bedford is used to.

“I think that you can’t have enough ‘D’,” Bedford said. “I don’t think you’d want to run nine ‘D’ all year, that’s for sure, but at the college level [I] ran eight, sometimes 10 ‘D’ so I’m familiar with running a lot.

“With injuries and the odd suspension here and there, I think you have to have a deep ‘D’ in order to be successful and we’re really fortunate to be in this situation.”

Bedford said he’s not sure whether more cuts will happen or not, but he did say it’s a possibility. He and assistant coach Braeden Johns are taking things day by day.

“If everyone is healthy and everyone is ready to go, there’s probably a better chance that we’re going to release a guy or two,” Bedford said on Thursday morning. “I have no magic number on what our roster is going to look like. It’s all about production and what happens on the ice.”

With the final two pre-season games happening this Friday and Saturday, the regular season is just around the corner.

“The closer we get to the regular season the more excited I am, and we’re going to be,” Bedford said. “Nothing beats competing for two points every night.”

 

Nathan Kanter is battlefordsNOW’s sports reporter and voice of the Battlefords North Stars. He can be reached at Nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca or tweet him @NathanKanter11