Andy Devlin/Edmonton Oil Kings

Daily Dose of the Dub: Ward to Rebels; Kustra joins Royals; no news regarding Ice move to Winnipeg

Rebels add to goaltending depth

On Monday, the Red Deer Rebels acquired 2001-born goalie Eric Ward from the Seattle Thunderbirds for a seventh-round pick in the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft.

Ward, who is from Edmonton, played in two preseason games for Seattle this season but has spent the regular season with the CAC Canadians Midget AAA team. While there he has posted a 3.42 GAA and 0.907 save percentage in 12 games.

Ward was listed by Seattle and signed with them in December of 2017.

The goalie played well in the preseason, but ultimately lost out on the backup duties to fellow 2001-born netminder Cole Schwebius. With 2003-born goalie Thomas Miilic also in the system, Ward seemed the odd man out.

In their press release, the Rebels stated that Ward would play out the season with CAC. Red Deer has 2000-born Ethan Anders and 2001-born Byron Fancy with the team now in net and 2002-born Carter Seyhenko in the system.

Kustra joins Victoria

Victoria announced they had acquired 1999-born blue-liner Jake Kustra from Saskatoon along with a seventh-round pick in 2019 for a fourth-rounder in 2019.

The six-foot, 176 pound, left-handed d-man was a second-round pick in 2014 by the Blades and played 169 games for Saskatoon, totaling six goals and 25 assists for 31 points.

Kustra is the eighth d-man on the roster for the Royals and their third born in 1999. Ralph Jarratt had been sidelined for the past month, but did return to the lineup on December 7th.

This fuels speculation that one of those other seven d-men will be moved. Whether that be a reassignment or a trade is anyone’s guess.

Alarie poised to make WHL debut

Eric Alarie is up with the Moose Jaw Warriors. He was the last pick in the first-round of the 2018 Bantam Draft and has over a point a game with the Rink Hockey Academy in Winnipeg this season.

He has been officially added to the roster and could very well make his WHL debut on Friday in Regina.

He is the 14th forward on the Warriors roster.

No news regarding the Ice

Greg Fettes, who is the majority owner of the Kootenay Ice told the Winnipeg Free Press that there would be no conference this past Monday, nor is “anything pending.”

Many are speculating that Fettes will move the Ice to Winnipeg before next season.

We talked with Saskatoon Blades play-by-play broadcaster Les Lazaruk in the latest WHL Unfiltered.