River Kings Make First Moves

[4thLineGoon]

The Cornwall River Kings wasted no time in shaking up the roster they inherited from the Windsor Wild Thursday:

Signed Sasha Pokuluk
Announced at the press conference, the former 14th overall pick of the Capitals comes to Cornwall after spending last season in Austria. The 26-year old defenseman has also played in the AHL, ECHL, DEL.

Trades forwards Yann Joseph, Marc-Andre Huot and Stephane Boileau as well as defenseman Denis Demarais, to Trois-Rivieres for defenseman Pierre-Luc Faubert and future considerations
In an interesting move, Cornwall sends four players including three of Windsors top ten scorers (122 combined points) for Faubert, who spent all of 2011/12 in the ECHL with the Chicago Express, totaling 44 points and 70 PIM. Link (In French)

Invites forward Nicolas Corbeil to camp
Corbeil spent 2011/12 with Akwesasne of the FHL, totaling 70 points and 99 PIM. Toronto's 3rd round pick in 2001, Corbeil has played eight pro seasons in the AHL, ECHL, UHL, FHL, LNAH and Italian League. Announced by Mitch Gagne on Facebook.

Trades Samuel Grenache, Phillipe Bolduc, Martin Nolet and Brandon Christian to St. Georges for Eric Meloche and R.J. Hand
Cornwall picks up the former NHLer and Cornwall Colt Meloche, who had 41 points in 44 LNAH games split between Sorel-Tracy and St. Georges. They also acquire the rights to R.J. Hand who spent 2011/12 with Texas (CHL). Christian showed that he still has it at age 40, putting up 27 FMs and 189 PIM. Grenache was another one of Windsor's top scorers last season with 47 points, while Nolet played 31 games on defense before suffering a season ending injury. Bolduc spent the 2011/12 season playing in France. Link (In French)

[JdhMac]

I just wanted to say a quick "thank you" for the detailed post 4thLine !.

I live in Cornwall and am most definitely looking forward to the River Kings first season this coming Fall.

Can I ask for your honest thoughts, etc. regarding our team?.

Take care,
Jonathan

[4thLineGoon]

Originally Posted by JdhMac

I just wanted to say a quick "thank you" for the detailed post 4thLine !.

I live in Cornwall and am most definitely looking forward to the River Kings first season this coming Fall.

Can I ask for your honest thoughts, etc. regarding our team?.

Take care,
Jonathan

Too early to tell for sure but they've got some good people running the show and these are a couple real solid guys to build around as they assemble the inaugural roster. I expect them to be tough too, part of the reason Cornwall opted to go LNAH over FHL was that this league doesn't mind a good night at the fights. I'll be reposting the news here all summer as soon as Mitch breaks it on the Facebook page!

[shedthemitts]

Definitely glad they elected to join the LNAH over the FHL. Interesting that it was even an option, with both the Privateers and Warriors just over the boarder in the New York north country. Not to mention, I don't see how that league survives much longer with all the drama and corruption rumored to be plaguing it, most notably in Alex Bay.

[SemiProFan]

Cornwall inherited a pretty damn good team that is assuming they'll own the rights to the Windsor players. They were in the Finals this season, won the CanAm Cup as the Sherbrooke Saints in 10/11 and were in the finals in 09/10 as well. That's not to say the Cornwall front office won't clean house but at it's core the team looks good. As far as enforcing duties go, since they traded Christian, who pitched in 31 fights last season, it looks like Dannick Lessard will be the go-to guy. He had 42 last season. Other than that if they do retain the rights those guys on the Windsor roster then they'll likely also have David Lacroix and David Chicoine who had 11 scraps each last season for Windsor. Lacroix also put time in over in the LHSCE last season. Chicoine has been a long time guy with Sherbrooke putting up points (20 to 30) and fights (10 to 15) every season. I would have to think they'll bring in at least 1 other heavyweight. Cornwall's proximity to Akwesasne is a whole other issue but could be a non-issue if the rumor mill keeps churning that AKW may move. AKW maintains on their facebook page that it's "business as usual" but we'll see when the puck drops. The LNAH starts at least a full 6 weeks (starting with pre-season in late September) before the FHL does (in November) so right away fans in that greater region have a chance to see the River Kings before they do the Warriors.

[blackngold]

A battle for fans in that area would be a no contest for Cornwall. No one goes to AKW games as it is unless they're playing in Cornwall.

I also wouldn't be surprised to see guys from the Warriors like Paul Shantz and Mike Stacey wind up on the River Kings.

[fcm]

Originally Posted by JdhMac

I just wanted to say a quick "thank you" for the detailed post 4thLine !.

I live in Cornwall and am most definitely looking forward to the River Kings first season this coming Fall.

Can I ask for your honest thoughts, etc. regarding our team?.

Take care,
Jonathan

I was a fan of the Sherbrooke Saints, and I think you lost some good players...

Yann Joseph scores a lot. Desmarais is some kind of a Douglas Murray type of defenseman. He looks too big on the ice, slow, can drop the gloves at times, but is a heck of a shutdown D.

Now Faubert is great but giving so much for this?

[pucker]

Originally Posted by fcm

I was a fan of the Sherbrooke Saints, and I think you lost some good players...

Yann Joseph scores a lot. Desmarais is some kind of a Douglas Murray type of defenseman. He looks too big on the ice, slow, can drop the gloves at times, but is a heck of a shutdown D.

Now Faubert is great but giving so much for this?

Desmarais is a #6 dman and it was to far for him to travel to cornwall.and for boileau & nolets both are going to school in sherbrooke to be doctors, so they won`t have to much time to play the Game.
Faubert was rookie of the year 2 yrs ago.how many years does joesph have left?