The Dragons have recruited a 6’3” 210 pound power forward from an American Junior A league to play in the upcoming season.
Dragons’ assistant coach Dave Ferrari noticed Tracy while scouting another player late last season in Montana.
“He’s a big player and extremely skilled. He’s one of those prototypical powerfowards you hope can play in your top two lines and bring size and strength in the boards, in the corners, and in the net front,” says Dragons head coach and GM Dan Price, adding he is a perfect fit for the Dragons culture they’re trying to create.
The 20 year old from Burbank, California put up 18 points and 53 assists for Helena last season.
“It gives him the size and maturity that always helps in this league,” said Price.
The Dragons have kept a core group of guys on the roster, and this season Price expects to be one of the older and more experienced teams in the AJHL. Tracy’s age and experience only help to strengthen that.
“He’ll help us with that. As far as defensive forwards, I really like the team: Bigger, older, stronger, and a good combination of speed and skill,” says Price.
Price says the club has a number of good options when it comes to recruiting goalies, as they have two spots open.
“We’re still deciding exactly what we’ll do in goal. It’s just the matter of picking the best ones.”
The Dragons will start readying the troops at their mini-camp starting on August 23 and 24, then will take a few players to their main camp on August 25. On Sunday, August 28 they’ll hold their Miners Cup intrasquad game at 5:30 p.m.
They’ll try to fill up their holes in net before the Cup game.
“But we’re not going to rush it. We really like the recruits coming in, so if that means we start the season with younger players in net, that’s fine. We saw what Cole (Cheveldave) did last season, so we just want to find the two best goalies, whether it’s younger or older guys,” says Price. “I’m looking at our registrations and we have a lot of good guys coming back from the spring camp.”
