AlphaDog
08-30-2007, 11:58 PM
[from the London Free Press] :
Jordan Foreman never wanted to leave the London Knights and said he was taken aback by being traded to the Niagara IceDogs this week.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width=100 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=right><!-- IMAGE: foreman_jordan.jpg -->http://www.lfpress.com/photos/foreman_jordan.jpg
FOREMAN: Understands it's business. (Sun Media file photo)
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
"I was surprised by it -- it's disappointing to be traded but I understand it's part of the business," he said Aug. 22 from Cambridge. "I didn't (request a trade) at all. I was getting ready to go to training camp in London. I had been there three years and I was looking forward to having a good fourth (season)."
The 20-year-old forward, who missed training camp last year because of a broken foot and had an injury-plagued season, was dealt to Niagara for 19-year-old defenceman Nathan Martine. Foreman said watching the Knights trade Trevor Kell last year to Sarnia, where he became an offensive force in his over-age year, helped reduce the blow of leaving the only OHL team he's known.
"Hopefully, I can go to Niagara and put up some big offensive numbers," he said. "It's going to be a great opportunity and I'm anxious to go to St. Catharines. They were a team (in Mississauga) I tended to play well against, so hopefully I can go there now, score some goals and be one of their go-to guys."
Foreman, who heads to the Edmonton Oilers' camp on Sept. 4, said the move won't tarnish his long-term affiliation with the Knights.
"We won a Memorial Cup and I have a lot of memories of my time there. I had a good feeling in London and right away, I felt accepted. I don't think I'm going to change the way I play. I just want to be able to provide more offence."
The Foreman trade wasn't the only business London GM Mark Hunter handled this week. He also traded promising forward Luke VanMoerkerke to Brampton for 18-year-old winger Cody Smith.
Smith, a six-foot-one, 195-pounder from Scarborough, played most of last season for Knights new assistant coach Pat Curcio with the Pickering Panthers of the Ontario Hockey Association's Provincial Junior A league. He has one goal in 41 OHL games.
The 17-year-old VanMoerkerke, a Tillsonburg native, played in 36 games with the Knights last season with three goals and 10 points. He also played with the junior B London Nationals.
The Knights also signed goalie Michael Zador, their first-round pick (20th overall) in this year's draft. The 16-year-old is a candidate to play for Ontario at the World Under-17 Challenge in London this winter.
------
[from the London Free Press] :
Multiple injuries last season saw his playing time reduced to 42 games with the Knights.
Foreman sent to IceDogs
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width="50%">Ryan Pyette
Sun Media
</TD><TD vAlign=top align=right width="50%">August 22, 2007 </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
The last remaining regular from the London Knights' 2005 Memorial Cup championship team is gone.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width=100 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=right><!-- IMAGE: 193837a.jpg -->http://lfpress.ca/photos/193837a.jpg
FOREMAN: Didn't request to be traded.
<!-- IMAGE: 193837b.jpg -->http://lfpress.ca/photos/193837b.jpg
MARTINE: Waives his no-trade clause.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Fiery Jordan Foreman, a 20-year-old forward from Cambridge who suffered through an injury-plagued 2006-07 season, was traded Aug. 21, to the Niagara IceDogs for 19-year-old defenceman Nathan Martine less than a week before training camp opens.
Foreman, a seventh-round draft pick in 2003, quickly became a fan favourite by playing bigger than his five-foot-nine, 180-pound frame. He threw thunderous checks, fought and rose to the occasion by scoring key goals, often in short-handed situations.
"It's tough making a trade like this -- I believe Jordan Foreman will always be a London Knight," London GM Mark Hunter said. "He came here, won a Memorial Cup and he's a quality kid. But he had a ton of injuries last year and we all felt he would benefit from a change of scenery."
Last season, Foreman had eight goals and 21 points with 137 penalty minutes in 42 games -- one season after scoring a career-high 29 goals in 68 games. The veteran hoped to increase his specialty team ice time this year but that was unlikely to happen with the influx of forwards on the Knights roster.
"With Pat Maroon, Tony Romano and Akim Aliu coming in, plus you have Phil McRae back, we have guys who need to play in that group," Hunter said. "It was going to be tough for (Foreman) to get more time on the power play and penalty kill."
Hunter said Foreman, who will attend the Edmonton Oilers training camp, did not request a trade.
Martine, from Port Colborne, had a no-trade clause but waived it to come to London, even though he will be denied the opportunity to play in his home region with the Mississauga franchise relocated to St. Catharines.
"Every player who comes through wants to play in London --the fans, arena -- it's a winning organization that speaks for itself," Martine said. "I knew someone would be moved but I thought it might not be me because I'm considered a local kid. I was at a team function the night before. You're getting ready to go to camp and figure you just need to pack a duffle bag, and then everything changes.
"But my parents will still be at every home game -- they're not shy about driving. It'll be great for the young kids to have OHL hockey in the area and it would be nice to be a part of, but for me, I'm a hundred times happier where I'm going."
Martine, a Barrie first rounder in 2004, proved his durability by playing all 68 regular season games for the IceDogs last year after suiting up for 69 in 2005-06 -- the season he was part of a trade that sent blue-liner David Pszenyczny to the Colts.
"When you make a trade, you hope it works well for both sides," Hunter said. "Niagara is getting a veteran forward they needed. We're getting a fourth-year defenceman who is tough and physical, which we felt we needed to get a little bigger. He (Martine) has got better every time we've seen him and his statistics would bear that out."
Martine had a career-high nine goals and 41 points with 114 penalty minutes last year -- a development he chalked up to finally having a regular defensive partner in top pick Alex Pietrangelo.
Foreman's departure leaves forward Adam Perry as the team's lone over-age candidate -- for now. David Meckler, Sergei Kostitsyn and Josh Beaulieu are eligible to return but all have signed pro contracts, so Hunter called that possibility "very slim." Ryan Pyette is a Free Press sports reporter.
Jordan Foreman never wanted to leave the London Knights and said he was taken aback by being traded to the Niagara IceDogs this week.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width=100 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=right><!-- IMAGE: foreman_jordan.jpg -->http://www.lfpress.com/photos/foreman_jordan.jpg
FOREMAN: Understands it's business. (Sun Media file photo)
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
"I was surprised by it -- it's disappointing to be traded but I understand it's part of the business," he said Aug. 22 from Cambridge. "I didn't (request a trade) at all. I was getting ready to go to training camp in London. I had been there three years and I was looking forward to having a good fourth (season)."
The 20-year-old forward, who missed training camp last year because of a broken foot and had an injury-plagued season, was dealt to Niagara for 19-year-old defenceman Nathan Martine. Foreman said watching the Knights trade Trevor Kell last year to Sarnia, where he became an offensive force in his over-age year, helped reduce the blow of leaving the only OHL team he's known.
"Hopefully, I can go to Niagara and put up some big offensive numbers," he said. "It's going to be a great opportunity and I'm anxious to go to St. Catharines. They were a team (in Mississauga) I tended to play well against, so hopefully I can go there now, score some goals and be one of their go-to guys."
Foreman, who heads to the Edmonton Oilers' camp on Sept. 4, said the move won't tarnish his long-term affiliation with the Knights.
"We won a Memorial Cup and I have a lot of memories of my time there. I had a good feeling in London and right away, I felt accepted. I don't think I'm going to change the way I play. I just want to be able to provide more offence."
The Foreman trade wasn't the only business London GM Mark Hunter handled this week. He also traded promising forward Luke VanMoerkerke to Brampton for 18-year-old winger Cody Smith.
Smith, a six-foot-one, 195-pounder from Scarborough, played most of last season for Knights new assistant coach Pat Curcio with the Pickering Panthers of the Ontario Hockey Association's Provincial Junior A league. He has one goal in 41 OHL games.
The 17-year-old VanMoerkerke, a Tillsonburg native, played in 36 games with the Knights last season with three goals and 10 points. He also played with the junior B London Nationals.
The Knights also signed goalie Michael Zador, their first-round pick (20th overall) in this year's draft. The 16-year-old is a candidate to play for Ontario at the World Under-17 Challenge in London this winter.
------
[from the London Free Press] :
Multiple injuries last season saw his playing time reduced to 42 games with the Knights.
Foreman sent to IceDogs
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width="50%">Ryan Pyette
Sun Media
</TD><TD vAlign=top align=right width="50%">August 22, 2007 </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
The last remaining regular from the London Knights' 2005 Memorial Cup championship team is gone.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width=100 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=right><!-- IMAGE: 193837a.jpg -->http://lfpress.ca/photos/193837a.jpg
FOREMAN: Didn't request to be traded.
<!-- IMAGE: 193837b.jpg -->http://lfpress.ca/photos/193837b.jpg
MARTINE: Waives his no-trade clause.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Fiery Jordan Foreman, a 20-year-old forward from Cambridge who suffered through an injury-plagued 2006-07 season, was traded Aug. 21, to the Niagara IceDogs for 19-year-old defenceman Nathan Martine less than a week before training camp opens.
Foreman, a seventh-round draft pick in 2003, quickly became a fan favourite by playing bigger than his five-foot-nine, 180-pound frame. He threw thunderous checks, fought and rose to the occasion by scoring key goals, often in short-handed situations.
"It's tough making a trade like this -- I believe Jordan Foreman will always be a London Knight," London GM Mark Hunter said. "He came here, won a Memorial Cup and he's a quality kid. But he had a ton of injuries last year and we all felt he would benefit from a change of scenery."
Last season, Foreman had eight goals and 21 points with 137 penalty minutes in 42 games -- one season after scoring a career-high 29 goals in 68 games. The veteran hoped to increase his specialty team ice time this year but that was unlikely to happen with the influx of forwards on the Knights roster.
"With Pat Maroon, Tony Romano and Akim Aliu coming in, plus you have Phil McRae back, we have guys who need to play in that group," Hunter said. "It was going to be tough for (Foreman) to get more time on the power play and penalty kill."
Hunter said Foreman, who will attend the Edmonton Oilers training camp, did not request a trade.
Martine, from Port Colborne, had a no-trade clause but waived it to come to London, even though he will be denied the opportunity to play in his home region with the Mississauga franchise relocated to St. Catharines.
"Every player who comes through wants to play in London --the fans, arena -- it's a winning organization that speaks for itself," Martine said. "I knew someone would be moved but I thought it might not be me because I'm considered a local kid. I was at a team function the night before. You're getting ready to go to camp and figure you just need to pack a duffle bag, and then everything changes.
"But my parents will still be at every home game -- they're not shy about driving. It'll be great for the young kids to have OHL hockey in the area and it would be nice to be a part of, but for me, I'm a hundred times happier where I'm going."
Martine, a Barrie first rounder in 2004, proved his durability by playing all 68 regular season games for the IceDogs last year after suiting up for 69 in 2005-06 -- the season he was part of a trade that sent blue-liner David Pszenyczny to the Colts.
"When you make a trade, you hope it works well for both sides," Hunter said. "Niagara is getting a veteran forward they needed. We're getting a fourth-year defenceman who is tough and physical, which we felt we needed to get a little bigger. He (Martine) has got better every time we've seen him and his statistics would bear that out."
Martine had a career-high nine goals and 41 points with 114 penalty minutes last year -- a development he chalked up to finally having a regular defensive partner in top pick Alex Pietrangelo.
Foreman's departure leaves forward Adam Perry as the team's lone over-age candidate -- for now. David Meckler, Sergei Kostitsyn and Josh Beaulieu are eligible to return but all have signed pro contracts, so Hunter called that possibility "very slim." Ryan Pyette is a Free Press sports reporter.