The Battlefords North Stars have brought in a couple of new faces to their forward core for the 2017-18 Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League season.
After acquiring Josh Sielsky of Maidstone from the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s Neepawa Natives in a trade for future considerations last week, the Canalta Cup champions signed Foxwarren, Man. product Jacob Tibbatts from the Yellowhead Chiefs of the Manitoba Midget AAA Hockey League Wednesday.
Tibbatts, 17, had 32 points this year for the Chiefs and had a strong performance at the North Stars prospect camp in April at the Civic Centre.
“There were a number of teams that had a lot of interest in him when we invited him to the spring camp,” North Stars general manager and head coach Nate Bedford said. “Right from the first day, he was one of the better guys, which isn’t easy to do in an environment like that.”
The Tibbatts name will be a familiar one to long time North Stars fans, as his uncle Trent played for the team from 1992 to 1996.
His father Derek was a member of the Western Hockey League’s Saskatoon Blades from 1989 to 1995.
“Even though he’s a younger guy, Jacob’s very mature for his age,” Bedford said.
“From everything I’ve heard from his coaches and from having seen him play at the spring camp, he’s a tough player with a good two-way game. He works hard all of the time and I don’t think it will take him long to adapt to playing at this level.”
Sielsky, meanwhile, is coming off of a rather busy 2016-17 campaign.
After starting the season with the Nipawin Hawks and playing in four games for them, the 18 year-old was traded to the MJHL’s Portage Terriers in October.
He had a goal and an assist in seven games for them before he was dealt to the Natives in November, where he had 15 points in 32 games.
“We were interested in him last year but we didn’t feel like we would give him enough ice time with the older lineup that we had,” Sielsky said.
“He’s a guy that can score when given the opportunity, as he had a really good season (44 points) in his final year in midget (with the Beardy’s Blackhawks). It’s always tough for a guy to be on three teams in one year, so having him on our roster already will give him some extra confidence I’m sure coming into the fall.”
Away from the ice, the North Stars are also in the process of promoting scout Wylie Riendeau to an assistant general manager position.
“He’s a guy that does a lot of work behind the scenes and we’re really happy to have him on board,” Bedford said.
“If it wasn’t for him, I’m not sure our off-season moves would be going as smooth as they have been.”
