For a couple weeks there was speculation about the completion of the North Stars' Dane Muench trade to the Vernon Vipers of the BCHL. Last week, it was made official - the future considerations acquired in the deal were goaltender Blake Voth and cash considerations.
Voth will be entering his 20-year-old season and brings with him an impressive resume from the BCHL. In two seasons he has recorded 46 wins with a 25-11-3 record last year.
Vernon acquired another goaltender the same age late in the 2010-11 season when they received Kirby Halcrow from the Quesnel Millionaires. Halcrow and Voth split time for the remainder of the regular season and Halcrow eventually took the starting job in the playoffs. He continued to play all Vernon's games in the RBC Cup, which they lost in the championship game.
With two graduating goalies on the roster, it was expected one would be moved from Vernon and because of Voth's inconsistency at times he was the one to go. This could be considered a steal of a deal for the North Stars, who gave up Muench, who was in and out of the Vipers' lineup since being dealt to the BCHL, and had never matched the numbers of his 16-year-old season.
Voth, a Herbert native, has an opportunity to be one of the SJHL's top goalies in his last year of junior hockey. The last time he played in Saskatchewan, he suited up for the Tisdale Trojans in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League and went 13-11-1 with a 2.57 goals against average. As Vernon's backup as an 18-year-old, Voth broke the BCHL goal against average record with a 1.79 mark.
What does this mean for North Stars' Graham Hildebrand?
After rotating and then giving way to Kyle Birch, Hildebrand had to be looking forward to a 20-year-old season where it was his team. Well, Voth may be just trade bait and Hildebrand could still be number one on Ken Pearson's depth chart. A goaltender of Voth's credentials would definitely draw some interest from other teams in the SJHL and only time will tell who the North Stars' number one guy moving forward will be. With the credentials of both goaltenders, the North Stars shouldn't have any concerns between the pipes.
Hildebrand has played over 100 games with the North Stars and last year, recorded an 8-15-0 record. It was expected he was ready and willing to be the North Stars' number one guy after three years of waiting, as he has witnessed a number of goalies leave the Battlefords.
North Stars' head coach and general manager Pearson was off to league meetings Thursday and said he may be ready to announce some new signings as early as Friday, as the 2011-12 roster begins to take shape.
