The Prince George Spruce Kings' future came a little more into focus with Thursday's announcement of two new player signings.
Joining the Kings for the 2011-12 B.C. Hockey League season are forward Dylan Tappe and defenceman Josh Bryan.
Tappe, who will turn 19 on Oct. 8, comes as a result of a trade the Kings made with Trail in January. Tappe is the player-to-be-named-later in a deal that sent forward Nic DeSousa to the Smoke Eaters. In 45 games with the Smokies this season, the five-foot-10, 195-pound native of Spokane collected five goals and 12 assists for 17 points, with 25 penalty minutes. He played two games for the Westside Warriors in 2009-10.
"We're excited to acquire a player like Dylan for our organization," said Spruce Kings general manager Mike Hawes. "Dylan is a hard-working skilled forward with tremendous offensive abilities and will be able to play in all situations for us next season."
Bryan, who stands six-foot-two and weighs 195 pounds, played 43 games in 2010-11 for the Victoria Grizzlies, picking up five assists and 11 penalty minutes. The native of Surrey was involved in the deadline deal in which the Kings sent defenceman Justin Fillion to Victoria.
"Josh is a tremendous young defenceman that brings a terrific all around game and good size to our back end," said Hawes. "We were able to significantly improve our defence core on the January 10th trade deadline and by adding Josh to that mix will make us that much better."
