The new B.C. Hockey League season is less than two months away and the Prince George Spruce Kings are making moves.
The Kings announced Friday they have traded 20-year-old defenceman Ryan Fritz and 18-year-old goalie Joseph McLeod in separate deals to different junior leagues, each in return for future considerations.
Fritz, acquired by the Kings in November 2014 in a deal with Nanaimo, was sent back to his roots in upstate New York to the Buffalo Junior Sabres of the Ontario Junior Hockey League. The six-foot-two, 200-pound Rochester, N.Y., native played for the Sabres under-18 team before he came to B.C.
In 32 games last season with the Kings he had a goal and four assists with 54 penalty minutes.
McLeod was sent to the Drayton Valley Thunder of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
The six-foot-two, 195-pound native of Kelowna came to Prince George over the Christmas break last year after the Kings traded 20-year-old goalie Sam Tanguay to the Wellington Dukes of the OJHL.
McLeod compiled a 2-5-1-0 BCHL record, starting and ending playing days as a Spruce King with victories. In 11 games he had a 3.93 goals-against average and .872 save percentage.
McLeod, a product of the Pursuit of Excellence academy program in Kelowna, started last season in the Kootenay International Junior (B) Hockey League with the Castlegar Rebels.
