Monday, November 10, 2008

Pats clear logjam in goal

Prokop a Pat, Bosch a Warrior

Regina, Saskatchewan - The best rivalry in hockey just got a little more interesting today. The Regina Pats have resolved their goaltending situation by dealing 18 year-old goaltender Jeff Bosch to the Moose Jaw Warriors in exchange for 18 year-old centre Neal Prokop.

Prokop, a native of Winnipeg, was the Warriors first pick in the 2005 WHL Bantam draft (5th overall), and was at Columbus Blue Jackets training camp this past summer as a free agent. He is in his third full season in the WHL and is coming off a 2007-08 season where he posted a career best 13 goals.

"This has been a long difficult process that has gone on much longer than I could have imagined. All three of the kids have handled this in a very mature and professional manner and I thank them all very much for that", Pats General Manager Brent Parker explains. "Jeff is a tremendous young man and a talented goaltender and we wish him all the best, having said that we believe that we have received fair value in return. Neal is player that we coveted during his bantam draft year when he was taken 5th overall and we think his skill and vision will be a perfect fit for our style of play."

Neal Prokop will make his Regina Pats debut on Wednesday night at 7pm, as the top team in the Central Division, the Calgary Hitmen pay a visit to the 'Dome to meet the East Division's top team in the Pats.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You see Pete this is all very confusing to me and a lot of others I think. I don't know much about Prokop and how he is going to help the Pats. Bosch on the other hand has just solidified MJ's goaltending for 2-3 years. We have a bunch of young forwards and have just added another. Too many young guys will have to sit unless another trade is in the offing. With Brent, when he makes one he usually makes two or three. Considering his biggest need was and still remains a top four d-man, this trade didn't make a lot of sense. That is of course unless he is getting ready to pull the trigger to get that d-man. They are far too young on defense for sure and could really use some help there.