Sherwood Park, AB: The Sherwood Park Crusaders have acquired ‘98 forward Zach Kaiser and ‘99 defenceman Reid Irwin from the Lloydminster Bobcats in exchange for future considerations.
“We’re excited to have both guys on board,” said General Manager Kyle Chase. “We hope these moves can make us stronger as we look towards the ultimate goal.”
Kaiser, an Orangeville, Ontario, native, was in his third season with the Bobcats where in 135 games he scored 107 points (55 goals, 52 assists). Last season, Kaiser, 20, had a career year when he had 58 points (31 goals, 27 assists) which included 5 shorthanded goals. Those 31 goals also were the most by a Bobcat. This year, the 6’0”, 160 lbs forward has only participated in 16 games but is a point per game player with 15 points (8 goals, 7 assists) during that time. Kaiser was also the 2018-19 captain for the Bobcats.
“Zach (Kaiser) is one of the best two way forwards in the entire league,” said Kyle Chase. His 31 goals last season shows how good he is offensively, and he also plays a strong heavy game up front. He’s been injured for a large part of the year, but we expect him back very soon.”
Also coming over from the Bobcats is Irwin. Irwin is a Victoria, British Columbia, native and is in his second season in the AJHL after coming from the Shawnigan Lake School of the CSSHL. The 6’1”, 170 lbs defenceman has played in 98 games scoring 27 points (6 goals, 21 assists). This season, Irwin, 19, is only 3 points away from matching his career high from last year (15) with 12 points (4 goals, 8 assists) coming in 39 games.
“Going forward we felt like we needed to add more depth to our backend, and with the addition of Reid (Irwin) we add another solid defenceman,” said Kyle Chase. “We felt like he could eat up minutes for us down the stretch and help us out with the injury woes we’ve had back there.
Fans can catch the Crusaders in action on Friday against the Calgary Mustangs at the Sherwood Park Arena at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are available here.