Smoke Eaters Add Goaltender Fradette from Fort McMurray
By Benjamin Phillips
The Trail Smoke Eaters have acquired goaltender Evan Fradette from the Fort McMurray Oil Barons of the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) in exchange for forward Justin Ross & Future Considerations.
Fradette, from St. Albert, Alberta, will join the Smoke Eaters for his 20-year-old season. Fradette who has appeared in the Western Hockey League has played the bulk of his junior games with the Oil Barons. Last year Evan went 7-0-2 in a shortened season posting a .916 save percentage and 2.31 goals against average which guided the Oil Barons to a 1st place finish in the AJHL North division. Prior to his jump to junior A hockey, Fradette made a statement in the Alberta Midget Hockey League (AMHL) where in 2017/18 he led the league with the best SV% at 0.925. He followed that up with a playoff MVP award in 2018/19 as well as the MVP award at the prestigious Macs Tournament, standing out amongst some of the best midget players across the country to earn the award.
“It’s important to have depth at all positions and by adding Evan he will definitely bring that to our goalie position along with his experiences at the junior level,” says GM/Head Coach Tim Fragle.
“He is coming off two strong seasons with Fort McMurray and we are confident this trend will continue here with the Smoke Eaters,” Fragle adds.
In return for Fradette, the Smoke Eaters send 20-year-old forward Justin Ross to Fort McMurray.
The Smoke Eaters would like to thank Justin for his contributions to the club over the last season and through the pod and want to wish him the best as he joins the Oil Barons.
The Smoke Eaters would like to welcome Evan and his family to the Smoke Eaters organization and look forward to him joining us at main camp in September.
