FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Smoke Eaters Sign Carson Briere from Arizona State University and acquire Kyle Pow from the Fort McMurray Oil Barons
Trail, British Columbia (December 1st, 2019) – The Trail Smoke Eaters are pleased to announce the acquisition of Carson Briere from the NCAA Div. 1 Arizona State Sun Devils, While in a separate move have acquired former WHL heavy weight Kyle Pow who’s been playing in the AJHL with Fort McMurray.
Both Briere and Pow are expected to join the team later this week and be available for Friday’s game in Coquitlam. Briere comes to the Smokies as the second highest goal scorers in the NAHL last year with 44 goals and 45 assists for 89 points. In his entire NAHL career Briere has 115 points in 102 games. Last season he also earned a number of accolades including the NAHL (East) Forward of the Year, NAHL (East) Most Valuable Player, NAHL All-East Division Team and NAHL All-NAHL Team.
Briere is in fact the son of former NHLer Danny Briere, who had an illustrious NHL Career spanning 17 years with the Phoenix Coyotes, Buffalo Sabers, Philadelphia Flyers, Montreal Canadiens and the Colorado Avalanche. This summer Carson was invited to the Flyers development camp in June where he dawned the same logo as his dad did, that earned him the nick name Mr. Playoffs.
“Carson Briere is a very important addition to our hockey club. Carson is a dynamic scorer coming off an MVP season in the NAHL and has been at the NCAA level all season. We believe he will complement our top 6 forwards and add another threat to our power play.” – GM & HC Jeff Tambellini
The second acquisition made by the Smoke Eaters see them bring in WHL heavy weight Kyle Pow for the Fort McMurray Oil Barons of the AJHL. Pow who started the year in Fort McMurray previously put his time in with the Kelowna Rockets, while also played in Powell River for the Kings. The 6’6″, 220lbs defenceman adds even more size to what is an intimidating defensive core for the Smoke Eaters, while also bringing a versatile style that will complement both the forward units and the defenceman.
“The addition of Kyle Pow to our lineup provides us the heaviness we’ve been looking for. Kyle has a versatile skill set that allows him to play both forward and defense. We’ve had teams targeting our top players in the past month and the presence of Kyle Pow on the ice will address these issues.” – Tambellini
Both players will join the team this week as the Smoke Eaters prepare for their biggest test of the season against the league leading Coquitlam Express on Friday night.
