Jacques on Okada/Tarantino trade

[SlapshotWrangler 864]

CALGARY - The Calgary Wranglers recently traded away Hiroshi Okada. The young player played most of the season with the Wranglers but was recently traded to the Helsinki Titans. But the Calgary Wranglers did not come up empty handed, receiving Gary Tarantino and a season 73 second round pick. So we decided to ask young Calgary goaltender Jacques Lafontaine what he thinks of both players. Hiroshi Okada played with him in Calgary but Jacques also has experience with Gary Tarantino as they were part of the historic Season 69 Saskatoon Wild team.

 

"Gary is a great player. Happy to have him on our team. Dude was good for us in Saskatoon and so far, he's been playing well in Calgary. Brings back memories. I can't wait to see what he can continue to do for us and I know that he'll work hard."

 

We also had to ask him about the departure of his now former teammate, Hiroshi Okada.

 

"Yeah, tough loss. Hiroshi was a great player for us and was showing promise. Always played well and had a great work ethic. He was a great player for us, though I know that Gary will also be a great player. Helsinki is a pretty good team and good luck to him."

 

Of course, when you talk about season 69, you have to mention the Saskatoon Wild. The team had sixty-eight wins and four losses. Jacques has a lot of memories about that season.

 

"Of course I remember that season. Arguably the greatest season of my career in terms of stats. We won the championship and everything. I remember lifting the cup, celebrating with my teammates, and I made a lot of memories in Saskatoon. The Wild will always be a part of me. But for now, I'm trying to focus on being part of the Calgary Wranglers. I'm a Wrangler now and I'm not going to think about the past too much. The past won't help me now. No matter how good I played in Gatineau, Saskatoon, or last season, it doesn't matter right now. What matters is that I continue to play hard in Calgary. I'm sure if you asked Gary, Edwin, or Mikko, the three if them would say something similar."

 

Gary Tarantino has had relatively good seasons in the VHLM, getting two Founders' Cups in his three seasons there. One was the aforementioned season 69 cup while he won again in season 70 with Minnesota. He has been doing okay in his rookie season, getting 6 points. But the youngster continues to show potential. 

 

In other news, Jacques Lafontaine has been showing ROTY potential. He currently leads the league in wins with 32 of them and has had respectable numbers. The young Canadian netminder has had a 0.912 save percentage as well as a goals against average of 2.63. He also has three shutouts.

 

"I know everybody was debating about my eligibility but at this point, I don't care. Sure, it would be great to get Rookie of the Year but I don't really want to focus on that too much. My job is to stop the puck and I'm focusing on that first."

[ROOKIE745 608]

Damn I never noticed Tarantino played on both our teams in the VHLM XD

[SlapshotWrangler 864]

I'll claim this next week due to Theme Week being now.