After sitting out almost an entire season of hockey Kaiman Peddy is ready.
The Grande Cache-born forward, who played four years in the Grande Peace Athletic Club program, will be making his Junior A hockey debut this weekend when the Grande Prairie Storm head to Spruce Grove and Camrose for games Friday and Saturday.
The 18-year-old, after playing four games with the Grande Prairie Midget AAA Storm in the 2015-2016 season, suffered a major injury that kept him off the ice in a competitive game for a year.
“Kaiman has worked very hard to recover from a major injury last year,” said Storm head coach/general manager Kevin Higo. “He has put in the time to get the injury back to normal and has received doctors approval to play. We expect him to provide energy and a physical presence on the ice.”
Peddy is a 5-foot-11, 176 pound forward who started his GPAC career with the Bantam AAA Storm before joining the U16 Storm and then spending the remainder of his midget career with the Midget AAA club.
Peddy won't be the only new face on the team bus when the club pulls away from Revolution Place on Friday to start the weekend road trip.
The Storm have acquired 18-year-old forward Tristan Paquette from the Calgary Mustangs in a trade for future considerations.
Paquette, six-foot and 170 pounds, has four goals and eight assists so far this year in 20 games with the Mustangs.
He is a native of Airdrie, AB and is into his second year of Junior A hockey.
“With the injuries to Jake Elmer and Logan Mazerolle we needed to add a forward to our group,” said Higo. “Tristan was a player we knew was available and had watched him play. He has AJHL experience and has put up 12 points already this year. We expect him to be at practice on Thursday and will dress on the weekend.”
Another player who is back after recovering from injury is forward Alec Grollman.
The 19-year-old has missed eight games after being hurt in October. The Laguna, CA native has a goal and an assist so far this year.
“Alec has been out for three weeks due to an injury,” Higo said. “He has been back on the ice this week and is ready to go. He is another player that will add tempo and energy to the team. Before the injury he was playing well and getting more comfortable.”
One face Storm fans won't see again is that of 19-year-old forward Jake Ustorf, who has been released.
“Jake came to us on Tuesday and said he wasn't enjoying the game and wanted to return back to Ohio. It caught us off guard as he was really starting to play better and create more offence.”
Ustorf, from Waynesville, OH, had two goals and three assists in 18 games with the Storm this year.
Following the games in Spruce Grove against the Saints and Camrose against the Kodiaks the Storm will hit the road again on Tuesday for a tilt with the Wolverines in Whitecourt.
Next home action is Friday, Nov. 18 when the Brooks Bandits visit and Saturday, Nov. 19 when the Okotoks Oilers are in town.
The Storm sit in a solid sixth place in the North Division of the Alberta Junior Hockey League with 16 points – four back of the fifth place Sherwood Park Crusaders and six up on the seventh place Drayton Valley Thunder.