(Laval) The Laval Rocket carried out its first maneuvers to reduce its personnel on the ice by cutting nine players Friday morning.
The list includes forwards Isaac Dufort, Ty Smilanic, Alex-Olivier Voyer and Nolan Yaremko.
Voyer and Yaremko will join the Trois-Rivières Lions, in the ECHL, while Dufort was returned to the Baie-Comeau Drakkar, in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
The other five are defensemen Stanislav Demin, Eric Hjorth, Noah Laaouan, Andrew Nielsen and Christopher Merisier-Ortiz.
Hjorth, Laaouan, Nielsen and Merisier-Ortiz were all transferred to the Trois-Rivières team.
Following these decisions, the Rocket has 29 players at its training camp, which continued Friday morning at Place Bell.
The roster includes 17 forwards, eight defensemen and four goalies.
Defender Logan Mailloux, cut from the Canadian camp on Tuesday, should participate in this meeting.
Thursday afternoon in the Queen City, the Rocket defeated the Toronto Marlies 3-1.
Jared Davidson led the Laval team’s attack with two goals and Riley Kidney collected three assists.
Quebec defender Miguel Tourigny did his part with two assists.
All the goals in this game were scored on power plays.
Goalkeepers Jakub Dobes and Strauss Mann played about 30 minutes each. Mann faced 20 of the Marlies’ 33 shots and conceded the home side’s lone goal.
The Rocket’s season will begin next weekend with two games in as many days against the Abbotsford Canucks on October 13 and 14.
