The Moose Jaw Warriors announced on Aug. 8 that the hockey club is signing two new forwards, Andrej Tomašec and Patrik Král.
“Adding Andrej and Patrik brings a lot of speed to our team, which is one thing we wanted to address this year, and both players have skill and will give us more depth to our forward group,” Warriors general manager Jason Ripplinger said after the signing.
“We got two players that are highly skilled and skate really well,” Ripplinger added. “They're going to complement our… group really well.”
The first round of drafts saw Tomašec selected, and he was the 48th overall pick in the 2023 CHL Import.
Last season, the 17-year-old forward played with the KooKoo U18 Suomi-sarja team, based out of Kouvola, Finland. He scored 15 goals, had eight assists, and earned 23 points in 33 total games.
Tomašec formerly represented Slovakia at the 2023 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, which took place Aug. 1 – 6 in Breclav, Czechia and in Trenčín, Slovakia. The team placed fourth overall in the final standings.
“Tomašec is a highly skilled player, skates really well, and can separate himself with his speed,” Ripplinger said about the new draft pick.
Král was selected in the second round of drafts and was the 108th overall pick in the draft.
Last season, he played in the U17 and U20 divisions for BK Mlada Boleslav, a Czechia-based team. Combined, he scored 12 goals and earned 34 points in 43 total games.
Ripplinger had positive things to say about Král. "Patrik is a very crafty player that sees the ice really well.”
Both newly drafted players will be in Moose Jaw to start the pre-season training camp that kicks off on Aug. 31 at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
The hockey club has also kept in touch with former 20-year-old forward Martin Rysavy from Czechia and may see him play another season in Moose Jaw.
“There’s a chance he could come back, and we’ll have to make some tough decisions at that time,” said Ripplinger. There has been no confirmation on this potential development and no further details have been released.
The CHL Import Draft is an annual event whereby each team in the league can select the rights to sign eligible import players and takes place around June or July. An import player is a qualified hockey player with residency in a country outside of Canada or the United States.
