Avalon hockey league calls foul on high-skilled Deer Lake roster additions ahead of Herder final

Puck drop for the start of the Herder Memorial Trophy Final isn't until Friday, but controversy is already brewing off the ice as teams prepare to square off for Newfoundland and Labrador's top hockey prize.

The Deer Lake Red Wings and Conception Bay South-based Baker Flooring Blues are making final preparations for the matchup, but the Avalon East Senior Hockey League (AESHL) is calling out Hockey Newfoundland and Labrador's three-person senior council for allowing Deer Lake to make two final additions to their roster.

In a letter issued on Tuesday, AESHL president Jack Casey called the move unfair to the Blues so close to the start of Game 1.

"This has gone beyond trying to have a competitive series … to providing a decided advantage to one team over another," Casey told CBC News Wednesday.

“We've been arguing for the last few years that pick ups are no longer required. That the team should just come as they are, and let's just let the best team win on the ice.”

The idea of bolstering lineups with outside players isn't new in the Central-West Senior Hockey League.

In the past, the decision to allow roster additions has been made because the player pool is much smaller in central and western Newfoundland than on the Avalon. It's served as a way to keep the Herder a competitive east-versus-west battle.

The Red Wings, who are competing in their fourth consecutive Herder final, have been permitted as many as four strengthening players in past years.

This season, the Red Wings lineup includes Valentin Claireaux of St. Pierre and Miquelon — a former member of the French national team who has played professionally in Europe — and American goalie Keith Kincaid. Kincaid has played in nearly 170 NHL games over his career.

The team is also adding forward Cody Drover for the Herder. He scored 43 points in 18 games this season with the Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts and is considered among the province's best senior hockey players.

The second addition is forward Kurt Etchegary, who also played this season with the Cataracts.

But for Blues general manager Jonathan Kavanagh, just because something has been done before doesn't mean it needs to be repeated.

"We've asked our senior council to come with a consistent, a systematical process of determining in whether strengthening players are required," Kavanagh said. "We're less than five days from Game 1 … obviously what we've asked our leadership to do didn't happen."

Kavanagh says the team found out that Deer Lake would be allowed extra players on Tuesday. A request was made for clarity on how the decision was made, but no response from the senior council came.