The Missouri Mavericks added three more players for the start of training camp on Saturday, including a Missouri native.
The new Independence Central Hockey League team announced Tuesday it had signed defensive forward Derek Pallardy and defensemen Derek Buors and Andrew Davis.
Pallardy, a 5-foot-10, 175-pound native of Chesterfield, Mo., a St. Louis suburb, is entering his second professional season. He played under Mavericks coach Scott Hillman last season for the Knoxville (Tenn.) Ice Bears of the Southern Professional Hockey League.
“Derek Pallardy is a guy that will do whatever it takes in order to help a team win,” Hillman said. “I watched him mature and he was a key factor in our team winning the championship in Knoxville last season. He is one of the best shot blockers in the game and willing to sacrifice his body on a shift-by-shift basis. He is the only player on our roster from Missouri, so I am sure he will have a lot of people pulling for him to make this club.”
Buors will be a rookie after spending the last three years with the Winnipeg Saints of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. The 6-2, 210-pound defenseman had 87 points and 481 penalty minutes in 167 games with the Saints.
“Derek Buors is a young, aggressive, hard-working defenseman,” Hillman said. “Derek plays a lot like Mavericks defenseman Tyler Fleck, and if he can make the transition to the speed of the pro game, he will learn a lot from Tyler and will be able to mold his game by watching a more experienced teammate.”
The team also agreed to terms with Davis, who was acquired earlier in a trade with the Wichita Thunder. Davis is entering his fifth pro season, which include 160 games in the CHL.
The Mavericks open their inaugural training camp Saturday at Pepsi Ice Midwest in Overland Park, Kan., while construction on the new Independence Events Center is completed. The first intrasquad game, which is open to the public, will be 7:05 p.m. Oct. 7 at Pepsi Ice Midwest. The camp, except for the intrasquad game, will shift to the community ice rink at the Independence Events Center on Oct. 5.
The first exhibition games are Oct. 9-10 in Wichita. The regular season schedule opens Oct. 16-17 in Rapid City, S.D. The home schedule begins Nov. 13-14 against Wichita.
