Troops trade winger Lomas for picks
BRAMPTON, Ont. – The Brampton Battalion of the Ontario Hockey League has traded left winger Mike Lomas to the Owen Sound Attack for two picks in the OHL Priority Selection, it was announced Tuesday.
The Battalion received a third-round pick in the 2010 OHL Priority Selection and a conditional sixth-round choice in 2011.
Lomas, who turns 18 on Aug. 16, had 13 goals and 20 assists for 33 points in 62 games last season. He missed the final regular-season game and the playoffs with a charley horse.
“I think for Mike’s sake a change was necessary,” said Stan Butler, Battalion director of hockey operations and head coach. “It’ll be a great opportunity for him there.
“He had an unlucky second half. He was injured a couple of times, and they were tough ones to come back from. Graham McNabb was playing so well at that time and we moved him into Mike’s spot on the power play, and that made it tough for Mike.”
The third-round pick, which originally belonged to the Windsor Spitfires, replaces one the Battalion traded to acquire overage defenceman Zack Shepley from the Plymouth Whalers on Dec. 7.
“We gave up a third to get Shepley, and it was good to get one back,” said Butler. “The sixth is conditional and will depend on what happens with Mike’s career in Owen Sound.”
A resident of Burlington, Ont., Lomas was a second-round pick in the 2006 OHL Priority Selection from the Burlington Eagles minor midgets. In 63 games as a rookie in 2006-07, he recorded eight goals and 11 assists for 19 points before adding one goal in four playoff games.
