High1 has announced their new additions to the team for the 2009-10 season. The team has kept one import in Alex Kim (15G+21A=36P, 13th in the league) but has made a wholesale change on the rest of their import lineup.
Returning to the team after a season in Europe is Tim Smith, he rocked the league with his brother Bud for 2 seasons from 2006-08 (63GP 106P). Joining Tim as the new imports are veteran centre Trevor Gallant and young defenceman Jeremy Van Hoof.
The team is also undergoing a major uphaul with many veterans leaving the team and 5 Korean rookies entering the fray. Also joining the club are stranded Seibu Prince Rabbits defenceman Yuya Yamada (25GP 3A) and rookie forward Hiroki Ueno (24GP 16+14=30 at Waseda University) who had signed on to play for Seibu but had the misfortune of the team folding before he ever wore their sweater.
It’ll be intersting to see how this new, younger version of High1 will fare in the upcoming season, though with top dog Seibu gone, the team should see its fortunes improve from the 5th place finish (13-4-19) and first round elimination from the playoffs it suffered this season.
