Jr. A Raiders add two to lineup

Last-minute roster tinkering continued for the Georgetown Raiders right up until Wednesday night's deadline for teams in the OHA Provincial Jr. A Hockey League to reduce their roster sizes to 23 players. The Raiders have welcomed two new players, lost another they thought they'd already signed and still have room to add one more skater before the playoffs begin early next month. In a three-way deal, Georgetown picked up defenceman Justin Wakewich from Collingwood and sent the rights to Quebec major junior leaguer Jeff Grennier to the Aurora Tigers. The 5foot-10, 178-pound Wakewich, an 18-year-old from Barrie, had three goals and 17 assists in 32 games before requesting a trade last month. Director of player personnel Peter Mavroudis also acquired forward Zak Ray from the OHL's Owen Sound Attack, a 6-foot-1 196-pounder from Mississauga who just turned 17. Centre George Lovatsis was not kept by the Barrie Colts and will be with the Raiders for the rest of the season. To help make room for those moves and to have a blank card with which to sign a player in the near future, the Raiders dealt blueliner Peter Drikos to Stouffville and left second-year winger Adam Campbell unprotected, although they haven't released him outright. Mavroudis was steamed with Georgetown's Jr. B affiliate in Guelph after the Dominators changed their plans regarding forward Denver Manderson, a 17-year-old who is property of the OHL's Kitchener Rangers. Manderson earned one assist for the Raiders last Saturday against Oakville after apparently getting his wish to play for Georgetown, but Mavroudis asserts the Dominators have reneged on the arrangement. "We had everything signed, Kitchener approved it, the kid was told that he could play here and then all of a sudden Guelph decided to protect him," he said. "We're very disappointed and ticked off and I can tell you that we won't have anything more to do with that organization." Wakewich and Ray could make their debuts on Saturday when the Raiders host Streetsville at the Alcott Arena beginning at 7:30 p.m.