Whoopee completes trades, acquires two defensemen
<br><br> <br><br><br> <br>By Phillip Ramati<br>Telegraph
Staff Writer <br><br>When the coach is a former
defenseman, perhaps it's not too surprising the Macon Whoopee
traded offense for defense.<br>Macon completed on Monday
the series of trades started last week when it
acquired 40-goal scorer James Patterson from Toledo for
defenseman Dennis Mullen and the rights to goaltender Alex
Westlund.<br><br>Working on a three-team deal with Trenton and Jackson,
Whoopee coach Gord Dineen got two defensemen in return on
Monday - Adam Smith from the Titans and Mike Jozefowicz
from the Bandits. Patterson went to Jackson and
Bandits center Syl Apps was sent to Trenton.<br><br>"A
lot of people wondered about us trading a guy who had
94 points last season," Dineen said. "We feel like
we've got value in return."<br><br>Without Mullen, the
Whoopee skated five defensemen in a two-game sweep of New
Orleans over the weekend. The Whoopee now has seven
blueliners on the roster but only 19 players on the overall
20-man roster, meaning that one defenseman will be
inactive when Macon returns to action in Columbia on
Thursday.<br><br>Smith, a 6-foot, 215-pounder, has spent most of his
career in the American Hockey League and the
International Hockey League. The former third-round pick of the
New York Rangers spent the last two seasons playing
in the British Super League.<br><br>"He's a real
steady, physical defenseman," Dineen said. "He has a lot
of experience in the American League and the IHL. He
has a physical presence that will help our penalty
kill."<br><br>Jozefowicz played collegiately at Northeastern before
playing 10 games with Jackson last season. In a dozen
games this season he has two goals, no assists and four
penalty minutes.<br><br>"He's more of a puck-moving
defenseman," Dineen said. "He'll have a role on our power
play. He's a young guy with a lot of
upside."<br><br>Macon could use a little help on defense. The Whoopee
ranks 26th out of 29 teams in the ECHL in penalty
killing at 74.3 percent, giving up 13 goals when down a
player. But Dineen said the moves were for the overall
betterment of the team, not to address any specific
deficiencies.<br><br>"Defense has been a concern for us since the beginning of
the summer," he said. "Defense and goaltending wins
championships. It's the type of hockey that we play. This wasn't
specifically about penalty killing. This should help us out
overall. This wasn't a Band-Aid; it's more of a long-term
solution for
us."<br><br><a href=http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/kekeswhoopeeclub
target=new>http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/kekeswhoopeeclub</a>