Simon Fraser adds to depth chart with eye to second half push

While Simon Fraser University has a comfortable lead atop the B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League standings heading into the second half of the season, the team's coaches are preaching the importance of renewed commitment and concentration down the stretch.

And while Simon Fraser will be looking to its experienced core to lead the way through to the BCIHL Championships in March, the squad has added depth over the break in the form of defending PIJHL scoring champ Bill Smith. The 21-year old was a 94-point scorer in his final season of junior hockey and looked to be joining SFU in the fall before a successful tryout with the University of British Columbia.

"Bill is a guy that we identified in the offseason as a high-impact player," says Simon Fraser head coach Mark Coletta. "While we were happy to see him have success at UBC and see some action at a very good level of hockey, we're also thrilled to have him as a big part of our push for a championship."

Coletta also eluded to a few other player additions from the first half of the season, which isn't uncommon in a league that is seperated by a near one-month break between semesters.

In the meantime, SFU is focussed on a solid start to January when Selkirk College comes to town. One week later, the team should have little trouble gearing up for a visit from the University of Victoria, who held SFU to a single point in a pair of late-November contests in the provincial capital.

"I know that our group was disappointed by our effort to close out the first half of the season," Coletta says. "There's really only one remedy for that, though, and it's to come out and play hard after the break and put together another good streak of games."

And while SFU boasts five of the league's Top 10 scorers, Coletta says the team will be working hard to improve its defensive play after allowing six goals to the Vikes.

"We need to be better on our side of centre and give our goaltenders some more support," he explains. "Skill is great to have in the offensive zone, but when you're defending there needs to be a certain amount of determination and smarts that was missing in Victoria."