Kootenay Ice prospect, Peyton Krebs is expected to play in his first ever WHL game when the team visits the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Wednesday.
According to Ice head coach Luke Pierce, the team’s 1st overall pick in the 2016 Bantam Draft will help fill their depleted forward group later this week.
“We’ll have Peyton Krebs come up and play for us in Lethbridge,” Pierce said when asked how the Ice would fill the hole left by forward Dylan Stewart, who the team parted ways with on Monday. “We were planning to bring him in then anyway. After that we’re hoping to have [Kaeden] Taphorn back eventually [to bring us to 12 forwards].”
As a 15-year-old, Krebs can only play in a maximum of five games in the WHL before his Midget AAA team’s season and playoffs end.
“I’m excited to see [Krebs]. There have been a few 15-year-olds come up and play a game [in the WHL] this year,” Pierce said. “But, at the same time, we realize he’s still only 15 and is [playing in another league right now].”
A few members of Krebs’ draft class have already seen action this season. Second overall pick Kirby Dach, third overall pick Bowen Byram, and fourth overall pick Logan Barlage have all played one game a piece so far this year for the Saskatoon Blades, Vancouver Giants and Swift Current Broncos, respectively.
Playing for the Foothills CFR Chemical Bisons of the Alberta Midget Hockey League, Krebs has been outstanding, putting up 21 points in just 12 games and is the third in league scoring so far
The Bisons are currently leading the Chrysler Division and are tied with the Sherwood Park Kings at the top of the league standings. They last played on Saturday, November 12 and play again on Saturday, November 19, indicating, perhaps, that the Ice only plan on playing Krebs for a single game at this time.
