Greyhounds ink free agent forward

The Soo Greyhounds added to its group of forwards on Saturday with the signing of American forward Ryan Roth.

Undrafted, the Greyhounds inked the free agent forward who spent last season with the Honeybaked U16 team while also playing in four games with the United States Hockey League’s Tri-City Storm.

The 5-foot-9, 160-pound forward, who plays both centre and on the wing, led Honeybaked with 13 goals in 20 games. He also picked up two assists in four games with the Storm.

“He’s a dynamic forward,” Greyhounds General Manager Kyle Raftis said. “He’s a player that, when you look at our draft classes and the way our team plays, he’s a perfect fit for us. We’ve had the luxury of watching him play for the last two years and something that always jumped out to us was that he was always out there making a difference.”

In a prepared statement, the 17-year-old expressed his excitement in joining the Greyhounds, calling himself “a speedy, skilled player.”

“When you’re evaluating players, you’re always looking at what they can bring to the table and one of the hardest things to do is score goals and create offence,” Raftis added. “He’s done that at every level.”

Prior to signing with the Greyhounds, Roth had plans to play college hockey with St. Lawrence beginning in the fall of 2019 after making a verbal commitment during the winter to attend the school.

“When you’re a great athlete and very gifted academically, you basically have all the choices of where you want to play hockey,” Raftis said. “Getting to know Ryan and his family as we talked a little bit more about our program, they thought (joining the Greyhounds) was a good fit for him at this particular time. We’re lucky that he decided that because he had a lot of options for where he could play.”

Raftis said the team remained in contact with Roth and his family but the conversations were more informational than anything else.

“There was never a really strong push with it,” Raftis said. “It was always just being a resource.”

Roth will join roughly 50 players who will participate in the Greyhounds training camp, scheduled to open on Aug. 29.