The Kootenay ICE have announced thet Drew Czerwonka has decided to retire from hockey and plans to return to Saskatchewan to attend welding school.
Career Regular Season Stats
227 GP 48g 64a 112pts 321pm
ICE GM Jeff Chynoweth on the news.
"It's a sad day for the Kootenay ICE as Captain Drew Czerwonka advised us last night that he is going to pack it in and attend school in Saskatchewan. It's a huge loss for our hockey club not only on the ice but defintly off the ice. We certainly respect his decision, he has battled through a lot in the last few years, he's had a lot of unfortunate injuries. We wish Drew nothing but the best."
Chynoweth on the talk with Czerwonka today.
"More or less that he had lost the fire and it's been on his mind for about the past month. He gave it a lot of thought, he's a very thorough young man and like I said I respect the decision. Now we've got to move forward, we are down to 21 players and are down to 12 forwards. Now we've got to go get ourselves another 20-year-old, I don't know when but we will. First and foremost we're thinking of Drew right now and hopefully he gets everything he wants and gets back to school, he's excited about that and a new phase in his life."
Chynoweth on the decision in final.
"100%. We met with him today, after giving him the night to think about it, myself, Ryan McGill and Garnet Kazuik. We weren't try to change his opinion in our meeting, he had it made it up and we respect him for that. He had a great career for our hockey club, 5 years, 1st round Bantam pick, member of our 2011 Championship team. We'll never forget the contributions he gave us during that run and throughout his career. He was a great Captain. Now we have to find a new Captain and a body or two"
Chynoweth on how it affects the players.
"The timing wasn't great but you can never plan for these type of situations. We think we've got a good group, they are very young and impressionable. It'll be up to Joey Leach and Brock Montgomery and some of theose other 19-year-old players to have to take that void with Drew's departure."