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Tuesday, September 14, 1999

IceRays net veteran defenseman from Austin
Ice Bats' Iaquinta becomes second player acquired in Boucher trade
By Mark Button

Caller-Times

It only took him a week.
   Last Monday, IceRays coach Taylor Hall lost the rights to Regan Harper, a Western Professional Hockey League all-star, to Tupelo because Harper did not want to return to Corpus Christi for its second season.
   A week later, Hall gained the rights to Aldo Iaquinta (6-foot-4, 210 pounds), another WPHL all-star defenseman, in a move that fulfilled earlier an trade consideration that the New Mexico Scorpions owed the IceRays.
   Iaquinta, who won the hardest slap shot contest at last year's all-star game, played 40 games for New Mexico last year and then was traded to Austin, where he suited up 28 times. He finished the year, his 10th, with 32 assists and seven goals.
   The rights to Iaquinta - there's a chance that he may never play a game for Corpus Christi - complete the second half of the Tyler Boucher trade to New Mexico, which began May 13.
   Corpus Christi traded Boucher, a pesky forward, and his 14-game suspension (stemming from an incident in which Boucher used the butt end of his hockey stick to jab a Lake Charles player above the right eye) to New Mexico for two players at a later date, termed "future considerations."
   The first player Corpus Christi received was Greg MacEachern, a 6-3, 215-pound defenseman, whom the IceRays signed on Aug. 13.
   The second player was to come from Austin's roster, to complete another earlier deal between the Ice Bats and New Mexico.
   "Austin had to protect 10 players, and I got to choose from the rest," Hall said. "I was excited to see that Aldo was unprotected."
   First-year Austin coach Brent Hughes said his new affiliation with the Houston Aeros would afford him "a couple" of defensemen as the year begins, so Iaquinta was left unprotected.
   "At this time," Hughes said, "Aldo just wasn't in our top 10."
   So it turns out that the IceRays received the rights to 12 feet, 7 inches and 425 pounds of defensemen in return for the 5-6, 165-pound Boucher.
   "Not a bad deal for us," Hall said.
   Signing Iaquinta to play for Corpus Christi is not a certainty, however.
   The big blue-liner accepted an invitation by Hall to visit Corpus Christi Sunday, and the two talked about the future.
   "He said he wants to play one more year," Hall said. "He loves the city. He said he'd love to play in this atmosphere (of the Igloo). It's just that his fianc‚ has a really good job in Austin. I think she's a physical therapist. If she can get a good job here, then the chances are good that he may sign.
   "He's not going to sign for the league minimum, and remember that I have to have six rookies on the roster, as the league mandates.
   "But I could always trade his rights, too."
   Hall said if defensemen such as Bob Quinnell or Phil Valk leave for the International Hockey League, there may be room for Iaquinta.
   "But it's nice to have options," Hall said. "I think I could get some good value out of Aldo."
   IceCubes
   A IT'S BEEN DONE: The last time Hall, MacEachern, Iaquinta and Jody Praznik played in the same uniforms, they won the 1991-92 Central Hockey League championship in Tulsa. For Hall, it was his first and only professional championship. Hall was a player/assistant coach that year.
   A CAMP NEWS: Training camp opens for the IHL and American Hockey League this week. Valk is at the Houston Aeros (IHL) camp. . . . Jason Genik and IceRays' recruit Tobin Praznik are at the Manitoba Moose (IHL) camp. . . . Chris Robertson is attending the St. John's (New Brunswick) camp, which is an AHL farm team for the Calgary Flames. . . . Lorne Toews is attending the AHL camp in Hersey, Pa., a farm team for the Colorado Avalanche. . . . Quinnell is in Long Beach, Calif., with the IHL Solar Bears' camp.



Staff writer Mark Button can be reached at 886-3613 or e-mailed at buttonm@caller.com.

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