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OSHAWA -- Last week, John Annis hinted that changes were forthcoming with his Ontario Provincial Junior Hockey League club.
However, it's unlikely that many could have predicted the general manager of the Durham Fury would pull the trigger on such a bold move, as say trading his team's top scorer from a year ago.
But that's just what he did in sending Michael Markovic to the North York Rangers in exchange for forwards Michael Shirley and Justin Hitchen.
In giving up Markovic, the Fury surrendered a player who posted 20-23-43 numbers in 48 games last season, but for some reason was unable to put it all together in the early going this year, struggling to totals of 2-4-6 through 11 games.
And with the need for change, coupled with North York's willingness to swap a pair of quality forwards for him, the trade just simply made sense.
"He is one of those kids that teams wanted and we wanted a change and figured he needed a change so we went with Shirley, who is an 89 like Marco and Hitch, a 20-year-old," said Annis in breaking down the deal.
Last season Shirley posted 12-13-25 numbers in 49 games as a rookie, while Hitchen, a three-year veteran, chalked up 9-16-25 numbers in 44 contests.
"We hated to give up Marco, it was nothing personal, but it's the old story in that you have to give up something to get something and that's basically who they wanted off our roster," Annis added.
While neither played a large part on Tuesday, that didn't prevent the Fury from thwarting a late charge from the Pickering Panthers and posting a much-needed 6-5 victory at the Campus Ice Centre.
After Pickering grabbed a 1-0 lead 50 seconds in, the Fury took complete control of the first period, scoring four times in just over 10 minutes, an onslaught which chased Pickering netminder Ben Calma from the goal.
The teams traded second period markers, and finally in the third, the Panthers awoke from their game-long funk, outscoring the Fury 3-1 and doing their best to tie the game in the dying minutes.
"They were all over us in the last five minutes, but you know what? I am happy, I am pleased," said Annis. "At this point last year, I think we had like three points or something. We've got 10 and we could very well have six points more, so it's encouraging."
FURY FILES: Luigi Martone (2), Skylar Quinn, Trevor McKinney, Zachary McDonald and Chris Tanev all scored for the Fury Tuesday night... Defenceman Ryan Henry missed the game after breaking a skate blade in warmup... The Fury is in Markham tonight (7:30) and visits Dixie tomorrow (7:30 p.m.) before hosting North York on Tuesday (7:30).
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