The Port Hope Predators continue to make changes in their quest to return to the top rungs of the OPJHL’s East Division.

The team has occupied fourth place in the division for most of the season, looking up at rivals in Wellington, Kingston and Peterborough, while feeling the heat from lower ranked teams like Bowmanviille and Quinte West. With Tim Clayden now reinstated as general manager, and facing a December 1 trade deadline, the team has made a number of moves to improve their club both this year and next.

In recent weeks the team has looked everywhere for help, from the Alberta Junior Hockey League to the Atlantic Junior Hockey League. Recently they added Trevor Koverko, formerly of the Ontario Hockey League’s London Knights. Koverko is a 20-year-old defenceman from Toronto who has played the last four seasons in the OHL, with stints in London as well as with the Oshawa Generals and the Owen Sound Attack. He will look to augment the Preds defensive corps during the stretch run.

The team has also dealt leading scorer Jordan Wilson to the Melville Millionaires of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League in return for future considerations and defenceman Justin Klassen, who is rehabbing a broken collarbone and is not expected to join the team until after Christmas.

The team also flipped forward Sean Bassingthwaite to the Fort William North Stars of the Superior International Junior Hockey League in return for future considerations.

Clayden hopes the moves will improve both the performance and the chemistry of his club.

“We want to win as much as the next team, but we’ve turned a corner where we won’t try to win at all costs,” he said. “Our players have to be accountable on and off the ice.”