Fury signs pair of forwards for '06-07

Center Scott Barnes and left wing Evan Kotsopoulos are the newest members of the Muskegon Fury.

Barnes is a cousin of current Fury enforcer Ryan Barnes and Kotsopoulos will be entering his first professional season.

The 27-year-old Barnes will be embarking on his third pro season. He comes to the Muskegon hockey area following an outstanding 2005-06 campaign in the Central Hockey League. Dividing his season with the Youngstown Steelhounds and the Oklahoma City Blazers, Barnes recorded 43 points in 59 games on 20 goals and 23 assists and also added 115 penalty minutes.

Kotsopoulos, 22, played four years in the Ontario Hockey League and last season in Canada at the University of Western Ontario where he posted 10 goals, 20 points and 56 PIMs in just 17 games.

"We, as a team, are very happy to add Scott to our lineup," Muskegon head coach Bruce Ramsay said. "He is an outstanding young player who has the real ability to spark our third line. In fact, he has the potential to play on one of our top two lines as well. Scott plays with an edge and also contributes offensively as his 20-goals last season would indicate. We are looking for him to become a real sparkplug on our club this season."

Ramsay went on to hype Kotsopoulos.

"Evan is a highly-touted rookie who is coming to us after an outstanding junior career which he followed with one solid season of university hockey last year," said Ramsay. "His numbers would demonstrate that he is a player quite similar in nature to Scott Barnes in that he is gritty and will put points on the board. Evan has the potential to become a top line forward and one of the top rookies in the UHL this coming season."

The additions of Barnes and Kotsopoulos makes the current Fury roster stand at 15.