The Bloomington Blaze and their new head coach, Brian Gratz, dug into the old Dayton Gems cabinet once again this time pulling out forward Kyle Bochek.

The gritty forward from Port Severn, Ontario was always a thorn in the side of the Blaze racking up 48 penalty minutes in the nine games he played against Bloomington.  He also had two goals and three assists.

Over the past two seasons with the Gems, Bochek had 21 goals and 36 assists with 261 penalty minutes.  Last year, he posted 26 points (9-17=26) and 122 penalty minutes in 51 games.

“Kyle brings a good deal of grit and toughness to our line-up,” said Gratz.  “He is a player that other teams do not like to face on the ice because of his intensity and style of play. (Bochek) also possesses a good skill set that allows him to contribute in many ways such as killing penalties and taking important faceoffs."

In particular, Blaze forward Travis Granbois and Bochek carried quite a rivalry and now will provide one of the saltiest duo in the league as they team up to take on the rest of the CHL.