The first player commitment for the 2018-19 Chilliwack Chiefs has been revealed, with Clark Nelson signing on the dotted line.
The 2000-born forward spent last season with the Revelstoke Grizzlies in the Kootenay International Junior B Hockey League. Clark posted 13 goals, 22 points and 145 penalty minutes in 34 regular season games for the Grizzlies, adding another four goals, six points and 49 PIMs in a 20 game playoff run that ended with a championship series loss to the Kimberley Dynamiters.
Nelson is also notable for his bloodlines.
Father Chad Nelson played 45 games for the Chiefs in 1994-95 and like his son, Chad spent lots of time in the sin bin.
That season he logged 209 PIMs, a trend that carried on through a well-traveled eight year minor-pro career that included stints with the Charlotte Checkers (ECHL), Wheeling Nailers (ECHL), Louisiana IceGators (ECHL), San Diego Gulls (WCHL), Jacksonville Lizard Kings (ECHL), Pensacola Ice Pilots (ECHL), Arkansas RiverBlades (ECHL), Huntsville Tornado (CHL), Greenville Grrrowl (ECHL), Wichita Thunder (CHL) and Corups Christi Icerays (CHL). He had a two game stop with the Bracknell Bees, a team in Britain’s National Ice Hockey League, and in 1997 he played four games with Roller Hockey International’s Anaheim Bullfrogs.