Kitchener gets Mario Culina
Sault Ste. Marie product Mario Culina has been acquired by the Kitchener Rangers from the Sudbury Wolves in an Ontario Hockey League trade that Hockey News North has confirmed.
The overage goalie heads to a Western Conference contender from an Eastern Conference rebuilder for an eighth round draft pick.
Culina had been acquired by Sudbury off OHL waivers several weeks ago after beginning the 2017-2018 season with the Ryerson Rams of Ontario University Athletics. He had spent the 2016-2017 and 2015-2016 seasons with the Windsor Spitfires as the backup to reigning Memorial Cup championship goalie Michael DiPietro.
Before signing with Windsor as a free agent in 2015 and then winning a Memorial Cup championship with the Spitfires in 2017, Culina tended twine for the Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.
With Sudbury this OHL season, Culina had put up respectable numbers that included a .903 save percentage and 3.44 goals against average to go with a record of 2-5-2 on a Wolves team that currently sits in last place.
PHOTO: Mario Culina, hoisting the Memorial Cup as a member of the Windsor Spitfires.