Fuel add Clarke and Armstrong to blue line

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indy Fuel, ECHL affiliate of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks and the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs, announced that they have agreed to terms with a pair of defensemen for the 2017-18 ECHL season in Garrett Clarke and Travis Armstrong. Clarke returns to North America after a brief stint overseas, while Armstrong is back after finishing the 2016-17 season with the Fuel.

Clarke, 24, closed out 2016-17 in Romania with ASC Corona Brasov, in addition to stints in Poland and with the Brampton Beast. In 20 games with the Beast, he recorded five points (2g-3a) and 40 penalty minutes. A native of Windsor, Nova Scotia, Clarke has tallied 25 points (8g-17a) and 322 penalty minutes in 96 career ECHL contests with Brampton, Rapid City and Allen.

The sixth-year professional played a part in two championship runs with the Americans, helping them to the Central Hockey League’s President’s Cup in 2012-13 and their first of two consecutive Kelly Cup titles in 2014-15. In parts of two seasons in the CHL with Allen and the Arizona Sundogs, Clarke accumulated 18 points (6g-12a) and 411 penalty minutes in 106 total outings.

Armstrong, 27, posted four points (1g-3a) in 16 games with Indy last season, joining the team in mid-February. He also dressed in 22 games with the Southern Professional Hockey League’s Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs in 2016-17, adding seven points (2g-5a) and 39 penalty minutes. In 40 career ECHL games with Indy, Idaho, Manchester, Brampton, Norfolk and Kalamazoo, Armstrong has collected five points (1g-4a).