The Kimberley Dynamiters have added to their explosive potential.

They recently signed Taber forward Clayton Tilleman for the upcoming season.

The 6-foot, 175-pounder will give the Dynamiters some size up front.

“He does a lot of things well. He’s a good skater, a good shooter,” said Nitros’ head coach and general manager Garry Jacklin. “This last year he played on a weaker team so it was harder for people to (gauge) him, but the year before he was on a better team and he won the scoring race.”

In 32 games with the midget AA Taber Golden Suns, the centre collected 51 points — including a league-high 28 goals — in 32 games with the Taber Golden Suns.

While a scout for the Trail Smoke Eaters, Jacklin had watched Tilleman in the South Central Alberta Hockey League (SCAHL), and brought him to the BCHL club’s camp last summer. The centreman will forgo junior A tryouts this year.

“He just wanted to get signed and know where he’s going, and I like that,” said Jacklin. “I think he’s focusing on Kimberley and sometimes that’s a good thing because they don’t come back from junior A with their heads down.”

This year, Trail’s training camp wraps up a couple of days before Kimberley’s begins Aug. 28.

“Out of that camp, we should get at least four or five kids,” said Jacklin. “Most of the kids that I’ve scouted for Trail from last year will come here if they don’t make Trail, which is a good thing.”

Jacklin is hoping to boost the Nitros’ links with the Smokies, having turned Trail coach Jim Ingram onto the talent pool in the SCAHL (a league that includes the Cranbrook Ice).

“He’d never watched midget AA before, but (Ingram) came over and watched some of the Cranbrook provincials and I had him over to watch a couple of games. He was quite surprised, and he took me to Calgary to watch some AA midget. We like what we see (at that level). It’s harder to pull AAA midget kids because everyone wants them so we try to find the top-end kids in the AA.”

Jacklin said player-personnel announcements are yet to come, and he can envision the 1992-born Tilleman playing with some other top-flight AA midget talent, or alongside a returning player or two like Brennan Foreman.

“I think we’re going to be a little bit bigger than we were last year, and hopefully with more speed,” said the coach.

Nitros’ season tickets are currently available at Black Bear Books in the Platzl.