Chiefs add Brady for 2023-24
The Chilliwack Chiefs have brought in 2004-born forward Rylan Brady for the upcoming B.C. Hockey League season. Brady, who hails from Jackson, Michigan, is committed to Lake Superior State University to start his NCAA career in September 2024.
Brady spent the 2022-23 season in the North American Hockey League with the Oklahoma Warriors. In 60 games with the Oklahoma City-based club, he tallied 23 goals and 44 points. Brady added a goal and three assists in nine NAHL playoff games.
Curtis signs with his hometown Rivermen
The Langley Rivermen bolstered their blueline on Tuesday with the signing of 2005-born defender Hunter Curtis for the 2023-24 season. Curtis, who hails from Langley, B.C., split this past season with the Chilliwack Chiefs and the Pacific Junior Hockey League‘s Abbotsford Pilots.
He was scoreless in 24 games for the Chiefs before being released in late December. Curtis signed with the junior B Pilots and joined Chilliwack as an affiliate player. He finished with three goals and nine points in 13 PJHL games with Abby. In his 10 games as an AP for the Chiefs, he posted one assist.
Spooner signs with AJHL Lloydminster
Powell River Kings forward Remy Spooner has signed with the Lloydminster Bobcats of the Alberta Junior Hockey League for the 2023-24 season. Spooner and future considerations were acquired by the Kings from Trail in a Jan. 10 deadline deal that saw 2003-born forward Max Potvin join the Smoke Eaters.
Spooner is a 2004-born native of Kelowna, B.C. who was scoreless in a pair of games with Powell River. Prior to joining the Kings, he posted a goal and three assists in 26 games with Trail.
Newhook traded from Colorado to Montreal
The Montreal Canadiens acquired the rights to restricted free agent forward Alex Newhook (60 goals, 108 assists in 98 games with Victoria from 2017-19) from the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday in exchange for the 31st and 37th picks in this year’s National Hockey League draft and defender Gianni Fairbrother.
Newhook, a 22-year-old from St. John’s, Nfld., has 27 goals and 66 points in 159 games for the Avalanche over the last three seasons. He is coming off a three-year, $4.475 million entry-level contract he signed with Colorado back on Mar. 31, 2021.
Livingstone re-ups in Music City
24-year-old defender Jake Livingstone (22 goals, 82 assists in 185 games with Merritt and Langley from 2016-20) will return to Nashville in 2023-24 after inking a two-year, two-way contract with the Predators. The Creston, B.C. product signed a one-year, entry-level deal with the Preds on Mar. 29 as an NCAA free agent.
He had one assist in five games for Nashville to wrap up the 2022-23 season. Livingstone spent the previous three years in the NCAA with Minnesota State University-Mankato, finishing with 21 goals and 80 points in 11 games. He was named Central Collegiate Hockey Association defenseman of the year this past season and in 2022.
Buckley turns pro with EHF Passau Black Hawks
26-year-old defender Tyrell Buckley (14 goals, 61 assists in 211 games with Merritt from 2014-18) has signed his first pro hockey contract to join the EHF Passau Black Hawks of Oberliga, which is the third tier of hockey in Germany. The club plays in Passau, Germany, which is a city of 52,469 located on the border with Austria.
Buckley, a product of Penticton, B.C., put the wraps on a five-year NCAA Division I career this past season with a goal and five assists in 38 games at Canisius College. In 105 games with Michigan Tech University and Canisius, he finished with three goals and 16 assists.
Combs is back in Scotland for 2023-24
After spending one season with SønderjyskE in Denmark’s Metal Ligaen, 26-year-old forward Charlie Combs (66 goals, 46 assists in 86 games with Wenatchee from 2015-17) has signed with the Glasgow Clan in the U.K.’s Elite Ice Hockey League. He posted 20 goals and 39 points with SønderjyskE in 2022-23.
Combs added three goals and four assists in six Metal Ligaen playoff games. He had 30 goals and 65 points in 52 games in the 2021-22 season in the EIHL with Dundee, which is located only 130 kilometres northeast of Glasgow.
Sterling makes the jump to Weyburn of the SJHL
2004-born Princeton Posse defender Grady Sterling-Ponech has committed to joining the Weyburn Red Wings of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League in 2023-24. The Lethbridge, Alta. product was scoreless in three BCHL games as an affiliate player split between Cranbrook and Salmon Arm this past season.
The Posse, which plays junior B in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League, saw Sterling-Ponech tally one goal and 14 assists in 41 games during the 2022-23 season. He added a goal and two assists in 22 KIJHL playoff games as Princeton fell in game seven of the league’s championship final.
De Leon on the move from the SJHL to the MJHL
Langley, B.C. product Alyandro De Leon (one game with Nanaimo in 2021-22) was traded from the Nipawin Hawks of the SJHL to the Portage Terriers of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League for a player development fee on Monday.
The 2004-born blueliner actually started the 2022-23 season in Portage and posted four goals and seven points in six games before being traded to Nipawin in October. He ended the season with five goals and 11 points in 33 games with the Hawks.
