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BCHL Today: Island teams to play pre-season tournament, Vees to add Harvard commit Jack Bar, and more

Written by Brian Wiebe on

 

Island teams to play in pre-season tournament

Five of the nine teams in the BCHL’s Coastal Conference have arranged for a pre-season tournament called the Island Cup.

The five clubs are those which made up the former Island Division – Alberni Valley, Cowichan Valley, Nanaimo, Powell River and Victoria.

The tournament, which starts October 2, will see each team play a dozen round-robin games. The Q Centre will host the semifinals and final, whether the Grizzlies advance that far or not.

Report: Vees add Harvard commit Jack Bar

According to Mark Divver’s tweet above, the Penticton Vees have added 2002-born defenseman Jack Bar for the upcoming season. Per Divver, the Newmarket, Ontario product was due to play college hockey for Harvard this fall but is unable to enter the US due to a student visa issue.

Bar had 18 goals and 34 assists in 57 games with St. Andrew’s College during the 2019-20 season. He also wore an ‘A’ as an alternate captain for the Saints and his 52 points set a school record for most by a defenseman.

He helped St. Andrew’s win the CISAA both this year and last and was also invited to Hockey Canada’s U17 camp in 2018.

University of Windsor freshman class includes two BCHL alumni

The University of Windsor announced its incoming freshman class for this September on Wednesday and it includes two former BCHL players.

Wenatchee Wild forward Matt Dorsey will play for the Lancers when the 2020-21 U SPORTS season starts. The 1999-born forward had 33 goals and 55 assists in 104 games with the Wild over the last three seasons.

The Wenatchee native also played 38 career Western Hockey League games between Tri-City and Calgary from 2016-18, posting three goals and three assists.

Also joining the Lancers is defenseman Olivier Arseneau (seven goals, 36 assists in 144 games with Chilliwack from 2014-17), who is transferring from the University of Prince Edward Island.

The 1996-born blueliner spent the last three seasons with the UPEI Panthers and put up eight assists in 54 U SPORTS games.

Steelheads ink two BCHL alumni for 2020-21

Forward Kyle Marino (17 goals, 34 assists in 111 games with West Kelowna from 2014-16) and defenseman Matt Stief (eight goals, 68 assists in 109 games with Prince George from 2014-16) each signed ECHL contracts for the 2020-21 season with the Idaho Steelheads.

Marino, a 25-year-old from Niagara Falls, Ontario, was at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks for the last four seasons where he notched 27 points in 101 NCAA games.

Stief, 24, played NCAA Division 1 hockey at Canisius College over the last four seasons. The Boca Raton, Florida product finished his college career with 60 points in 133 games.

Hutchison signs with Adirondack of the ECHL

Forward Nick Hutchison (23 goals, 29 assists in 63 games with Salmon Arm from 2014-16) signed a standard ECHL player contract with the Adirondack Thunder for the 2020-21 season.

The 25-year-old from Hicksville, New York played one game with the Thunder in 2019-20, scoring a goal and an assist. He played four seasons at Canisius College and posted 113 points in 140 games.

Kozek parts ways with Klagenfurter AC

Left winger Andrew Kozek (67 goals, 71 assists in 118 games with Surrey from 2003-05) wasn’t offered a contract for the 2020-21 season by Klagenfurter AC of the Austrian Hockey League.

Kozek played 2.5 seasons with Klagenfurter, scoring 33 goals and 17 assists in 99 regular season games from 2018-20.