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BCHL Today: Bucks, Warriors and Cents add new players, Vees forward commits to UND, and more

Written by Brian Wiebe on

Rookie camp leads to five commitments for Bucks

The Cranbrook Bucks announced that they have added 2002-born defensemen Cameron Kungle and Cam Reid and 2002-born forwards Nathan Fox and Hayden Gelbard as well as 2004-born forward Jarrod Smith for the 2020-21 season.

Kungle played last season with the Okanagan Hockey Academy Red Prep team of the Canadian Sport School Hockey League where he scored one goal and added 13 assists in 31 games.

Reid spent the last three seasons with the Kimberly Dynamiters of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League. He scored three goals and added 15 assists in 40 games last season with the Nitros.

Fox played 29 games with the Airdrie Thunder of the Heritage Junior Hockey League and scored 21 goals and added 14 assists.

Gelbard was an affiliate of the West Kelowna Warriors last season, playing in two games with them. He spent 37 games with the Vancouver North West Hawks U18 AAA team, scoring nine times and adding 28 assists.

Smith joins the Bucks from West Van Academy Elite 15s of the CSSHL, where he scored 13 times and added 19 assists in 36 games this past season.

Warriors add three new recruits

West Kelowna announced on Monday that three players have committed to the Warriors for the upcoming season. 2002-born forward Felix Trudeau, 2003-born forward Damon Jugnauth, and 2001-born goaltender Jay Thomson have been recruited by the Warriors.

Trudeau played 55 games for Northwood School of the USHS-Prep league in 2019-20, scoring 30 goals and adding 33 assists. He also played in 13 games for Northwood School 18U scoring seven times and adding nine assists.

Jugnauth played with the Edge School Prep of the CSSHL and put up 11 goals and 27 assists in 35 games.

Thomson arrives from the Calgary Canucks of the Alberta Junior Hockey League, where he spent one season. He posted a 4-26-0-0 record with a 5.12 goals-against average and a .874 save percentage in 2019-20, his second of junior A hockey.

Centennials bring in Phillips-Watts

Merritt welcomes 2003-born goaltender Colton Phillips-Watts to the squad by way of the Kootenay Ice of the BC U18 AAA league.

Last season with the Ice, Phillips-Watts played in 17 games and posted a 2-15-0-0 record and a 4.97 GAA. He also won all three games he played with the Cariboo Cougars U18 AAA before joining the Ice.

Costantini commits to the University of North Dakota

2002-born Penticton Vees forward Matteo Costantini has committed to the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks.

Costantini committed to the Vees last month following a full season with the Buffalo Jr. Sabres of the OJHL, where he had 36 goals and 32 assists in 50 games.

Murray commits to Dalhousie Tigers

Trail Smoke Eaters graduated forward Jameson Murray has committed to the University of Dalhousie to play U SPORTS hockey in 2020-21.

Murray, a 1999-born player from Kelowna also played parts of three seasons in the Western Hockey League.

Alberni Valley sends Macdonald to Pickering of the OJHL

The Alberni Valley Bulldogs have traded 2001-born forward Jacob MacDonald to the Pickering Panthers of the Ontario Junior Hockey League for future considerations.

MacDonald committed to the Bulldogs back on April 8 after spending 2019-20 with the Hamilton Kilty B’s of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, where he scored 77 points in 50 games.

Bulldogs add to the coaching staff, promote Shaw

The Alberni Valley Bulldogs brought in Stephan Seeger (14 goals, 27 assists in 66 combined games with Merritt in 2014-15 and 2016-17) as an assistant coach. Seeger retired from professional hockey following the 2018-19 season, one he spent with EHC Freiburg of the second level German league.

The Bulldogs have also promoted Brandon Shaw to associate coach. Last season, he served as an assistant coach as well as director of player development for Alberni Valley.

Maloney named to Canada West World Junior A Challenge staff

Hockey Canada has named the coaching staff for the World Junior A Challenge teams despite the event not being held in 2020. Included in this list is Chilliwack Chiefs Head Coach Brian Maloney, named as head coach of Canada West.

Last season, Maloney served as the video coach for Canada West while guiding the Chiefs to a 26-21-5-6 record, good for second in the Mainland Division. 2020-21 is his fifth season in a coaching role with the Chiefs.

Former BCHLers loaned to DEC Bulldogs

Devin Brosseau (58 goals, 96 assists in 144 games with Nanaimo from 2013-16) and Yanni Kaldis (18 goals, 92 assists in 112 games with Nanaimo from 2014-16) have been loaned by the Edmonton Oilers, via Bakersfield of the American Hockey League, to Dornbirn Bulldogs of the Austrian Hockey League.

Brosseau spent the last four seasons at Clarkson University, scoring 40 goals and adding 72 assists. The last two seasons were spent as captain of the team.

Kaldis spent the last four seasons at Cornell University and scored 14 times with 71 assists. He was captain at Cornell in the 2019-20 NCAA season.

McGovern signs with IK Guts of Division 2 in Sweden

http://www.svenskalag.se/guts-alag/nyheter/1530338/valkommen-tillbaka-sean

Posted by IK Guts Finspång on Saturday, September 12, 2020

Sean McGovern (19 goals, 20 assists in 59 games with Surrey in 2011-12) has signed with IK Guts of Division 2 in Sweden. This follows a season split between three teams overseas in 2019-20.

McGovern played with Tranas AIF, IK Guts, and Marseille and scored 19 points in 31 games overall.