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BCHL Today: Warriors fire GM/Head Coach West, Stevenson nabs CJHL honour, Cents lose Galloway to Hitmen, and more

Brian Wiebe

Warriors fire GM/Head Coach Brandon West, bring on Simon Ferguson

The West Kelowna Warriors, mired in last place in the BCHL with a 7-23-7 record, let go GM and Head Coach Brandon West late on Friday night. The Warriors have hired Simon Ferguson as interim head coach, but the team’s news release didn’t make any mention of who would assume the GM duties. There’s also no word on the status of assistant coach Ayrton Nikkel or goaltender coach Chad Carder.

Ferguson was into his second consecutive – and third overall – season coaching the Okanagan Rockets of the BC Major Midget League. He has a coaching record of 67-27-7 with the Rockets.

Cents defenceman Tyson Galloway joins WHL Hitmen

The Merritt Centennials will be without defenceman Tyson Galloway for the foreseeable future as the 16-year-old has been signed by the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen as an affiliate player. He made his season debut with the Hitmen in Friday’s overtime loss to Lethbridge.

Galloway has 2 goals and 3 assists in 27 games with the Centennials this season.

Stevenson named CJHL 1st Star for November

Coquitlam Express goaltender Clay Stevenson was named the CJHL’s 1st Star of the month for November, the league announced on Friday. The 20-year-old went 8-0 in November, with a 1.35 goals-against-average, a .948 save percentage and two shutouts.

Former Rivermen forward Torrell traded in the ECHL

Gage Torrel (36 goals, 52 assists in 82 games for Langley from 2013-15) has been traded in the ECHL from Rapid City to Fort Wayne. Torrel, who wrapped up his collegiate career at Lake Superior State last season, had three goals in 20 games for Rapid City this season.

BCHL Trade Tracker (since Dec. 1)

Trades Made: 4
Trades Made Within BCHL: 3
Trades Made With Teams Outside BC: 1
Players: 6
Future Considerations: 3
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Forwards: 4
Defencemen: 2
Goaltenders: 0
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1999-born: 0
2000-born: 5
2001-born: 1
2002-born: 0
2003-born: 0

Brian Wiebe

Brian's been involved in the BCHL in a variety of capacities for 17 years. From 2002 to 2012, he served in several roles around the Merritt Centennials organization, including as team president, board member, beat writer, colour commentator, webmaster, media and communications coordinator and marketing assistant. He's been writing about the BCHL since 2008 and served as colour commentator on the TSN 1040 broadcasts in 2012-13. BCHLNetwork is one of Brian's many passion projects that he balances around his full-time job as an instructor in the Radio Arts and Entertainment Program at BCIT in Burnaby.