Halfway through the 2021-22 regular season, the Victoria Grizzlies made several changes to their team. New players have joined the den while others have departed.
These moves mirror several past moves and also ensure several players remain with the Grizzlies. For this article, I will recap the transactions made by the team. Before that, I want to mention the Grizzlies’ recent COVID-19 pause.
Several BCHL teams have paused activities and games and due to COVID-19 protocols, several Grizzlies games were postponed.
These were the Jan. 5 game against Powell River, the Jan. 8 game against Coquitlam, the Jan. 9 game against Langley, and the Jan. 12 game against Nanaimo. The Grizzlies schedule now resumes on Jan. 14 against Powell River.
New arrivals
The first new arrival is defenseman Nathan King. He was an affiliate player for the Grizzlies before signing with the team full time. He was briefly an affiliate player for the Victoria Cougars of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League.
King came from the BC Elite Hockey League’s South Island Royals, playing for the U18 team. Before playing for the Royals, King played at the Pacific Coast Academy and Shawnigan Lake School Prep team, both in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League.
Another new arrival came via trade. In exchange for defenseman Declan Ride, the Grizzlies received forward Noah Leibl and future considerations from the Cranbrook Bucks.
Leibl was the first player the Bucks ever signed and joined them in January 2020. In total, Leibl played 33 games for the Bucks before being traded.
In a past article, I noted several team struggles for the Grizzlies as key players were suspended for blow to the head penalties and others dealt with injuries. As a result, Victoria used several different affiliate players for its roster.
King is just the latest AP call-up to earn a permanent spot on the roster and Leibl is the latest veteran player to join the team. Both will be key in the Grizzlies playoff push.
Departing players
As mentioned above, the Grizzlies traded Ride to Cranbrook. He was acquired by Victoria from the Oakville Blades of the Ontario Junior Hockey League before the regular season. He played 21 games for Victoria before leaving for the Bucks.
Another departing player is goaltender Carter Woodside, who was traded to the Coquitlam Express for future considerations.
Woodside originally joined the Grizzlies via trade from the Prince George Spruce Kings last February. During the 2021 Port Alberni pod, Woodside emerged as the Grizzlies number one goaltender. However, because of a lingering injury to Woodside, Victoria traded for goaltender Cole Schwebius from the Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Nov. 2.
The Woodside trade mirrors another Grizzlies trade from the 2019-20 season. That season, Victoria’s goaltending tandem was Liam Souliere and Joe Howe, but Souliere got injured, so the Grizzlies acquired goaltender Blake Wood. When Souliere returned from injury, the Grizzlies traded Howe to the Express.
Kyle Kelsey is still in his rookie season with Victoria and likely has four more seasons of junior hockey before he ages out. As a 2001-born player, Schwebius is in his final junior hockey season.
The playoff push
Before their COVID-19 pause, Victoria sat in sixth place in the Coastal Conference. Their overall record was 14-14-0-0, nine points behind the Conference-leading Langley Rivermen.
Before the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, Victoria made the 2020 playoffs as a crossover team and the only team to miss the postseason that year was the Merritt Centennials.
With the additions of King and Leibl – and potentially more moves coming – Victoria is preparing for a deep playoff run. The Grizzlies won the Port Alberni Pod last season and the stretch drive begins in earnest now.
