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Eagles, Spruce Kings, and Kings hook up on a series of trades

Brian Wiebe

 

The Surrey Eagles, Powell River Kings, and Prince George Spruce Kings connected on what amounts to essentially a three-way trade to jumpstart the BC Hockey League off-season on Tuesday.

First, the Eagles sent 2002-born Ian Kern to Powell River to complete future considerations from a Feb. 25 transaction. That deal saw Kern go from the Kings to Surrey.

Then, Powell River shipped Kern to the Prince George Spruce Kings for 2001-born defenseman Zach Gabruch and future considerations.

During the pod season with Surrey, Kern had four assists in 13 games. He was a rookie in the BCHL in 2019-20 and posted a goal and five points in 54 games for Powell River.

The Vancouverite is a product of the Greater Vancouver Canadians U18 AAA, where he had three goals and 22 points in 76 games over the course of two seasons from 2017-19.

He got into four regular season games and two playoff games with Powell River as a 16-year-old affiliate player in 2018-19.

Gabruch is a product of Saskatoon, SK who is entering his third season of junior hockey. He had a goal and an assist in 16 Chilliwack pod games for the Spruce Kings this past season.

As an 18-year-old rookie in 2019-20, he posted a goal and five points in 56 games with the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.

He was acquired by Prince George from the Wellington Dukes of the Ontario Junior Hockey League last June.

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.