The Victoria Grizzlies have added four new players to their 2024-25 roster, signing three players before their first regular season game and trading for another.
Before their first two games in Powell River last month, the Grizzlies signed Swedish defender Oscar Pantzare and acquired goaltender Tyler Hodges from the Nanaimo Clippers.
In exchange for forward Alex Hebblethwaite, the Grizzlies acquired defender Braydan Smith from the Trail Smoke Eaters. Finally, the Grizzlies signed veteran Western Hockey League defender Easton Kovacs.
This article is about each player’s path to joining the Grizzlies, starting with Pantzare.
Pantzare’s time in Sweden
From 2018 to 2020, Pantzare was part of the IFK Täby HC program, skating with the U16 and J18 teams. Across two seasons, Pantzare notched 42 points in 55 games. Afterward, the Stockholm, Sweden product joined the Frölunda HC program.
During the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, Pantzare played on Frölunda HC’s J18 club. He moved on to the J20 team for the last two seasons, including 48 games in 2023-24. He finished with 17 goals and eight assists as an alternate captain for the Frölunda HC J20 squad.
Pantzare is the second European player on the Grizzlies’ roster, joining Slovakian forward Tobias Pitka.
Smith’s journey to Victoria
Smith is a veteran of several Saskatchewan-based hockey programs, which is where he’s from. The Prince Albert, Saskatchewan product played two seasons with his hometown Pirates U15 AA team and one season with the Swift Current Legionnaires U18 in the Saskatchewan Male U18 AAA Hockey League.
He moved to the SMAAAHL’s Saskatoon Contacts for 2021-22 before signing with the Trail Smoke Eaters for 2022-23. In 48 games that season, Smith notched two goals and three assists. Last season, Smith played for the Des Moines Buccaneers in the United States Hockey League.
In 47 games for the Buccaneers, Smith had a goal and four assists. He is committed to the University of Connecticut for September 2025.
Hodges’ way to B.C.’s provincial capital
Hodges, who’s from Gormley, Ontario, played minor hockey with the Markham Waxers association, spending one season each with the U15 and U16 AAA teams respectively. In 2021-22, he joined the York Simcoe Express U18 AAA team, getting into 14 games.
For the 2022-23 season, Hodges signed with the Haliburton County Huskies of the Ontario Junior Hockey League. In 19 games for the Huskies, he finished with a record of 13-5-0, a 2.00 goals-against average, a .931 save percentage, and four shutouts.
Last season, was with the Nanaimo Clippers and posted a 15-16-2 record to go along with a 3.61 goals-against average, and an .895 save percentage. The other goalies Nanaimo used in the 2023-24 season were Thomas Kiesewetter, Massimo Urbani, and Chazz Nixon.
Before coming to Victoria last month, Hodges played one game for the El Paso Rhinos of the North American Hockey League, making 34 saves in a 4-1 loss against the Colorado Grit.
How Kovacs found himself in Victoria
Kovacs is a product of the Delta Hockey Academy in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League. After three seasons at DHA with four different teams from U15 Varsity to U18 Prep, Kovacs joined the Western Hockey League’s Lethbridge Hurricanes.
He made his WHL debut in 2020-21, playing 11 games during the COVID-19-affected season. The following year, he played 46 games for the Hurricanes, posting a goal and an assist. In June 2022, he was traded to the Seattle Thunderbirds for a WHL Prospects Draft pick. Kovac split the 2022-23 season between the Thunderbirds and the Prince Albert Raiders after being traded by Seattle in November 2022.
During the 2023-24 season, Kovac put up four goals and five assists in 66 games for the Raiders. They traded him to the Wenatchee Wild this past August for a fifth-round 2028 WHL Prospects Draft pick. Kovacs didn’t play for the Wild and instead joined the Grizzlies after their first two games in Powell River.
What the Grizzlies are getting
The Grizz helped shore up their defensive core with these signings.
Hodges is an experienced goalie at the junior A level and can be a solid partner with Oliver Auyeung-Ashton. His time with the Huskies and Clippers makes him a great second option to help them win games.
Pantzare is an offensive defender, who reminds me a bit of Grizzlies alumni blueliners like Nathan King and Clark Hiebert. Both players were offensive defenders who could score.
As for Smith, his size and junior hockey experience give the Grizzlies another big-bodied leader on the back end. Finally, Kovacs is a 6-foot-4 veteran defender who has 178 WHL games under his belt.
Overall, Ferster made significant additions to shore up the Grizzlies’ defensive acumen during the first month of the 2024-25 season, and thus far the moves have generated mixed results with the bulk of the season still to come.