At the 2023 BCHL trade deadline on Jan. 10, the Cowichan Valley Capitals made two transactions. The first was sending 2002-born forward Luke Strickland to the Wellington Dukes of the Ontario Junior Hockey League for future considerations. The second deal involved the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Brooks Bandits.
In exchange for 2004-born forward Davide Patella and 2004-born defender Aaron Brown, the Capitals received 2004-born forward Ethan Dekay, 2003-born forward Quinn Disher, and 2003-born defender Ethan O’Hallaran. The trade is unique for several reasons.
For starters, Patella never played a game for Cowichan Valley. The Capitals had acquired him three days earlier from the Merritt Centennials for future considerations.
The second unique trait is the size of the trade. It was the only deadline deal involving more than two players — a blockbuster move in every sense of the word.
This article is about examining the Capitals and Bandits trade. I’ll look at where each other players came from and what they can bring to their new teams.
Patella’s path to Brooks
Patella started his hockey career in his hometown of Laval, QC. From 2016 to 2019, he skated for the Laval Patriotes Minor Hockey Association. He played 62 games for the Patriotes Bantam AAA team and two games for their Midget Espoir team over the course of three seasons.
For the 2019-20 season, Patella joined the Laval-Montreal Rousseau Royal of the Quebec U18 AAA Hockey League. He only got into 42 games for the Royal before COVID-19 wiped out the 2020-21 season.
In August 2021, the Centennials recruited Patella and he scored 11 goals and 12 assists as a rookie during the 2021-22 season.
Last September, Patella was named Centennials captain for the 2022-23 season. After posting seven goals and seven assists in 29 games, the Centennials traded Patella to the Capitals on Jan. 7.
Brown’s career thus far
Brown’s career began with his hometown Quinte Red Devils Minor Hockey Association in Belleville, ON. From 2017 to 2020, he spent time with the U15 and U16 AAA Red Devils teams.
For the 2020-21 season, Brown signed with Wellington Dukes of the Ontario Junior Hockey League but didn’t play any regular season games because of COVID-19. The following season, Brown skated in 27 games for the Dukes, putting up seven assists. He also left Ontario to play 21 games for the US Hockey League’s Green Bay Gamblers and posted one assist.
His rights were picked up by the Capitals in a trade with Wellington last August and the puck-moving defender had a dozen points in 32 BCHL games before being shipped to the Bandits.
How Dekay made it to Cowichan
Dekay first played hockey of record with the Cambridge Hawks Minor Hockey Association. In 2019-20, the London, ON product played 33 games for the Hawks U16 AAA squad.
For the two seasons prior to this one, Dekay was at the Prairie Hockey Academy in Caronport, SK. He skated in 10 games for the U17 Prep team in 2020-21 and 35 games for the U18 Prep team in 2021-22.
He committed to Brooks in January 2022 and finished with four goals in 15 games before being traded to Cowichan Valley two months ago.
Disher’s journey to Duncan
Disher, whose dad Jody played in the BCHL with Merritt and Quesnel in 1997-98, spent most of his minor hockey career in his hometown of Fort St. John, BC before attending Edge School in Springbank, AB in 2016-17. He played for the U15 Prep team at Edge. From there, Disher spent three seasons at the Okanagan Hockey Academy in Penticton.
During the 2019-20 season while with the OHA Red U18 Prep team, Disher made his BCHL debut, getting into one game as an affiliate with the Penticton Vees. In June 2020, Disher committed to the Trail Smoke Eaters for the 2020-21 season.
After parts of three seasons with Trail, Disher was traded twice on the same day last November. First, the Smoke Eaters sent Disher to the Penticton Vees for forward Ethan Mann. The Vees then flipped Disher to the Bandits for 2003-born forward Nicholas Degraves.
Disher notched a pair of assists in eight games with Brooks before being traded to Cowichan Valley.
O’Halloran’s route to the Caps
O’Halloran began his hockey career with the Bow River Minor Hockey Association in his hometown of Calgary, AB. He played for the Calgary Flames U15 AAA team for two seasons from 2016-18. O’Hallaran also got into three games with the Northwest Calgary Athletic Association Stampeders U16 AAA team.
In 2018-19, while skating with the Calgary Flames U18 AAA team, O’Hallaran made his Alberta Junior Hockey League debut with the Canmore Eagles, playing three games as an affiliate. The following season, he returned to the U18 Flames and also played one game for the AJHL’s Camrose Kodiaks as an AP.
In April 2020, the blueliner committed to Brooks for the 2020-21 season. After posting three goals and 27 assists in 90 games over parts of three seasons for Brooks, the Bandits traded him to Cowichan Valley as part of this blockbuster.
Benefits to both teams
For Brooks, it got two veterans in Patella and Brown who are playing their second season of junior hockey. The Bandits also get both players for one more season as Brown is committed to Quinnipiac University for 2024-25. Patella doesn’t have a college commitment as of this writing.
As for Cowichan Valley, the Caps got three players for the price of two. It’s part of Cowichan’s ongoing transformation under new general manager and head coach Mike Vandekamp.
During his first tenure in Cowichan Valley, Vandekamp extensively rebuilt the team and before the start of the COVID-19-affected season, the Capitals were set for a deep playoff run.
Dekay, Disher, and O’Hallaran are part of the Capitals’ present and future. I suspect the Caps will reap the rewards of this deal during the 2023-24 season.
This is one of those rare deals where seemingly both teams receive benefits and there’s no clear winner of the deal. However, I do think there are longer-term benefits for Cowichan Valley.
