In May, the Alberni Valley Bulldogs signed two players. Forwards Leim Smith and Kai Matthew will join the Bulldogs’ roster for the upcoming 2025-26 season. In June, the Bulldogs signed forward Grayson Salmon to the roster.
Smith and Salmon are among the latest players to join Alberni Valley after playing for the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League’s Port Alberni Bombers. Matthew has junior A experience in Alberta and major junior experience with the Kamloops Blazers.
This article will follow the paths of Smith, Salmon, and Matthew to Alberni Valley.
Smith’s path to Alberni Valley
Smith, a 2007-born forward from Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, played minor hockey with the West Central Tigers U15 team in the South Central Alberta Hockey League in 2020-21. Because of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, Smith didn’t play any games for the Tigers’ U15 squad.
For the 2021-22 season, Smith moved to the Red Deer Rebels U15 hockey program and had 21 goals and 14 assists in 34 games. He also got into one game as an affiliate player for the Red Deer Northstar Chiefs U16 AAA.
From 2022 to 2024, Smith skated for the Edge School hockey program in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League. He had 13 goals and nine assists in 28 games for the U17 Prep team in 2022-23, also posting three goals and two assists in eight games with the U18 Prep team as an affiliate that season. One year later, he notched 13 goals and nine assists in 29 games as a regular for the U18 Prep team in 2023-24.
While with the Edge School U18 Prep club, Smith made his junior hockey debut with the Olds Grizzlys of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. He played four games with the Grizzlys as an affiliate.
Smith signed with the Bombers before the 2024-25 season and finished with 25 goals and 34 assists in 46 games. He also dressed for three games with Alberni Valley as an affiliate player, but didn’t register any points. The 17-year-old drew his first BCHL points during the 2025 playoffs when he tallied two assists in six games.
Matthew’s route to Port Alberni
Matthew’s pre-junior hockey career saw him play with the South Side Athletic Club Lions out of Edmonton. From 2017 to 2019, Matthew played for the Lions’ U15 AAA team in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League. The Edmonton product also got into one game for the SSAC Bulldogs U16 AAA team in 2018-19 as an affiliate player, tallying a goal and an assist.
The 2005-born forward skated for the Northern Alberta Xtreme in the CSSHL from 2019 to 2021. He had 17 goals and 21 assists in 25 games for the NAX U15 team in 2019-20. He added a goal and two assists in five games for the NAX Elite 15s squad as an affiliate player that season.
That April, he was chosen by the Kamloops Blazers in the fifth round, 107th overall, at the Western Hockey League Bantam Draft. With the North Alberta U18 Prep team in 2020-21, he posted a goal and four assists in six games as the season was limited due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
Matthew joined the Blackfalds Bulldogs for the 2021-22 AJHL season and finished with two goals and six assists in 33 games as a 16-year-old. In August 2022, the Bulldogs traded Matthew to the Drumheller Dragons.
In 1.5 seasons with the Dragons, he had 16 goals and 25 assists in 68 games before joining Kamloops midway through the 2023-24 season. He had nine goals and eight assists in 35 WHL games to round out the year.
Matthew put up five goals and one assist in 22 games with the Blazers this past season before returning to Drumheller. He ended the campaign with eight goals and seven assists in 20 games for the Dragons.
How Salmon made his way to the Bulldogs
A native of Port Alberni, Salmon grew up playing in the Alberni Valley Minor Hockey Association before spending two seasons with the Nanaimo Minor Hockey Association from 2018 to 2020. He joined the North Island Silvertips U15 AAA team in the BC Elite Hockey League for 2020-21 but didn’t play any games due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The following season, Salmon moved across Georgia Strait to play in the CSSHL at the Delta Hockey Academy with the U15 Prep Black team. He had 21 goals and 13 assists in 28 games. In 2022-23, he posted 11 goals and 19 assists in 33 games for the DHA U17 Prep team. Salmon moved up to the DHA U18 Prep squad in 2023-24 and tallied six goals and 14 assists in 30 games.
He signed with the Bombers last September and finished with 10 goals and 24 assists in 27 games. Salmon also played nine games for Alberni Valley as an affiliate player, scoring two goals and two assists.
