The Lloydminster Bobcats saved their biggest punch for last as they announced late Friday the acquisition of hometown boy Landen Ward, a rugged 19-year-old forward with WHL and BCHL credentials.
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At 3:50 p.m. Friday, on the eve of Saturday’s trade deadline, the junior A Bobcats made it official that Ward is on board for the AJHL team’s drive toward a championship for the Border City. Three hours later, he was in the Lloyd lineup for its 5-1 victory over the host Bonnyville Pontiacs.
The next night, Ward scored his first AJHL goal, in his native Lloydminster to boot, as the Bobcats lost 3-2 in a shootout against those same Pontiacs.
The addition of the six-foot-three, 215-pound Ward, a son of former NHL defenceman Lance Ward, capped a flurry of Lloyd trades in a three-day span last week. In short order, the Bobcats got taller, heavier and most likely tougher, while also adding more local flavour to a team already sporting solid hometown representation.
“I love every single guy in that (dressing) room, and I want to see all of them succeed,” declared Bobcats assistant captain Gus El-Tahhan, a 20-year-old forward.
“Our main focus, every day coming to the rink, is we want to bring a ’chip back to Lloyd. I think, now that the (trade) deadline is over, that’s going to be our main focus every day, until that happens.”
As they put the pieces together for a title run, the Bobcats beefed up their defence via a pair of mid-week trades with two SJHL clubs.
In the second of two deals with Saskatchewan league teams, the Bobcats acquired hulking defenceman Oakley McIlwain, a 20-year-old Lloydminster native who had been playing with the Humboldt Broncos.
In landing the six-foot-four, 218-pound McIlwain last Thursday, the Bobcats shipped 18-year-old forward Morgan Hackman to Humboldt, along with the CJHL playing rights to 19-year-old defencemen Carson Olsen (Kamloops Blazers, WHL) and Jack Birch (Langley Rivermen, BCHL).
In a trade announced last Wednesday afternoon (Jan. 7), Lloydminster sent another 2007-born forward — Connor Ewasuk — and a player-development fee to the SJHL’s Melfort Mustangs in exchange for 19-year-old Ryder Ellis, a former WHL defenceman from Meadow Lake, Sask.
The Bobcats revealed two more deals Thursday night, making it four transactions within two days for the Border City brigade.
Lloydminster signed 18-year-old forward Alex Levasseur, who spent the first half of this season in the QMJHL with the Gatineau Olympiques.
The Bobcats also traded 19-year-old defenceman Quinn Keeler to the AJHL’s Canmore Eagles in return for the CJHL rights to 18-year-old blue-liner Jack Bousquet (Vernon Vipers, BCHL) and a player-development fee.
Lloyd added to its riches Friday with the signing of Ward, who racked up 101 penalty minutes — and 11 points — in 25 games this season with the BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies.
Ward, whose family now lives in Red Deer, spent a couple of years in the WHL with the Lethbridge Hurricanes and Moose Jaw Warriors.
From his minor hockey days in Lloyd, he’s already most familiar with multiple key Bobcats. During his years with the U18 AAA Bobcats (now Lancers), Ward was a teammate of three current junior A Bobcats — newcomer McIlwain and veterans Kade Fendelet and Jaxan Hopko. Fendelet, 20, is the captain and Hopko, 19, is one of the assistants.
While they’ve been one of the top teams in the AJHL for most of this season, the Bobcats prioritized defensive depth going into the trade period, after losing Esteban Cinq-Mars to the QMJHL’s Val-d’Or Foreurs at Christmastime.
Before last week’s moves, Lloyd was down to six healthy defencemen.
Noah Smith, 18, has been sidelined again as the sophomore blue-liner continues to recuperate from shoulder surgery last year.
McIlwain played minor hockey in Lloydminster before his 15-game AJHL stint with the Grande Prairie Storm three seasons ago. He has spent the past two and a half years with Humboldt in the SJHL. This season, he scored a goal and 18 points, along with 60 penalty minutes, in 27 games with the Broncos.
The Humboldt-acquired Hackman was in his first season with Lloydminster. He netted four goals and eight points in 29 AJHL games, before suiting up with the Broncos in SJHL action last weekend.
Birch played in Lloyd for two years but has spent this season with Langley in the BCHL, under former Bobcats coach Brad Rihela, the Rivermen’s coach and general manager.
Olsen was part of the Bobcats’ organization for just two months, and he didn’t play with the junior A team. He remained in major junior after Lloyd acquired his CJHL rights in the Oct. 30 trade that sent 20-year-old forward Alessio Nardelli to the SJHL’s Battlefords North Stars.
The six-foot-six, 190-pound Ellis, who like Ward has WHL experience with Lethbridge and Moose Jaw, comes to Lloydminster after playing 26 games in the SJHL this season with Melfort. He scored a goal and three points with the Mustangs, while accumulating 60 penalty minutes.
The Melfort-bound Ewasuk, a Beaumont, Alta., native in his first year of junior hockey, collected two assists in 17 games with the Bobcats. He just turned 19 on Jan. 4.
Levasseur, the newest Lloydminster forward, played just nine games this season as a rookie with Gatineau, picking up one assist for his lone QMJHL point. The Edmundston, N.B., native scored 13 goals and 27 points in 34 games last winter with his Quebec midget 18 AAA team, College Esther-Blondin Phenix.
In just his second game as a Bobcat, Levasseur scored his first AJHL goal in Saturday’s game at the Hub.
Bousquet has spent this season in the BCHL, first with Langley and most recently with Vernon. The young D-man has WHL experience with the Red Deer Rebels. Last season, he picked up three assists in 29 games with the major junior Rebels and one assist in six junior A contests with Canmore.
In his first year with Lloydminster, Keeler posted two assists in 17 games. He was sidelined with an injury for a month this fall. In going to Canmore, Keeler moves closer to his Calgary home. Last season, he played with the BCHL’s Cranbrook Bucks.
Keeler dressed for Canmore in its two games last weekend.
On the same day that Canmore brought in Keeler, the Eagles also added 18-year-old defenceman Evan Markel, who spent the first part of this season with Kamloops in the WHL.
Early last week, 18-year-old goaltender Sam Madgett left Lloydminster to join his hometown Halifax Mooseheads for the rest of the QMJHL season, initially in a backup role.
Bobcats’ rookie forward Ty Hynes, who turns 18 later this month, has rejoined the South Alberta Hockey Academy U18 prep team. In his second game back with the Medicine Hat-based club, Hynes scored a power-play goal Sunday as SAHA defeated Edge School 3-1 in Calgary. He was listed as a defenceman for the weekend action.
The latest transactions left Lloyd with 24 players on its active roster (three goalies, eight defencemen and 13 forwards), with one player card still open in advance of the final Feb. 10 signing deadline.
The Bobcats’ latest opponent, Bonnyville, was also active in the leadup to the trade deadline, as were virtually all the North Division teams.
On a busy Friday, the Pontiacs announced they had acquired 18-year-old sniper Lucas Knorr and overage defenceman Brynn MacLean from the Devon Xtreme in exchange for 19-year-olds Cash Ganske (defence) and Grayson Niehaus (forward) and future considerations.
On the previous weekend, Bonnyville traded second-year defenceman Alex Coventry to Battlefords of the SJHL. Coventry had two assists in 23 AJHL games this season.
In return for the six-foot-seven, 214-pound Coventry, the Pontiacs received the CJHL rights to 19-year-old defenceman Sebastian Miles, along with a player-development fee. Miles, a six-foot-three, 209-pound native of Port Moody, B.C., played 26 games with Battlefords this season and dressed this month for his first game with the BCHL’s Nanaimo Clippers.
In just his second SJHL game with Battlefords, Coventry celebrated his 20th birthday in style. He collected three assists as the North Stars defeated the visiting Weyburn Red Wings 9-5.
Last week, Bonnyville also acquired the CJHL rights to 20-year-old goaltender Ben Laurette from the Melville Millionaires of the SJHL, in exchange for a player-development fee. The six-foot-four, 201-pound Calgarian had been playing in the BCHL with the Chilliwack Chiefs.
Laurette was victorious in his AJHL debut Saturday as Bonnyville topped Lloydminster in the shootout.
The Pontiacs lost a Calgary-born netminder in early December when the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades called up 17-year-old Ryley Budd. On Boxing Day, the Blades announced Budd would remain with the major junior club on a full-time basis.
On the WHL-AJHL roller-coaster this week, the major junior Red Deer Rebels announced they’ve assigned California forward Owen Shadrick to the junior A Camrose Kodiaks, who visit Lloydminster this Friday.
Camrose also acquired 17-year-old defenceman Dreyton Aleman from the Calgary Canucks. Aleman is committed to the NCAA Division 1 Lindenwood University Lions.
The Kodiaks gained a 19-year-old forward, Brandon De Haas, who came from Grande Prairie in return for 18-year-old defenceman Reily Pickford of Chauvin, Alta.
Pickford’s brother Bryce, the 19-year-old captain of the Medicine Hat Tigers, is this week’s WHL player of the week.
On Tuesday, AJHL-leading Whitecourt announced one more acquisition from the trrade period, as the Wolverines picked up 18-year-old forward Jackson DeGraves from the Drumheller Dragons in exchange for a player-development fee.
Whitecourt earlier traded 20-year-old defenceman Ethan Short to Camrose, where he had played with the Kodiaks for the early part of his AJHL career. The Wolverines made that move after acquiring another 2005-born D-man, Billy Hooson, from the Drayton Valley Thunder in return for 2007-born rearguard Lachlan Staniforth.
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Great research and amazing list of deals – I guess that is the benefit of online stories not limited by column space of the hard copy. Well done!