The Lloydminster Bobcats beefed up their defence with a pair of mid-week trades between the AJHL team and two SJHL clubs.
Read more: Bobcats weather Northern exposure in new year
And that wasn’t the end of Lloyd’s transactions in advance of the junior A trade deadline Saturday (Jan. 10).
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 on 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 Wednesday afternoon, 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 in a two-day span 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.
While they’ve been one of the top teams in the AJHL 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. Lloyd had been down to six healthy defencemen, with 18-year-old Noah Smith back on the sidelines 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.
During his years with the U18 AAA Bobcats (now Lancers), McIlwain was a teammate of two current junior A Bobcats, Kade Fendelet and Jaxan Hopko.
The Humboldt-bound Hackman was in his first season with Lloydminster. He netted four goals and eight points in 29 AJHL games.
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 has WHL experience with the Lethbridge Hurricanes and Moose Jaw Warriors, 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.
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 Bucs.
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 this 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.
As of midday Friday, the latest transactions left Lloyd with 24 players on its active roster (three goalies, eight defencemen and 13 forwards).
In their next three games, the Bobcats (18-10-3) face the rival Bonnyville Pontiacs (16-13-2). The teams meet Friday in Bonnyville before facing off in Lloydminster on Saturday and next Wednesday (Jan. 14).
Last 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 last weekend 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 Thursday night as the North Stars defeated the visiting Weyburn Red Wings 9-5.
This 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 has been playing in the BCHL with the Chilliwack Chiefs.
Bonnyville lost another 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.
Read more: Weather is cold, Bobcats are hot
