As the 2019/20 BC Hockey League season creeps closer and closer – training camps hit the ice at the end of August – the Surrey Eagles have continue to remake its roster with a pair of recent moves.
Late last week, the South Surrey junior ‘A’ squad – which this season will be coached by new bench boss Cam Keith – announced a commitment from 2001-born forward Gabe Shovanek, who played last season with the Pacific Coast Hockey Academy alongside fellow Eagles recruit, Sean Ramsay.
With the academy, Shovanek had 23 goals and 52 assists in just 36 games. His assist total was second-best in the entire Canadian Sport School Hockey League.
Four days after Shovanek joined the team, the Eagles announced they’d swung a trade with the Bonnyville Pontiacs of the Alberta Junior Hockey League, sending 19-year-old forward Matthew McKim – who was something of shootout specialist with the Eagles last season – to Alberta in exchange for forward Hudson Schandor.
The trade returns Schandor, who will be 19 by the time the new season begins, to the BCHL. He spent the last two seasons with the Salmon Arm Silverbacks but was dealt to Bonnyville earlier this offseason.
Last season, the North Vancouver native notched 15 goals and 31 points in just 41 games.
“This acquisition is yet another move toward icing a faster, more skilled team in 2019-20,” the team said in a news release.
The Eagles wasted no time in making Schandor an integral part of the squad, announcing Friday morning that he would be an alternate captain for the upcoming season. Returning defenceman Cody Shiavon was named captain of the team in mid-June.
“I can’t wait to be a leader on this team,” Schandor said in a news release. “Hopefully we can help the young guys and make it easier for them to come to the league and be productive right away.”
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