The Lake Cowichan Kraken have acquired the first two players in team history.
The Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League team, which will begin play this fall, added goaltender Ashton Lukan and defenceman Aden Saworski in a trade with the Princeton Posse of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League last week. The Kraken gave up future considerations in the transaction.
“Kraken are excited to add two veteran junior hockey players to the lineup and look for both individuals to play a big part in the squad this season,” the club announced on Facebook.
Lukan is a 2002-born netminder from Edmonton, checking in at 5-foot-10 and 209 pounds. He appeared in one game with the Posse last year, stopping 34 of 36 shots. In 2019-20, he played 16 games with the U18 AA Edmonton Knights of Columbus Colts, posting a 3.90 goals-against average and .919 save percentage.
Although his time in Princeton was limited to one season, which was shortened drastically by the COVID-19 pandemic, he expressed his gratitude to the team in a tweet.
“Thanks for the great memories! Looking forward to it !#releasethekraken,” he tweeted on June 10.
Thanks for the great memories! Looking forward to it !#releasethekraken https://t.co/AoUwK2BAuw
— Ashton lukan (@AshtonLukan) June 10, 2021
A 5-foot-11, 157-pound defenceman from Regina, Saworski played in all three of the Posse’s games before the season was shut down, recording no points and two penalty minutes. In 2019-20 he had six assists in 30 games with Princeton, and a goal and two helpers in 10 games with the Creston Valley Thunder Cats before he was traded to the Posse.
The Kraken have also joined with the Kerry Park Islanders and Peninsula Panthers to offer a three-team tryout on July 23-25 at Panorama Recreation Centre in North Saanich. All three teams will be there to evaluate prospects, along with two junior A teams. To sign up, email triteamtryout@gmail.com with name, birth year, height, weight, last season’s team, and hometown.
