Though their respective hockey seasons are still weeks away, team brass from both the Surrey Eagles and White Rock Whalers have been busy reshaping their rosters.
The biggest move from the junior ‘A’ Eagles came earlier this week when the team was part of a three-team, four-player swap that saw veteran forward Gabe Schovanek leave the Eagles’ nest for the Cowichan Valley Capitals, with two forwards – Jacob Bonkowski and Primo Self – coming to Surrey.
The third BC Hockey League team in the transaction, the Powell River Kings – Bonkowski’s former team – receives future considerations in the deal.
Bonkowski, who was a rookie during the spring’s 20-game pod season, scored three goals and added 13 assists in 20 games for Powell River.
Self, 19, is a resident of Grand Rapids, Mich. and played last year with the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints – where he was teammate of South Surrey’s John Evans. In 37 games, Self had eight goals and four assists. He is committee to the NCAA’s Miami (Ohio) University for the 2022-’23 season.
Meanwhile, the Whalers have shuffled the deck considerably in advance of the upcoming Pacific Junior Hockey League season. In the last few weeks, the team has traded away a pair of players in exchange for “player development fees.”
Semiahmoo Minor Hockey alum Davey Moody – who will be studying at the University of Victoria – was traded to the Vancouver Island league’s Peninsula Panthers in order to allow him to continue playing hockey while he attends schools; and forward Seth Hebert, who had two points in four games last season with the Whalers, was dealt to the Princeton Posse of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League.
Additionally, Cole Svendson, who scored 19 goals as a PJHL rookie in 2019-’20, has moved up to the junior ‘A’ level after signing with the Central Canada Hockey League’s Renfrew Wolves in Ontario.
SIGNING ALERT: The White Rock Whalers extend congratulations to Cole Svendson on his Jr. 'A' commitment with the Renfrew (Ont.) Wolves. @RenfrewWolves pic.twitter.com/WJEN7JFRFV
— WhiteRockWhalers (@WRWhalersHockey) July 30, 2021
Another player from last year’s Whalers, Connor Beemish, also recently committed to play next season at Central Michigan University, an NCAA Div. 3 team.
In an effort to replace some of the departed talent, White Rock announced on July 31 that the team had acquired 2001-born forward Andrew Fishwick from the Mission City Outlaws, in exchange for a player-development fee.
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