The Cowichan Valley Capitals had two new faces in the lineup when they played host to the Victoria Grizzlies Friday night, Jan. 6.
Darius Bachler was acquired from the Chilliwack Chiefs, and the Caps also added former Prince George Spruce King Luke Eurig — the team announced on the morning of the game.
A big forward, Bachler, 17, was traded for future considerations while 19-year-old Eurig, was traded for Owen Goodbrand. Eurig has four goals and 7 assists in 26 games for Prince George this season.
In a third move, Cowichan also acquired forward 18-year-old Davide Patella from the Merritt Centennials in exchange for future considerations.
Patella, was flipped to the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Brooks Bandits on trade deadline day, however, in exchange for forwards Quinn Disher, Ethan Dekay and defender Ethan O’Halloran, 19.
Both Disher, 19, and DeKay, 18 have already committed to Michigan Tech’s NCAA Div. 1 men’s hockey team following their junior hockey careers.
Finally, the team traded their leading scorer, Luke Strickland, to the Wellington Dukes of the Ontario Junior Hockey League in exchange for future considerations. Strickland, who is from Ontario, is in his last year of junior hockey and has already committed to Long Island University for next season.
The BCHL’s trade deadline was Jan. 10.
In his first game as a Capital, Eurig was the Fortis BC Energy Player of the Game on Jan. 6 against the Victoria Grizzlies, assisting a Luke Lavery marker in the second period, to tie the game at 1-1.
Logan Camp (from Dryden Kuramoto and William Elias) scored his fourth of the year early in the third while Cole Melady (from Luke Santilli) wrapped it up with an empty-netter, his eighth of the season, to secure the 3-1 victory over Victoria.
McCoy Bidewell got the win saving 44 of 45 shots on goal.
The following night in Powell River, Eurig and Lavery connected again with Melady and Eurig feeding Lavery, who then converted with less than a minute to go in the game.
The goal was Cowichan’s third of the game with Andrew Haxton potting the team’s first two from first Camp, and then Anton Yatsyshin and Aaron Brown respectively.
The last-minute goal also pulled the Caps into a tie with the Kings. Two overtimes solved nothing and just one goal in six attempts was scored in the shootout — unfortunately for the Capitals, the Kings scored it, winning the game 4-3.
Playing their third game in as many nights, Cowichan was host to the Wenatchee Wild Sunday afternoon. Wenatchee got the better of the Caps, holding them to just one goal in the game. Melady converted a Eurig pass to score midway through the third period but by then the Wild had scored four goals. Cowichan fell 4-1.
Up next for the Caps is a visit to the Vipers in Vernon on Jan. 13.
