Just days after naming him their team captain for the 2020-21 B.C. Hockey League season, the Cowichan Valley Capitals have traded Dan McIntyre away, part of a flurry of deals the club has completed in the last week, including the addition of local product Kahlil Fontana.
McIntyre was shipped to the Grande Prairie Storm of the Alberta Junior Hockey League, where he will be reunited with former head coach Mike Vandekamp and former teammates Cole Broadhurst and Johnny Howie. Coming back to Cowichan are the rights to 2002-born forward Nathan Morgan.
McIntyre spent two seasons with the Caps, scoring 13 goals and assisting on 21 more for 34 points in 90 regular-season games. He is committed to Cornell University for next season. Morgan, a Calgary product, scored 12 goals and added 14 assists for 54 points in 27 games for Grande Prairie last season. He is committed to Union College for 2021-22.
“Dan was a great player for this team for two seasons, and expressed interest in playing elsewhere in his final season of junior hockey,” Capitals interim head coach and GM Brian Passmore said. “We were able to come to a deal with Grande Prairie, and we wish Dan all the best this season and in the future. We’re excited about bringing in a player like Nathan, who’s already played two full seasons of junior and is only entering his 18-year-old season.”
Last Thursday, the Caps acquired 2001-born Duncan product Kahlil Fontana from the Dauphin Kings of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League in exchange for future considerations. Fontana split the 2019-20 campaign between the BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies and the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League’s Westshore Wolves, then was sent to Dauphin for future considerations. In Victoria, Fontana had five goals and 11 points in 40 games, scoring three of those goals against the Caps, including his first BCHL goal at the Cowichan Community Centre.
One day earlier, the Caps acquired a former Pacific Coast Hockey Academy midget prep teammate of Fontana’s, getting Sean Ramsay from the Surrey Eagles, also for future considerations. A product of Victoria, Ramsay played 44 games last season as a rookie with the Eagles, compiling four goals and 17 points.
In 2018-19, Ramsay led the Canadian Sports School Hockey League midget prep circuit in scoring with 96 points in 35 games. The previous year, he and Fontana were tied for second on the PCHA midget prep team with 41 points apiece.
The Caps also added to their blueline on Thursday with the acquisition of 18-year-old defenceman Tanner Komzak from the Penticton Vees for future considerations. The 6-foot-4, 190-pound Komzak had four points in 38 games for the Langley Rivermen last season, then was traded to the Vees in the offseason.