It was a busy week of roster moves for the Olds Grizzlys ahead of the CJHL Trade Deadline on Friday, January 10th.
Grizzlys Alternate Captain and 20-year-old defenceman Tristan Taylor from Anmore, B.C. was traded to the Fort McMurray Oil Barons in exchange for 18-year-old blueliner Lucas Schaefer from Virginia along with future considerations.
Grizzlys Alternate Captain and 19-year-old forward Jenshi Hideshima from Edmonton is going from Olds to the Camrose Kodiaks. In return the Black & Gold are receiving 18-year-old defenceman Jack Bouck from West Kelowna, B.C. plus future considerations.
The Grizzlys added 18-year-old forward Brayden Schwartz from Calgary by sending future considerations to the Canmore Eagles.
Finally, Olds was able to trade the playing rights of 18-year-old forward Mitch Patrick from Airdrie to the Calgary Canucks for future considerations. Patrick had left the Grizzlys to join Nanaimo of BCHL.
Meanwhile, a third player has left the Grizzlys to join the BCHL.
Following the earlier departures of forwards Antonio Bevacqua to the Salmon Arm Silverbacks and Mitch Patrick to the Nanaimo Clippers, defenceman Quinn Abbott has now joined the Langley Riverman.
The 19-year-old Abbott scored his first goal of the season during an overtime loss to Drayton Valley in Olds on January 7th. He had a goal and 13 assists in 32 games for the Grizzlys this season.
The British Columbia Hockey League is a rogue league that is not-sanctioned by Hockey Canada and, unfortunately, the Grizzlys do not receive any compensation when players depart to play there.
Also last week, Olds added a pair of defencemen and a forward.
Dean Crouch is a 2005 born, left hand shooting defenceman from Ohio who comes to Olds after stints this season with Elliott Lake of the NOJHL and the Winnipeg Blues of the MJHL.
Brett Schrock is a 2006 born, right hand shooting defenceman from Drumheller who arrives to join the Grizzlys after suiting up this season for the La Ronge Ice Wolves of the SJHL and the Dryden Ice Dogs of the SIJHL.
Johnny Maruna is a 2005 born, left hand shooting forward from Ohio. He joins Olds following time spent this season with the New Hampshire Mountain Kings of the NAHL and the AJHL’s Grande Prairie Storm.
The Grizzlys then wound up suffering a pair of losses in regulation time on the road this weekend as they lost 2-1 to the Xtreme in Devon on Friday, January 10th and 7-1 in Whitecourt to the Wolverines on Saturday, January 11th.
The next home game for Olds will be on Friday, January 17th against the Drumheller Dragons and that will be the always popular Westview Co-op bike night.
96.5 CKFM spoke with Johnny Maruna following practice on Thursday, January 9th.
