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While the Kelowna Chiefs players enjoyed some quality time off the ice during their Christmas break, the team staff was busy preparing and tweeking for the regular-season home stretch in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League.
Head coach Jason Tansem has announced the Chiefs have acquired 20-year-old goaltender Joseph McLeod from the Drayton Valley Thunder of the Alberta Junior Hockey League and have reacquired forward Brody Dale. In yet another transaction, the Chiefs have lost defenceman Jarin Sutton to the Victoria Grizzlies of the B.C. Hockey League.
McLeod, who played three seasons at the Pursuit of Excellence Hockey Academy in Kelowna, was in net for eight games with Drayton Valley this season after playing 36 games with the Thunder in 2016-17.
It will be the 6-foot-2 netminder’s second stint in the KIJHL, having played 21 games with the Castlegar Rebels in a 2015-16 season that saw him also compete in 11 games with the BCHL Prince George Spruce Kings.
McLeod returned to Kelowna for the Christmas break, anticipating a trade to another AJHL team, but when contacted by the Chiefs, decided to close out his junior career at home.
Meanwhile, Dale, who left the Chiefs in early October to play for the OCN Blizzard of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League where he scored eight times and added eight assists in 25 games, decided to rejoin the Chiefs for the remainder of the season.
The 18-year-old forward, in his third term with the Chiefs, accumulated 13 points (six goals, seven assists) in just six KIJHL games to start the season. He was coming off a 2016-17 season in which he had 39 points in 26 games with Chiefs and dressed for 25 games (no points) with the Vernon Vipers of the BCHL. In his rookie season with the Chiefs, the Quesnel product scored 12 goals and added 24 assists in 48 games.
As for Sutton, 18, he’s signed on with the BCHL Victoria Grizzlies after proving his worth with the Chiefs by amassing 10 goals and adding 15 assists in 27 KIJHL games to lead all rookie D-men in the league.
“You never want to lose a player of Jarin’s calibre,” said coach Tansem. “But we are proud to help players move up in their hockey careers. Jarin is a skilled and fearless player. We wish him all the best.”
Both McLeod and Dale will suit up for the Chiefs on Friday — if their transfers are made official. The Okanagan Division’s first-place Osoyoos Coyotes (45 points) will be the visitors at the Rutland Arena beginning at 7 p.m.
On Saturday, the Chiefs (32 points) are in Princeton (34 points) to take on the Posse.
CHIEF CHIPS: Brett Witala, captain of the Chiefs, has been named the Okanagan Shuswap Conference player of the month for December. He collected 15 points (eight goals, seven assists) in five games . . . Defenceman Cole Williams (15 points) and forward Zach Erhardt (nine points) received an honourable mention as the player of the month . . . Forwards Juanre Naude and Lane Paddison of the Chiefs have been selected to play in the KIJHL Top Prospects game scheduled for the Rutland Arena on Jan. 13.
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