GRANDE PRAIRIE, AB ? Grande Prairie Storm Head Coach/General Manager Mike Vandekamp has acquired a couple of players he is very familiar with.
Vandekamp has added forward Cole Broadhurst and defenceman Johnny Howie to the team ? two players he coached last season when he was with the Cowichan Valley Capitals of the British Columbia Hockey League.
Broadhurst is a six-foot-two, 190-pound forward who had 14 goals and 21 assists to go with 233 penalty minutes during three years with the Capitals. He turns 20 on July 14 and is a native of Ladysmith, B.C.
Howie, a defenceman, is also six-foot-two and 190 pounds. He played last season with the Capitals. He started his junior career in Ontario in the Central Canada Junior Hockey League. He turns 19 on August 9 and had a goal, seven helpers and 15 penalty minutes after 41 games with the Caps in 2019-2020.
The two players were acquired in exchange for 18-year-old defenceman Jackson Murphy-Johnson. Murphy-Johnson played for the Trail Smokeeaters in the BCHL last year. His rights were acquired in a three-way trade made on last season?s trade deadline that saw former Storm player Jarrin Sutton sent to the Prince George Spruce Kings of the BCHL.
The new players are expected to be at the team?s main camp when it opens later this year. No exact date for the camp, or the start of the AJHL season, has been determined, but the league is prepared