The Cowichan Valley Capitals made a quick change in the crease last week.
Michael Corson, whose goaltending was a bright spot in the Caps’ dismal 2017-18 B.C. Hockey League campaign, accepted a deal with the NCAA Div. 1 University of Denver Pioneers for the coming season, but the team wasted little time replacing him as they picked up a new netminder in one of two trades on Friday.
The Caps picked up goalie Jack Grant from the St. Stephen Aces of the Maritime Junior A Hockey League, and made a separate deal to acquire forward Daniel McIntyre from the Kanata Lasers of the Central Canada Hockey League in exchange for forward David Laroche.
A 1999-born goalie hailing from Darien, Illinois, Corson was a revelation for the Caps, although his stats — a 4-10 record, 3.58 goals-against average and .909 save percentage — weren’t quite indicative of his play.
Corson joins centre Ty Pochipinski (Colorado College) and defenceman Simon Chen (Alabama-Huntsville) as other 2017-18 Caps with Div. 1 deals for next season. Forward Tate Coughlin has also committed to the University of Regina.
Grant was also born in 1999, in Fredericton, New Brunswick. He played 36 games for the St. Stephen Aces last season, going 10-24-1 with a 3.93 GAA and .898 save percentage. He went winless in 19 appearances with the Woodstock Slammers the previous year.
McIntyre, a 2000-born forward from Almonte, Ont., got into 54 games as a CCHL rookie last year, scoring four goals and setting up six more while racking up 76 penalty minutes. The 1999-born Laroche played just one year with the Caps, skating in 44 games and compiling 18 points on eight goals and 10 assists with 28 penalty minutes.