The Moose Jaw Warriors are looking to win the team’s first Western Hockey League title.
Tuesday they added a championship ring to the locker room.
The Warriors traded 19-year-old defenceman Kevin Smith to the Kelowna Rockets for 19-year-old defenceman Collin Bowman. Bowman won a WHL title in 2009. The six-foot-two, 192-pounder from Littleton, Colo. had four goals and 16 assists in 65 games last year with the Rockets. He also added 84 penalty minutes and a minus-17.
“Our staff and our scouts felt highly enough on Bowman and that he was a very good fit for our hockey club, We like his size, we like his intelligence and we like what he brings to our group,” said Warriors director of hockey operations Alan Millar. “We think he’s a really good fit and I guess the intangilble for our team — where we are now and where we want to be in the future — is that he’s won a Western Hockey League championship and has played in a Memorial Cup. He wore a letter on a very good team in Kelowna.
“I think all of those intangibles are important and will make him a good asset here.”
Bowman has played 206 regular season WHL games. He had a career-best season in 2008-09 when he netted 26 points and was a plus-32. Bowman has also played 41 career WHL playoffs games and had five points in 12 playoff games last season.
Smith scored seven goals and had 24 points in 70 games last season with the Warriors. He added 76 penalty minutes and was a minus-11. He had five assists in seven playoff games last year.
The six-foot-two North Vancouver product played 169 career regular season games with the Warriors and had nine goals, 43 points and 150 penalty minutes.
For more please see Wednesday’s Times-Herald.
