Steinbach, Niverville pick up high-scoring Swan Valley players in trades
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/01/2024 (556 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
This story’s press time was the morning of Jan. 10.
While the Canadian junior hockey deadline may have been after press time on Jan. 10, that didn’t stop the Niverville Nighthawks and Steinbach Pistons from making moves in advance of the deadline.
Both of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s southeast teams made moves with the Swan Valley Stampeders to bring in high quality forward talent in the preceding week.
The Stampeders, mired at the bottom of the MJHL’s west division, are 13 points out of a playoff spot and have completely torn down their roster, sending out all four of their top scorers. The team had made five separate trades as of Jan. 9.
The Nighthawks shipped out 2004-born Ian Ness. In exchange they received a pair of forwards who were born in Calgary in 2003.
Alex Walicki and Josh Danis will be joining Niverville, and should look to provide a bit of scoring punch up front, as Walicki is scoring at a point-per-game pace this season, while Danis has 23 points in 31 games.
Both players even suited up for the Calgary Royals in the 2020/2021 season.
The Nighthawks also nabbed a player for the future, picking up 2005-born forward Noah Asmundson from the Humboldt Broncos of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League in exchange for a player development fee. Asmundson has appeared in 10 games this season for the Broncos.
Walicki and Danis were two of the Stampeders top-three scorers, with Walicki seventh in the MJHL scoring race. The third player on that list was Trey Sauder, who will now suit up for the Steinbach Pistons.
Fourth on the scoring list was d-man Ashton Fishley, who was moved to Portage in a separate deal.
Sauder, who was born in Swan Valley, had 31 points in 33 games for his hometown team this season. He should help replace Kyle Kudrna for Steinbach, who was moved in a separate deal to the Carleton Place Canadians of the Central Canada Hockey League.
Kudrna, who was born in Bartlett, Ill., had five points in 10 games for Steinbach.
The deal for Sauder is for future considerations.