The Squamish Wolf Pack will have to finish their season without their top scorer as the team dealt away hometown hero Konrad Sander to the Delta Ice Hawks on Monday (Jan. 10).
Sander compiled 11 goals and 26 assists for the Wolf Pack this season and said he enjoyed his time with the Pack.
"This has been the most fun year I've ever had in hockey," he said. "I get along with all of the guys on the team and it was a tough decision for me to make."
Sander said Wolf Pack head coach Matt Samson approached him several times this season to see if Sander had any interest in moving to a different team and Sander made up his mind to go to Delta on Jan. 6.
"I've never been on a championship-winning team before and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to get a chance to do that with Delta," he said.
But it won't be a totally unfamiliar environment for Sander as the Ice Hawks head coach Dave McLellan was Sander's head coach on the Burnaby Express in the British Columbia Hockey League last year.
"I know Coach McLellan from Burnaby and I'm also good buddies with Liam Harding and Todd Fletcher," he said. "It should make it easier to fit in on the team."
Wolf Pack head coach Matt Samson said moving Sander was difficult but that he would like to see Sander get a chance to play for the Pacific International Junior Hockey League title in his final year.
"It's his last year and it would be nice for him to get a chance to play in the playoffs," he said. "And we've got to look at next year."
Samson said he hopes his younger players, such as the recently emerging Jaret Babych, will use the increased ice time as an opportunity to improve.
"Jaret has come along really well," he said. "He's shown a lot of maturity and battled, but I would like to see some of our other young players like Matt Bonin, Jamie Creamore and Garrett Woodside use this as an opportunity. The increased playing time and responsibility for them could help us and help them in the long run."
In return for Sander, the Wolf Pack received forward Vitallik Morosov and future considerations. Samson said Morosov should help the team.
"He's a fast skater and is a young kid who should help us out a lot next year," he said.
The Pack also traded No. 2 scorer Mico Dragutinovic to the Mission Icebreakers in exchange for future considerations.
"We gave Mission Mico's rights for the rest of the season, but if he comes back to Junior B next year we get his rights back," Samson said of the trade. "He might be moving on to Junior A or somewhere else next year, so it gives us more of a chance to give our young guys some more ice time."
Sander will return to Squamish as an Ice Hawk on Feb. 12 and he admitted it will be strange facing his old mates.
"I'm still good friends with all the guys and maybe I'll tell them not to hit me," he joked. "But, in all honestly I loved my time with the Wolf Pack and I wish them all the best."
