The Victoria Grizzlies are looking to add more offence for next season and the B.C. Hockey League team didn’t have to go far to find it.
The Grizzlies have signed a trio of talented Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League players for the next BCHL season.
Making it official Thursday, the Grizzlies added high-scoring forward Nathan Looysen and talented defenceman Nico Somerville of the Victoria Cougars to the fold for 2016-17. The third is VIJHL rookie of the year, Cam Thompson, of the Peninsula Panthers.
All three had dressed as affiliates at some point with the Grizzlies last season and Looysen played seven games with the team in 2014-15 when he returned from the Kamloops Blazers of the Western Hockey League.
“They’re all guys who had good seasons,” said Grizzlies general manager and head coach Craig Didmon. “With Nathan, he’s a 20-year-old who we know can come in and add some good offence for us, something that we were missing last year.
“He’s had a year and a half in Junior B out of the WHL where he’s really found his game again. He’s found his confidence again and we want to see that player.”
Looysen lit up the VIJHL this past season with 40 goals and 61 assists in 45 regular-season games, tops in the league. The six-foot-one, 187-pound forward added 14 goals and 14 helpers in 14 post-season games for the league-champion Cougars.
Somerville played five games as a Grizzlies affiliate last season. With the Cougars, the five-foot-nine, 185-pounder, who hails from Port Alberni, had four goals and 19 assists in 45 games in the VIJHL. He added a goal and five assists in 14 playoff games.
“I thought he was great in the Cyclone Taylor Cup and the AP games he played with us. He probably could have played the year with us, but he had a good development year in Victoria,” said Didmon. “Development-wise, he’s come along nicely and he’s going to be more than ready to put in good minutes.”
Thompson, at five-foot-11 and 170 pounds, turned in a solid first year in the VIJHL with the Panthers with 23 goals and 21 assists in 45 regular-season games and added seven goals and six assists in 10 playoff games. Thompson had 26 points in 35 games with the South Island Royals the year previous.
“He’s a guy coming in at 18. He’s scored lots of goals in both those years and I expect him to come in and be the same player. He’s a good weapon, has a quick shot, finds open ice and has a nose for the net,” said Didmon.
And all three want to be here.
“It’s exciting to have a chance to come back. I’m looking forward to it. I think it’s going to be a good group of guys, which definitely makes a huge difference,” said Looysen, of Victoria. “I think we have a chance to do something special if we’re all on the same page from the start of the year.”
“It’ll be a lot faster and tougher, but I’m looking forward to it,” said Somerville. “It was an easy decision. These guys have been good to me the last couple of years. I had the chance to develop with the Cougars and now I’m ready.”
“It’s pretty exciting for me. I grew up watching these guys so to be able to play for them is pretty cool,” said Thompson, who played his minor hockey in the Saanich program. “Last year prepared me for this so I hope I can contribute right away.”
The Grizzlies are also adding Jamie Rome. Rome is out of Cochrane, Alta., and played for the Calgary Northstars midget triple-A program and also suited up in five games for the Calgary Canucks of the AJHL, collecting two assists.
The five-foot-11, 175-pound forward had 10 goals and eight assists in 31 regular-season games with the Northstars and added a goal and three helpers in six playoff outings. In his last year of bantam he recorded 20 goals and 25 assists in 29 games with the Bow Valley Timberwolves.
“He’s a speedy left-winger and a guy who is going to create some offence,” Didmon said of Rome.
ICE CHIPS: Ben Berard of Duncan was signed by the Powell River Kings. Berard was a seventh-round pick in the 2014 WHL bantam draft by the Victoria Royals. This past season he had 34 goals and 24 assists in 36 games with the Shawnigan Lake School U-18 team. Thompson played on a line with Berard and Tyler Preziuso with the South Island Royals. Preziuso is now with the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers.
mannicchiarico@timescolonist.com
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