The Kings have acquired 2003 goalie Liam Vanderkooi via trade from the Salmon Arm Silverbacks in exchange for future considerations.
The Abbotsford product comes to the Kings with a season of BCHL hockey under his belt playing in 17 games for the ‘Backs last year posting a 13-2-2 record with a 2.86 goals against average and a .904 save percentage. Vanderkooi provides a big body in the crease for the Kings standing at 6 feet 7 inches tall and will look to make a formidable duo alongside Kyle Metson “He’s 19 and ready to take his game to the next level” says G.M Chad Van Diemen “We feel that having two 19 year olds will give Kyle and Liam the opportunity to push each other day in and day out and gives us a good tandem going into the season.”
Prior to this deal Metson was the only goalie on the Kings roster and with preseason just days away it was a relief for Van Diemen to get another goalie. “We have been looking to add another goalie for quite a while now. We wanted to add another veteran with Jr A experience and although it took a little longer than we had hoped, we are pretty happy to be able to get a deal done to add Liam to our group.”
Vanderkooi will make the trek up to Powell River and practice with the team before they head down to the mainland to open the preseason in Chilliwack against the Chiefs Saturday night at 7pm.
