West Kelowna, BC – The West Kelowna Warriors have acquired 2005 born Swedish defenseman Axel Lofgren from the Powell River Kings, in exchange for 2005 born defenseman Landen Hilditch, and 2007 born forward Eliot Compton.
Lofgren, another product of Luleå, Sweden, comes to the Warriors currently sitting in 5th in BCHL defenseman scoring, notching eight goals and eight assists in 20 games with Powell River this season. The new addition to the Warriors will also be a welcome sight for the other Swede in West K, Elias Callgren, who played together with Lofgren last season for Luleå HF J20 of the J20 Nationell League in Sweden.
“Lofgren is a big, mobile, smooth skating defenceman with great offensive instincts and ability to create offence.” said Head Coach and General Manager Simon Ferguson. “We are very excited to add Axel to our D Core as we think he will be a great fit for our style of play. Obviously anytime you add a player of Axel’s calibre in a trade you have to move out some valuable players. Landen and Eliot are both good hockey players and even better people which made moving them especially difficult. We wish them nothing but the best in their futures and we thank them for everything they have given to the community of West Kelowna.”
Lofgren is expected to make his Warriors debut this Friday, when West Kelowna welcomes the Trail Smoke Eaters to RLP for the fifth meeting of the regular season between the two teams. Puckdrop is slated for just after 7:00PM.
PHOTO COURTESY OF GARRETT JAMES/GARRETT JAMES PHOTOGRAPHY
