If you’re a Cranbrook Bucks fan, you have a lot to be excited about through the not too distant future.
The 2024-25 BCHL season is well past its halfway mark, and this year’s edition of the Cranbrook Bucks appears ready to go head to head with anybody in a very tightly contested Interior Conference, a stark contrast from last season when wins came at a hefty premium.
This year’s Cranbrook Bucks team is the first without any players from the original 2021 spring pod season on its roster, and a new core is developing very well this season. That is largely thanks to a great crop of recruits joining several veterans from last year’s squad.
A nucleus of strong recruits have blended well with the veterans who have returned from last season and beyond.
Forward Matthew Gilmore has been an immediate hit with the fans and his new teammates. From Marcellus, New York, Gilmore is a long way from home, but has made a new home with the Bucks.
He has become a fixture on Cranbrook’s top power play unit, and is among the top 20 rookie scorers in the BCHL as of January 10.
“I’ve been liking it a lot out here,” Gilmore says. “The guys and coaches have been really good.”
Gilmore has 17 points through his first 29 BCHL games, and has regularly skated on a line with Bucks veteran Jacob Fletcher and Rasmus Svartstrom, the league’s top goal scorer.
Recently, the Bucks have added new blood up front with the additions of Max Silver and Grant Denuccio to shore up a core of new forwards with fellow prospects Sam Lyne, Jake Skogstad and Nathan Simm.
Meanwhile, late additions to last season’s roster, Nick Capasso and Shane Baker, return to the Bucks with more experience under their collective belts.
The Bucks have also added some new pieces to a very strong blueline, led by team captain Bryce Sookro. Fellow rearguards Tanner Fennell and Quinn Keeler have found their stride with the Bucks, while returnees like Malachi Freh, Nic Leggett, Sam Belanger and Jordan Murray give the Cranbrook club plenty of experience on their side of the rink.
Keeler, who has previous junior hockey experience in the AJHL, has been able to learn the BCHL game quickly, much to the delight of his coaches.
“It feels like the boys are all gelling well together,” says Keeler. “The guys on the team have been great, I love the organization.”
The Bucks have had to draw from their Kootenay Hockey Academy pipeline this year after some recent departures on the roster, giving Cranbrook native Adam Shypitka a chance to suit up with his home town Bucks toward the end of November.
Shypitka says it was a great experience. “Being from Cranbrook, it has always been a dream of mine to play for my hometown team. It was such an amazing experience playing in my first game with the Bucks, and it was very cool to be able to wear the Bucks jersey.”
One of the areas where the Bucks have seen steadfast improvement over last season is between the pipes, with Jaden Cholette and Miles Roberts putting in some terrific efforts through the campaign.
Roberts joined the Bucks early in the season after Kolten Bouret went down with an injury following a shutout win in his BCHL debut, while Cholette has been near the top of the league’s save percentage list since taking on the starting role.
Cholette’s efforts have not gone unrecognized by the BCHL. The talented ‘tender will be seeing plenty of action at this year’s BCHL All Star weekend in Salmon Arm where he’ll hit the ice for the BCHL Top Prospects game as well as the annual All Star tournament.
The goalie from suburban Ottawa has enjoyed his first few months with the Bucks. “After one or two preseason games, I definitely improved my game and I’m able to compete at that [BCHL] level,” Cholette says. “When I got here, I fell in love with the community immediately. The organization is unreal!”
This season’s edition of the Cranbrook Bucks has its sights set on making a lengthy playoff run, and with half the season now in the rear view, this group’s potential is glaringly obvious. It should be a fun spring for Cranbrook hockey fans.