Goalie Alex Brooks-Potts has played his last game for the Prince George Spruce Kings.
In a swap of goaltenders, the Kings announced Wednesday they've traded Brooks-Potts, a 20-year-old native of Mississauga, Ont., to the Aurora Tigers of the Ontario Junior Hockey League for 20-year-old Sam Tanguay.
Tanguay played 29 games of major-junior hockey in the OHL last season with the Sudbury Wolves, compiling a 3-18-1 record, 4.79 goals-against average and .872 save percentage. The Wolves (12-54-1-1) finished last overall in the OHL in 2014-15.
The year before that, Tanguay joined the Kingston Voyageurs of the OJHL late in the season and in 15 games went 13-0-1 with a 1.79 goals-against average, .940 save percentage and three shutouts. The five-foot-11, 190-pound native of Beauport, Que., also played 15 playoff games for the Voyageurs as they advanced to the OJHL final.
The Voyageurs traded Tanguay's junior A rights to Aurora just before the deal was made with the Spruce Kings.
"Sam is a veteran goaltender who will come in here and give us a chance to win every night. He saw a lot of shots last season in Sudbury for a team that really struggled," said Spruce Kings general manager Mike Hawes.
"He knows that the BCHL is a very good league and he's excited to join our team and to help us have success. It's kind of ironic but Sam Tanguay was the goalie who kind of replaced Brooks-Potts in Kingston. He saw a lot of shots (with Sudbury) and with his veteran presence and his abilities in the net he's going to be a good fit for us."
Brooks-Potts joined the Spruce Kings last season after playing 37 games the previous season with the Voyageurs. In 2013-14 he was the runner-up as OJHL goaltender of the year. He played 29 games for the Kings while splitting the goalie duties with Jesse Jenks and put up an 11-14-0 record with 3.36 goals-against average and .891 save percentage.
Hawes said Brooks-Potts requested the trade last week, asking the Kings to move him closer to his home in Ontario for his final season of junior eligibility. He came into Saturday's home game against Wenatchee in relief of Liam McCloskey eight minutes into the contest and allowed five goals on 33 shots.
"He enjoyed his time in Prince George - he loved the organization, he loved the staff, but for personal reasons he wanted to go back to Ontario to play his last year," said Hawes.
