The Smiths Falls Bears aren’t sitting on their hands ahead of the January 10th trade deadline.
In a blockbuster move Wednesday, The Bears acquired arguably the two biggest names on the market in Owen Watson and Lucas Culhane from the Brockville Braves.
Watson rejoins the Bears after putting up 52 points across 50 games last season for the club that fell in Game 7 of the Bogart Cup Final to the Ottawa Junior Senators. In 2021-22, he posted 22 goals and 51 points for the Bears in his first full CCHL season.
He currently has 14 goals and 30 assists in 32 games for the struggling Braves, who are the lone team out of the playoff hunt in a season that has parity on full display league-wide.
Culhane was second in Braves scoring behind only Watson at the time of the trade. The fellow ’03 has 17 goals and 15 assists in 32 games this season, good for a point per game pace.
Headed to Brockville from the Bears are ’05 forwards Alex McIntosh, Jesse Lumsden and Kenny Lundgren. ’03 defenceman Hunter Brown was also sent to the Braves, on top of future considerations and a player development fee.
McIntosh and Lumsden have each posted 10 points for the Bears this season in 19 and 28 games respectively. Lundgren posted 43 points in 39 games for the EOJHL Jr. Bears last season, and was last listed in 2023-24 as playing three games of Division 2 hockey for the Haninge Anchors of Sweden.
Brown’s found the stat sheet six times in 12 games on the blueline for the Bears.
After winning their first 11 games and being ranked the best Jr. A team in Canada for two weeks running, the Bears came down to earth but still hold first place in the Robinson Division and third place overall with a record of 19-9-1-2.
Story by Grant Deme