NEWS

Toronto, ONT. - The Toronto Patriots have acquired forward Michael Boushy from the Burlington Cougars in exchange for defenders Wyatt Villalta and Deaglan Small, the club announced Friday.

Boushy, 18, has already played in 134 Ontario Junior Hockey League contests, despite his 1999 birth year, and has amassed 27 goals and 81 points over that span split between the Georgetown Raiders and the Cougars.

A native of Oakville, Ontario, Boushy becomes the seventh Patriot in the Top 20 in league scoring, sitting in a five-way tie for eighth with six goals and 16 points in 13 contests. The former Hamilton Bulldogs minor midget spent his 16-year-old year with the Raiders in 2015-16, before being dealt to Burlington the next off-season along with Wyatt Hicken in exchange for veteran defenceman Griffin James.

Villalta, 18, added two helpers and logged 24 penalty minutes with the Pats this season, after the club acquired him in the off-season from the Sault Ste. Marie Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League. 

Small, 18, played in only three games for Toronto after the club was working to finalize his acquisition from Brampton of the Junior 'B' Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League. He notched one assist as a Patriot.

Boushy, who is eligible to represent South Africa internationally by virtue of his Johannesburg birth, is expected to make his debut for the Pats Friday evening in Milton. - Jamie Neugebauer

Photo courtesy OJHL Images