Laredo and Rapid City Strike a Deal

The Laredo Bucks and the Rapid City Rush made some noise today, the CHL’s trade deadline day, by exchanging four players in the two team swap.  The Bucks acquire forwards Josh Bonar and Mickey Gilchrist from the Rush in exchange for forward Mitch Stephens and defenseman Ryan Hand.

Stephens was just acquired by Laredo on January 28th in the deal that sent goaltender Ryan Gibb to New Mexico.  In six games with the Bucks, Stephens had scored a goal with three assists.  With New Mexico, he had 13 goals and 33 assists.

Hand has played in 22 games with the Bucks scoring a goal with an assist and 58 penalty minutes.  Both he and Stephens will head to the expansion Rush.

The Bucks have acquired forward Josh Bonar who was just recently acquired by the Rush and had played in five games with Rapid City (has had no points).  Last year, Bonar had 21 goals and 38 points with the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees.

Also, Laredo gets the rights to forward Mickey Gilchrist who is currently playing in Asia.  He is expected to join the Bucks in the coming weeks on his return to North America.