The Blackfalds Bulldogs have locked in nine new players for the upcoming 2026-2027 season, drawing talent from across Canada, the United States, and Latvia. The signings, announced between May 13 and June 19, 2026, come as the team looks to build on a breakout 2025-2026 campaign that saw the club finish fourth overall in the British Columbia Hockey League.
Forward Josh Kaufman, a 19-year-old from Kitchener, Ontario, joins the Bulldogs after a productive season with the Navan Grads of the Central Canada Hockey League, where he posted 25 goals and 21 assists for 46 points in 52 games. Director of Player Personnel Al Parada called Kaufman “an extremely talented player who plays with speed” and “makes other guys better around him.”
Also new to the forward group is 20-year-old Kael Screpnek of Calgary. The six-foot-two, 175-pound Screpnek spent last season with the Lloydminster Bobcats in the Alberta Junior Hockey League, collecting 14 goals and 28 assists in 50 games. He’ll be joined up front by Max Leduc, a 20-year-old from Thunder Bay, Ontario, who put up 55 points in 52 games for the Grande Prairie Storm and represented Team Canada West at the World Jr. A Challenge.
On defence, the Bulldogs added 18-year-old Herberts Laugalis of Liepaja, Latvia, who skated for HS Riga last season and was a teammate of current Bulldog Magnuss Avotins on Latvia’s Under-18 World Championship squad. Laugalis recorded three goals and ten assists in 13 games with HS Riga 17.
The nine-player class also includes defenceman Gavin Karl (Excelsior, Minnesota), forward John Kartsonakis (Montreal, Quebec), defenceman Colton Whiterabbit (Mahtomedi, Minnesota), forward Blake Kiley-Ram (Scottsdale, Arizona), and forward Maxx Parfitt (Penticton, B.C.).
The roster refresh follows the departure of several key veterans, including captain Joey Melo and BCHL MVP Nikita Ivashchenko. The Bulldogs finished the 2025-2026 season with a 37-15-2-0 record and a league-best plus-84 goal differential. Head Coach Ryan Tobler, who guided the dramatic turnaround in his first full season behind the bench, was named a finalist for the Joe Tennant Memorial Trophy as BCHL Coach of the Year.
The Bulldogs, owned by Doug Quinn and Jodie Quinn, play out of the Eagle Builders Centre in Blackfalds and joined the BCHL for the 2024-2025 season after previously competing in the AJHL.
