When the Surrey Eagles came courting last spring the goaltender from Windsor, Ont., talked up how a couple of his longtime friends, forwards Jared Cipparone and Scott Knowles, would also fit in the BCHL.
After a little double-checking with hockey people back east, Eagles coach Rick Hillier was wooing all three.
For Hillier, it was some smart bulk shopping. And for Funkenhauser, it was a crafty way to make sure he had some back-up when he moved out west.
“GM Funkenhauser,” the netminder joked. “I should have got paid for doing the deal. That's all right. I'll just let Hillier take all the credit.”
Cipparone added: “Would I have come without these guys? Probably not. I probably would not have even known about it if I hadn't talked to Funk about it.”
Funkenhauser, 20, would have been a recruiting coup on his own. The Salmon Arm SilverBacks also showed interest in landing the reigning most valuable player from the junior-B Western Ontario Hockey League, who fashioned a 1.96 goals-against in 40 league games last season with Chatham Maroons.
Cipparone, 20, and Knowles, 19, are a double-barreled bonus for the Eagles.
Cipparone played the last two full seasons in the OHL with the Windsor Spitfires. He didn't catch on as an over-age this year and was toying with the idea of going to university or playing Junior A back east when Funkenhauser interceded.
Knowles played on the Tecumseh Chiefs, a Chatham rival, last season, and, like Funkenhauser, was told by the U.S. universities looking at him for a scholarship that coming to the BCHL would help his development.
Both Knowles and Cipparone should be top-six forwards for Surrey this season.
“A lot of times your players can be great recruiters for you, too,” said Hillier. “They know who can play and who can't. You can't cloud it with friendship, but I felt these guys, through our conversations, were pretty honest and knew what they were looking at.”
And they could be doing it again. Knowles would be eligible to play in the BCHL next season, and says that he's making some plans.
“I've already started to tell friends, trying to bring some buddies out for next year,” he said.
Hopefully, though, Knowles knows that Funkenhauser is ahead of him in the line for a GM job.
