The WHL announced Wednesday that Ron Robison, its long-serving commissioner and CEO, will be leaving his position following the 2023-24 season.
The announcement was made via press release following the completion of the 
league’s annual general meeting in Calgary. It came five days after the WHL announced that the Winnipeg Ice had been sold and have moved to Wenatchee, Wash. That move came after the Ice’s owners reneged on a promise to build a new arena that would meet WHL standards. Instead, the Ice spent four seasons playing out of the 1,600-seat Wayne Fleming Arena on the campus of the U of Manitoba.
Robison, who was born in 1955, is entering the final season of a three-year contract extension that was announced on June 18, 2021. He is preparing for his 24th season as the WHL commissioner and CEO. The late Ed Chynoweth, who is considered the godfather of the WHL, spent 21 seasons (1973-79, 1980-95) running the league.
Meanwhile, the WHL also announced that it will release its exhibition schedule and the home-opening date and opponent for each team on Monday, and the regular-season scheduled on Tuesday.
As was reported here on Friday night, the Swift Current Broncos will play in the six-team Central Division for the 2023-24 season and then return to the East Division. The Broncos moved to the Central Division when the Kootenay Ice moved to Winnipeg and were positioned in the East Division.
In its news release, the WHL also stated that “attendance levels have returned to pre-COVID levels.”
According to figures compiled by the WHL based on announced attendances, the average for the 2022-23 regular season was 3,895, “up 22 per cent from the average of 3,205 in 2021-22.”
That is a healthy increase but, as Dylan Bumbarger points out in the above tweet, it is still below the pre-pandemic numbers. In 2018-19, the last completed season before the pandemic, the WHL’s average attendance was 4,361. The average in 2019-20, the season that was halted in March by the pandemic, was 4,154.
It is interesting that in 2022-23 the two teams atop the attendance table, the Edmonton Oil Kings (6,501) and Spokane Chiefs (5,842), had two of the poorest regular-season records and didn’t qualify for the playoffs. It’s also interesting that 11 of the 22 teams finished above the average attendance figure, meaning, of course, that 11 finished below it.
The WHL also said the playoff attendance was “up 37 per cent” at 4,689 for 75 games, compared to 3,575 for 72 games a year earlier. (As an aside, the WHL’s website shows the latter figures as 3,935 and 79.)
You are free to wonder just how much of an impact F Connor Bedard of the Regina Pats had on the WHL’s regular-season and playoff attendance figures. While Bedard put up big numbers on the ice and deservedly cleaned up when the awards were handed out, I would suggest that the number of butts he put in the seats after he returned from his amazing performance at the World Junior Championship in Halifax was the biggest story in the WHL in 2022-23. It was nothing short of amazing and I would hope that he was at least toasted during the AGM.
The WHL’s AGM news release is right here.
You no doubt are aware of the submersible — the Titan — with five people aboard that has gone missing while on a voyage to see the wreck of the Titanic, which is in something like 12,500 feet of water about 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland. . . . But did you know that Ron Toigo, the majority owner of the WHL’s Vancouver Giants, has made two trips on the Titan? . . . Gord McIntyre of Postmedia reported that Toigo spent almost 40 hours on the Titan. “On Toigo’s first voyage, in 2021,” McIntyre wrote, “mechanical problems resulted in the sub settling on the ocean floor for four or five hours before it was able to rise to the surface again, with no view of the famous White Star liner. The whole trip took 20 hours.” . . . Toigo told McIntyre: “I really had a great time on that boat trip, even though we got stuck at the bottom.” . . . Last summer, Toigo was back for more and this time he was able to view the Titanic. . . . McIntyre’s story is right here.
The Hershey Bears overcame a 2-0 deficit to beat the host Coachella Valley 
Firebirds, 3-2 in OT, in Game 7 of the AHL’s championship final for the Calder Cup. . . . The Bears became the first team to win on the road in this season’s final. . . . F Mike Vecchione’s fifth goal of the playoffs won the game at 16:19 of the first OT period. . . . Former Regina Pats D Ryker Evans had a goal and an assist as the Firebirds took a 2-0 lead with goals at 4:41 of the first period and 0:24 of the second. . . . The Bears tied it on second-period goals from F Connor McMichael, at 13:42, and F Hendrix Lapierre, at 17:09. . . . Evans put up two goals and eight assists in the final series. . . . The Firebirds, who were in their first AHL season, sold out each of their last five home playoff games. . . . The Firebirds are the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Seattle Kraken; the Bears are hooked up with the Washington Capitals. . . . Hershey, the AHL’s oldest franchise, won its 12th championship. . . . The Bears’ Game 7 lineup included former WHLers Lucas Johansen, Vince Iorio, Beck Malenstyn, Garrett Pilon, Riley Sutter, Aliaksei Protas and team captain Dylan McIlrath. Head coach Todd Nelson and assistant Patrick Wellar also are former WHLers.
Two companies operating in Ontario’s internet gaming market have been fined a total of $30,000 by the Registrar of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) for alleged infractions of AGCO’s standards. According to a news release from AGCO, “The operators are alleged to have offered numerous bets on Ontario Hockey League, Western Hockey League, and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League games during the 2022-23 season. In doing so, the operators are alleged to have violated Standards that expressly prohibit offering bets on minor league sports, including the Canadian Hockey League’s three major junior leagues.” . . . Both operators — BV Gaming Limited and Fitzdares Canada Limited — have the right of appeal. Each was fined $15,000. . . . Dave Phillips, AGCO’s chief operating officer, said in a news release: “As the regulator of Ontario’s sports betting industry, the AGCO is resolved to maintain the integrity of sports betting which, in turn, may serve to protect the integrity of sport. This includes a clear prohibition on offering bets in Ontario on minor league sports, including Canadian major junior hockey. We will continue to carefully monitor Ontario’s sports betting markets to ensure the public interest is protected.” . . . All of this causes one to wonder if there really needed to be board advertising from a gambling outfit during the Memorial Cup in Kamloops? And what of the fact that the CHL had a daily in-season item that was posted on social media and sponsored by a sportsbook?
JUNIOR JOTTINGS:
The Edmonton Oil Kings have released three players — F Luke Robson, F Hayden Wheddon and D Braeden Wynne. Robson and Wynne are 2004-born; Wheddon is 2005-born. . . . In 2022-23, Robson had three goals and two assists in 60 games, Wynne had a goal and an assist in 52 games, and Wheddon had one assist in six games.
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That’s because the Winnipeg Ice WHL franchise is moving to Wenatchee where it will operate as the Wild. The BCHL franchise, meanwhile, won’t operate in the 2023-24 season.
the franchise to Wenatchee, Wash., where it will operate as the Wild. (Just wondering, but might the moving vans go through Cranbrook on their way from Winnipeg to Wenatchee?)
a 1-0 victory over the Coachella Valley Firebirds in Game 5 of the AHL’s championship final for the Calder Cup. . . . The Bears, who lost the first two games of this series on the road, now hold a 3-2 edge after winning three in a row on home ice. . . . The series resumes Monday in Thousand Palms, Calif., with Game 7, if needed, there on Wednesday. . . . Pilon’s fourth playoff goal came off a shot through traffic from about 15 feet in front of the blue line. . . . Hershey got 21 saves from G Hunter Shepard, while Joey Daccord stopped 30 for the Firebirds. . . . Pilon, 25, is in his fifth season in Hershey. He has 10 points in 18 playoff games. He played three seasons (2015-18) in the WHL, two-plus with the Kamloops Blazers and the last 30 games with the Everett Silvertips.
35,000. Wenatchee is located in Chelan County, which according to the U.S. Census Bureau had a population of 79,646 in 2021. Neighbouring Douglas County’s population was 43,696.
ment, “we were unable to confirm our ability to build a new facility in Winnipeg that met the WHL standards on a timeline that was acceptable to the WHL. Unfortunately, we were never able to get the project on solid footing due to the changing landscape (during and post-pandemic). Simply put, we ran out of time.”
for the Calder Cup after beating the Hershey Bears, 4-0, in Thousand Palms, Calif., on Saturday night. They’ll play again in Hershey on Tuesday and Thursday, with a fifth game, if needed, there on Saturday. . . . The Firebirds, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Seattle Kraken, are in their first season of existence. . . . On Saturday, Coachella Valley scored four second-period goals to take control of the game. D Ryker Evans, who played with the WHL’s Regina Pats, had a goal and an assist. . . . G Joey Daccord stopped 33 shots in putting up his second straight shutout. The Firebirds won the opener, 5-0, on Thursday. . . . The last time an AHL goaltender opened the championship series with back-to-back shutouts? Moe Roberts of the Cleveland Barons did it in 1939 against the Philadelphia Ramblers. The Barons won the best-of-five final, 3-1.
championships when they completed a sweep of the Idaho Steelheads in Estero, Fla., on Thursday. . . . The Everblades completed the sweep with a 4-3 victory in front of a Hertz Arena record crowd of 7,855. Florida now is one of three teams to have three Kelly Cups. No team has won more than that. . . . The Steelheads erased a 2-0 first-period deficit and held a 3-2 lead 21 seconds into the third period. . . . D Stefan Leblanc’s first playoff goal pulled Florida even at 4:19 and F Tyler Irvine score the eventual winner at 7:59, with the primary assist going to former WHL F Levko Koper. . . . Florida, which is an affiliate of the NHL’s Florida Panthers, went 16-4 on its playoff run. . . . The Everblades’ Game 4 roster included Koper (Spokane Chiefs, 2006-11) and D Cole Moberg (Prince George Cougars, 2016-20). . . . Brad Ralph, who did a turn as the Kelowna Rockets’ head coach in 2015-16, is Florida’s head coach and director of hockey operations.
them to the public. . . . The regulations were set after committee meetings involving owners, general managers and members of the staff of Mario Cecchini, the league’s new commissioner. . . . The main points: Addition of a game misconduct penalty for any player involved in a fight; addition of an automatic one-game suspension for any player declared the instigator of a fight; addition of a minimum two-game automatic suspension for any player identified as the aggressor; and, in addition to the game misconduct, an automatic one-game suspension will be imposed once a player has reached his second fight, rather than his third. . . . If you click 
involving frequently asked questions posted on its website on Thursday, the league notes: “The BCHL is simply the British Columbia Hockey League. We don’t need to classify ourselves otherwise.” . . . If you have any questions about what is happening with the league that left Hockey Canada as May turned into June, there is a lot of information 
final on Thursday with a 5-0 victory over the Hershey Bears before a sellout crowd of 10,087 in Thousand Palms, Calif. . . . The Firebirds are affiliated with the NHL’s Seattle Krakken. . . . G Joey Daccord stopped 25 shots for the shutout. . . . F Kole Lind (Kelowna Rockets, 2014-18) had three assists. He leads the AHL scoring race with 26 points, 19 of them assists, in 20 games. . . . D Ryker Evans (Regina Pats, 2018-22) also had three assists. A first-year pro, Evans has three goals and 16 assists in 19 playoff games. . . . A note from the AHL: This was the 128th Calder Cup final game in Bears franchise history, and the 92nd game overall in Firebirds franchise history. . . . They’ll play Game 2 in Thousand Palms tonight, then head for Hershey and the next three games, on June 13, 15 and 17, if necessary. If more games are needed, they’ll finish up in Thousand Palms on June 19 and 21.
summer. The move apparently has become necessary, or so the speculation goes, because the Ice’s owners, who moved the franchise from Cranbrook after the 2018-19 season, have failed to deliver on a promise to build a new arena, thus they are stuck in the 1,600-seat Wayne Fleming Arena on the U of Manitoba campus. The WHL, ’tis said, has had enough of that particular situation. (BTW, I believe there still is a lawsuit kicking around somewhere involving the City of Cranbrook versus the WHL and the Ice’s owners. Something about a lease.)
Cup championship in Kamloops, G William Rousseau was dealt to the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies on Wednesday. . . . In return, the Remparts got a first- and a second-round draft pick, both in 2024. . . . The 2003-born Rousseau picked up the shutout on Sunday as the Remparts blanked the Seattle Thunderbirds, 5-0, in the winner-take-all championship game. . . . During the regular season, he was 35-11 with a 2.22 GAA. . . . Rousseau had been selected by the Remparts in the fifth round of the QMJHL’s 2019 draft. . . .
Chilliwack before another season gets here are flying, again. . . . Here’s Rick Dhaliwal, a co-host of the Donnie & Dhali Show that is on Victoria’s CHEK-TV, on Monday: “Out of the blue (Sunday), a lot of people reached out to me, hearing rumours again about Winnipeg moving to Chilliwack. A lot of people feel the Aquilini family may be behind this — involved, anyway. Sources in the Western Hockey League and the BC Hockey League have heard the same.” . . . The Aquilinis, of course, own the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks and the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks. . . . In February, when the WHL was rumoured to be searching for a new home for the Ice, management with the BCHL’s Chilliwack Chiefs, said that wasn’t’ going to happen. As Brian Maloney, the Chiefs’ general manager and head coach, said at the time: “We’ve tried that song and dance before . . . it rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.” . . . The WHL did have a WHL franchise at one time, but it allowed the Bruins to be sold and moved to Victoria where it now is the Royals. . . . The difference now is that there wasn’t any mention of the Aquilinis earlier in the year. Dhaliwal even suggested that the Chilliwack Coliseum “could also be part of the deal, as in selling it — buying it.” . . . Daniel Wagner of Vancouver Is Awesome sums it all up 
May 31, the league issued a news release covering its rules pertaining to the 18 teams’ rosters. . . . While each team will be allowed to have two players from outside North American on its roster, “Russian and Belarusian players are temporarily not allowed due to the political situation in Russia.” . . . Of interest, too, is that players from the CSSHL, BCEHL and B.C.’s junior B leagues no longer are allowed to associate with BCHL teams as affiliate players. . . . That news release is 
TAKING NOTE 