Tag: Jeff Bromley

WHL adds team to U.S. Division . . . Winnipeg Ice on way to Wenatchee, Wash. . . . Wild becomes sixth American team after sale . . . Governors approved deal on Tuesday

Whites
Lisa and Dick White have purchased the WHL’s Winnipeg Ice and will move the franchise to Wenatchee where it will play as the Wild. (Photo: wenatcheewild.com)

The WHL’s vision of having a franchise in each of the four western Canadian province’s capital cities — Victoria, Edmonton, Regina and Winnipeg — lasted four seasons.

The dream was realized in 2019 when the Kootenay Ice, a franchise that had changed hands on April 27, 2017, moved from Cranbrook to Winnipeg.

But it all went up in smoke on Friday with a terse four-paragraph statement from the WHL office stating that the franchise has been sold again and that it will be relocated to Wenatchee, Wash., where it will play as the Wild.

Darren Dreger of TSN broke the news Friday morning.

The WHL is leaving a city of more than 800,000 people for a city of about Wenatchee35,000. 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.

The franchise has been purchased by David and Lisa White, who also own the BCHL’s Wenatchee Wild. The Wild is operated by the Shoot the Puck Foundation, a non-profit organization based in California.

The sale and relocation was approved by the WHL’s board of governors on Tuesday.

The WHL’s news release, which didn’t include any quotes from Ron Robison, the commissioner, or Bruce Hamilton, the Kelowna Rockets’ owner and general manager who is chairman of the board of governors, stated: “Unfortunately, multiple attempts by the ICE ownership to construct an arena facility of acceptable WHL standards in Winnipeg, based on the agreed upon timeframes, were unsuccessful, leading to the relocation to Wenatchee.”

It would seem that the mistake the WHL made was allowing 50 Below Sports + Entertainment Inc., headed up by owner and governor Greg Fettes and Matt Cockell, the president and general manager, to move the franchise to Winnipeg without having put a shovel in the ground for a new facility.

The WHL, Fettes and Cockell appear to have spent Friday under a cone of silence. The Winnipeg Sun reported that it wasn’t able to get messages returned from the WHL or Cockell.

The Canadian Press reported Friday that “interview requests left with the team and league were not immediately returned.”

The Winnipeg Free Press reported that it has been shut out for months in attempts to reach WHL and Ice officials.

“Despite repeated attempts by the Free Press to get answers in recent months, the club and league remained silent — until Friday,” the Free Press reported Friday.

The Free Press also reported:

“A source told the Free Press last weekend that the Ice informed game-day production staff, such as camera operators and sound/lighting technicians, to find work elsewhere next season.

“Yet, as recently as last Wednesday, the Ice continued to market season-ticket packages on its social media platforms.

“Repeated attempts to reach Fettes through communications staff from both the hockey club and his business were unsuccessful last week when it became apparent the team was about to be sold.

“A WHL spokesman didn’t return multiple messages seeking comment, either.”

The Free Press had reported a few months ago that the WHL and team governors had soured on the Ice ownership and had, according to sources, hit it with a $500,000 fine because of a failure to address the arena issue. The WHL and Ice issued denials — the WHL never did post its statement on its website — but that was the beginning of speculation that the Ice was in its final season in Winnipeg.

On Friday, the Free Press also reported:

“As recently as this past December, the WHL released a statement that read as follows: ‘The Winnipeg Ice have assembled a highly competitive team this season and the WHL continues to work with the Ice regarding a solution to the club’s long-term plans for a suitable facility in Winnipeg.’

“The league said more information would be released in 2023. No new information followed.”

Until Friday, that is.

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On Jan. 29, 2019, Fettes told a Winnipeg news conference: “We’re building a 4,500-seat arena. We’re expecting it to be full.”

That facility was to have been ready for the start of the 2021-22 season; however, they didn’t even get one shovel into the ground. Thus, the Ice ended up playing four seasons in the 1,600-seat Wayne Fleming Arena on the U of Manitoba campus.

“Despite our success in building the organization,” Fettes said in a stateWinnipegIcement, “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.”

The original plan apparently was to build an arena in the Rural Municipality of Macdonald, just off the southwest corner of Winnipeg.

Brad Erb, a reeve for the RM, told the Winnipeg Sun in February that he was excited four years ago when he heard about the Ice moving to Manitoba.

“I thought it was pretty exciting for the area and for the municipality . . . that they’d be putting up this entertainment facility within our jurisdiction,” Erb told The Sun. “From that day forward, it was radio silence and I haven’t heard a darn thing about it.”

In Wenatchee, the team will play out of the 4,300-seat Town Toyota Center. During the 2022-23 BCHL regular season, according to figures compiled by hockeydb.com, the Wild averaged 2,672 fans per regular-season game, second to the Penticton Vees (3,102). The Cranbrook Bucs were third, at 2,310.

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Naturally, Wenatchee will play in the U.S. Division, which now has six teams. The relocation leaves the Western and Eastern Conference each with 11 teams.

Taking Note was told early Friday that the East Division schedule was finalized on Thursday with five teams involved and the Brandon Wheat Kings again serving as the league’s eastern border. The Swift Current Broncos moved from the East to the Central Division to accommodate Winnipeg, and apparently will remain there for one more season. After 2023-24, the Broncos will move back, giving the East Division six teams and the Central Division five.

“It’s been a contentious issue with the arena building in Winnipeg and trying to find a place to play,” Jared Jacobson, the Wheat Kings’ owner and governor, told Perry Bergson of the Brandon Sun. “It’s been going on for a few years. “It’s sad because we had quite the rivalry going since before the hub. They started getting stronger and stronger and they had their run at it this year and we were becoming pretty good rivals.

“They were our closest WHL partner. Having another team in Manitoba was  nice in that market but it obviously didn’t work for them.” 

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The Wild has been in Wenatchee since 2008 when it operated in the North American Hockey League. The owners relocated the team to Hidalgo, Texas, after the 2012-13 season and the Whites moved the Fresno Monsters — they had purchased the NAHL team in 2009 — from California to Wenatchee. The Whites own a fruit distribution operation in Fresno.

The Wild moved into the BCHL in 2015. Wenatchee won the Fred Page Cup as BCHL champions and the Doyle Cup as the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s Pacific region champion in 2018.

Bliss Littler, a veteran junior hockey man who was head coach of the Wild for its first five seasons in the BCHL, is the organization’s general manager. He signed a 10-year contract extension on June 4, 2021.

Chris Clark, the Wild’s head coach and assistant GM, has been on staff since 2008. He was named head coach prior to the 2020-21 season, although the team didn’t operate that winter due to the pandemic.

Troy Mick, a former WHL player and coach, also is part of the Wild’s organization. He is the director of its development teams and is the head coach of the 16U Wilderness and 18U AAA Wolves. There also are 12U and 14U development teams.

Late Friday afternoon, the Wenatchee Wild Hockey Academy posted on social media that “it is business as usual for our academy and development teams for the 2023-24 season and beyond. We feel this is another step in developing our players for the next level!”

Around 4 p.m. PT, the Wild was on social media: “We’re on the hunt for a full-time equipment manager and a certified athletic trainer for the 2023-24 season – to apply, email General Manager Bliss Littler at blittler@wenatcheewildhockey.com.”

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There wasn’t any mention in the Wild’s news release about the future of the BCHL franchise. However, the BCHL issued a statement early Friday afternoon stating that the Wild franchise “will not operate in the BCHL in 2023-24.”

Graham Fraser, the owner of the Penticton Vees and the chairman of the BCHL’s board of governors, said: “As a league, we are assessing our next steps, including reviewing the best options for players currently on the Wenatchee Wild’s roster and addressing schedule implications for the 2023-24 season.”

The BCHL, now a 17-team league with all franchises located in B.C., recently completed its 2023-24 schedule — it calls for each team to play 54 games — and was soon to release it. It now has been sent back to the drawing board.

As for the players on the Wild roster, Steve Cocker, the BCHL commissioner, told Castanet that there won’t be dispersal draft and that they now are free agents.

Cocker also admitted to Castanet that the BCHL was caught off guard by the news.

“What they have found moving to the WHL provides them with a long-term solution that will give them an instant rivalry with the U.S. Division so you can’t fault them for making that business decision,” Cocker told Castanet. “Is it tough not having an organization like the Wild in our league? Sure. They were one of our top organizations but we have a lot of positive momentum going right now with and we’re excited to move forward.”

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The Ice has been the WHL’s top club each of the past two regular seasons, going 110-20-6. This season, it finished atop the standings, at 57-10-1. After losing to the Edmonton Oil Kings in the Eastern Conference final in 2021-22, the Ice fell to the Seattle Thunderbirds in the championship final in 2022-23.

Winnipeg paid a steep price for the team it iced in 2022-23, though. As Paul Friesen of the Winnipeg Sun reported in February: “According to WHL blogger Alan Caldwell, who tracks these things, the Ice has traded away picks in the first, second and fourth rounds in this year’s draft, all its picks from Rounds 1 through 6 in 2024, its top four picks in ’25 and its first six picks in ’26.”

Still, Wenatchee should have starry forwards Zach Benson, Conor Geekie and Matt Savoie, and starting goaltender Daniel Hauser, back when it opens its first training camp south of the border in August.

But decisions about trading high-end talent to restock the cupboard with draft picks likely will have to be made at some point during the season.

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This is the third time that the WHL has failed in the Manitoba capital. The Winnipeg Jets/Clubs/Monarchs ended a 10-season run when they moved to Calgary and became the Wranglers over the summer of 1977. The Winnipeg Warriors, an expansion team spent four seasons there before moving to Moose Jaw in 1984.

Will there be a fourth attempt?

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Here’s Jeff Bromley, a Cranbrook resident who once covered the Kootenay Ice for the Kootenay Advertiser: “(The WHL) becomes more bush by the year. Relocating to a city similar in size to Cranbrook. (Wenatchee) fans don’t get too attached; as soon as there’s another arena at a bigger centre built & ur drawing (fewer than) 2,800, the moving trucks won’t be far behind.”

Here’s Matt Coxford, a former Cranbrook Townsman writer: “I hope the previous owner is sufficiently embarrassed. Did everything he could to get out of town, sold to some bad-faith operators, and now his father’s HHOF banner hangs in a rink twice removed from the franchise.”

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How did players on Winnipeg’s roster find out that they now belonged to a team in another country? The same way you and I did. On social media.

Perry Bergson of the Brandon Sun reported that F Conor Geekie learned of the sale by checking his Instagram account after a workout. He said his teammates were in the same boat.

“The most frustrating thing is how we found out,” Geekie told The Sun. “There wasn’t much notice. We all found at the same time. I’m sure they were swamped but I think we just expected a little bit more in that category.”

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JUST NOTES: Trevor Crawley of the Cranbrook Townsman tweeted Friday that “a lawsuit filed by the City of Cranbrook against the Western Hockey League and the Winnipeg Ice for breach of contract remains outstanding, as far as I know, based on court records.” That lawsuit was filed by the City of Cranbrook in December 2020. . . . Unaddressed is whether the BCHL’s move to operate outside of Hockey Canada had anything to with the decision by the Whites to leave that league and jump into the WHL. . . . 50 Below Sports + Entertainment Inc., still owns two MJHL franchises, theWinnipeg Blues and Winnipeg Freeze. . . . This is the 10th sale of a WHL franchise since 2007, which is when the Kamloops Blazers went from community to private ownership.

Scattershooting on a Friday evening while wondering if it’s Christmas shopping season yet . . .

Scattershooting

“As the discussion about the cult of shinny rages on, I find it most disturbing that some opinionists are just now discovering that hockey is not for everyone.” . . . That is how Patti Dawn Swansson, the River City Renegade, began a blog posting the other day. . . . If you have been following hockey’s latest mess, and if you haven’t yet had your fill, you should give this a read. It’s good stuff — it’s nail-meet-hammer kind of stuff, and it’s right here.

IKEA

ICYMI, the Swift Current Broncos fired Jamie LeBlanc, their trainer and equipment manager, on Monday “following revelations of a recent pattern of demeaning and derogatory comments, threatening behaviour and unprofessional conduct that is inconsistent with the values of the organization and the Western Hockey League.” . . . LeBlanc, whose nickname is Butter, was in his 10th season as the Broncos’ head trainer. In November 2017, the portion of a street leading to the Innovation Credit Union iPlex’s bus door was named Butter Way. . . . On Wednesday, the Broncos hired Andrew Kutnikoff as their athletic therapist/equipment manager. A native of Prince Albert, he had been in his second season with the SJHL’s Battlefords North Stars. . . . The North Stars now are in the hunt for an athletic therapist/equipment manager.

There was an interesting goaltending matchup in the OHL on Monday night, one that featured two former WHLers. . . . The visiting London Knights had Dylan Myskiw, 20, in goal, going against the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and Bailey Brkin, 19. . . . London won, 6-5 in OT. Myskiw, who is from Winnipeg, stopped 17 of 22 shots, but was replaced at 4:30 of the third period with his side down, 5-4. Brkin, from Sherwood Park, Alta., went the distance, stopping 33 shots. . . . They last had gone head-to-head on Oct. 6, 2018, when Brkin’s 28 saves helped the host Spokane Chiefs to a 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings, who got 29 saves from Myskiw.

I paid $1.15.9 a litre when I filled up on Nov. 25. By the next day, it was $1.31.9, and it has stayed there. You can bet that Kamloops drivers are hoping for a better Christmas present than that from big oil.

English

Hey, there’s hockey in Cranbrook, only it’s not of the WHL or BCHL variety. The junior B Golden Rockets of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League are playing a handful of games in Cranbrook after an ammonia chiller failure shut down the Golden and District Centennial Arena. . . . The Rockets will play at least six December home games in either Memorial Arena or Western Financial Place in Cranbrook. . . . Their home arena, affectionately known as the Plywood Palace, will be closed at least until the new year.

I’m wondering how much your father paid you when/if you scored a goal during your hockey career? Connor Zary of the Kamloops Blazers scored the Teddy Bear goal in a 4-1 victory over the visiting Portland Winterhawks on Saturday night. “I told my Dad before the game, ‘I think I’m going to get it this year,’ and he kind of put a little wager on it,” Marty Hastings of Kamloops This Week quoted Zary as saying. “He said he’d give me 100 bucks if I scored it. When I came off the ice, the first time I looked at my phone, I had a little e-transfer from him.” . . . Maybe I didn’t get that kind of dough because my father’s etransfer app didn’t work on his phone in 1968.

F Matt Savoie was selected by the Winnipeg Ice with the first pick of the WHL’s 2019 bantam draft. He is to turn 16 on Jan. 1. . . . It has long been said and written that 15-year-old players are limited to five WHL games while their club team still is playing. However, as Paul Friesen of Postmedia referred to the rule in September, it is a “hard and not-so-fast rule.” . . . For example, F Kirby Dach played 19 regular-season games with the Saskatoon Blades in 2016-17, putting up six goals and four assists. . . . In that same September piece, Ron Robison, the WHL commissioner, told Friesen about Savoie: “We’re going to be probably at least in the 30 to 35 range. That would be a high-water mark. We’re still working through what that schedule looks like. We’re going to try and maximize his games through the course of the season.” . . . That being the case, it is time for the WHL to drop the pretense and throw open its doors to all 15-year-old players. . . . Savoie, who is from Sherwood Park, Alta., has two assists in his first seven games.

If you are a subscriber to The Athletic, you don’t want to miss the story about former NHLer Gene Carr, who played with the Flin Flon Bombers back in the day, that was written by Lisa Dillman and Eric Duhatschek. The story is headlined ‘New kid in town’ — How a former King met the daughter he didn’t know existed.

Doctor

There are times when junior hockey’s coaching merry-go-round seems to spin at an incredible rate. . . . See if you can follow this. . . . In May, the MJHL’s Swan Valley Stampeders signed Geoff Grimwood as general manager and head coach. You may recall that he spent some time with the BCHL’s West Kelowna Warriors last season and has since filed a lawsuit against then-owner Kim Dobranski after being hired, fired, rehired and later fired again. . . . Anyway, Grimwood resigned from the Stampeders on Friday, saying that he needs to “take some time away from the game.” . . . Meanwhile, Barry Wolff spent last season as the GM and head coach of those same Stampeders, who reached the MJHL’s championship final. But he left to sign on as GM and head coach of the BCHL’s Merritt Centennials. They fired him nine games into his stint there. Of late, he has been helping out with the junior B 100 Mile House Wranglers of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League. On Friday, the Stampeders, who are 17-10-2, named him GM and coach, replacing Grimwood. . . . Got all that?

The WHL has to be a little nervous when it looks at the standings these days because, as Larry Fisher noted in the above tweet on Wednesday, the race(s) for playoff spots are pretty much non-existent. . . . Two of 10 teams in the Western Conference won’t make the playoffs, and those will be the Seattle Thunderbirds and Prince George Cougars. . . . The Eastern Conference drops four of its 12 teams, with the Regina Pats and Swift Current Broncos already out of the picture, as they continue to pay for having gone all-in for playoff runs in recent seasons. Going into Friday games, the Moose Jaw Warriors were eight points out with five games in hand, but appear to be in seller’s mode having moved F Jadon Joseph, 20, to the Kelowna Rockets recently. The Red Deer Rebels, another team in a rebuilding stage, are six points out but the odds appear to be long. . . . It has to be a tough way to sell tickets when the fans know their favourite team is out of the playoffs in the first week of December.

JUST NOTES: Is Dak Prescott the NFL’s most over-rated quarterback? After Dallas owner Jerry Jones fires head coach Jason Garrett, should he also fire the general manager? Oh wait, Jones is the GM. . . . The Portland Winterhawks took two games from the Cougars in Prince George this week, winning 3-0 on Tuesday and 5-4 in OT on Wednesday. The same two teams are playing in Portland this weekend, Saturday and Sunday. That’s right. They are playing their entire season series in a span of six nights. . . . In case you haven’t noticed, the Carolina Hurricanes have become the NHL’s fun bunch. . . . Baseball’s winter meetings get started on Sunday through Thursday in San Diego. Are you ready for some wheeling and dealing?