A glaring discrepancy in the Western Hockey League has, unintentionally, been rectified by the Winnipeg Ice becoming the Wenatchee Ice as of Friday. It has been a sore point in the Eastern Conference that four of its 12 teams missed the playoffs while only two of the 10 Western Conference teams failed to make the post-season. The Ice relocation leaves each WHL conference with 11 teams, with three from each conference now to miss the playoffs.
“It balances out the conferences and will affect the playoff races accordingly,” said Victoria Royals GM and head coach Dan Price.
That is hardly academic for the Royals, who have missed the Western Conference playoffs the past two seasons. Victoria would have missed the playoffs three consecutive years if 2020-21 had been a normal campaign. (The Royals were last in the league that season, which was played in a bubble in front of no fans and in which no playoffs were held).
The Ice moved to Winnipeg in 2019-20 from Cranbrook, where the team was known as the Kootenay Ice from 1998 to 2019 but struggled at the gate in the later years. It began as the Edmonton Ice in 1996. The franchise was reportedly heading to Nanaimo, pending the 2017 arena referendum, but that vote failed in the Harbour City and the team eventually went to Winnipeg. The major-junior WHL was always going to be a tough go in the Manitoba capital as the third hockey team in the market behind the NHL Winnipeg Jets and AHL Manitoba Moose. The Ice played in a university rink, and when plans to build a 4,500 seat suburban rink failed to materialize, the franchise’s fate was sealed and it has now been moved to Wenatchee in central Washington state.
“Unfortunately, multiple attempts by the Ice ownership to construct an arena facility of acceptable WHL standards in Winnipeg, based on the agreed upon time frames, were unsuccessful, leading to the relocation to Wenatchee,” the WHL said in a statement.
The Wenatchee Wild were in the sa国际传媒 Hockey League, which has now dropped to 17 teams, all in sa国际传媒 The BCHL includes the Victoria Grizzlies, Cowichan Valley Capitals, Nanaimo Clippers, Alberni Valley Bulldogs and Powell River Kings.
Grizzlies majority-owner Ron Walchuk referred all questions to the league.
“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,” Graham Fraser, chairman of the BCHL Board of Governors said in a statement.
Wenatchee will be inheriting an Ice team that was a powerhouse this past season with NHL first-round draft picks Matthew Savoie (ninth overall to the Buffalo Sabres), Conor Geekie (11th overall to the Arizona Coyotes), Carson Lambos (26th overall to the Minnesota Wild) and signed Ottawa Senators prospect Zack Ostapchuk on the roster. But the team is being hit hard by graduation and faces a steep rebuilding process beginning next season, a job not made any easier by the trade in January that brought graduating Ostapchuk from the Vancouver Giants to Winnipeg in return for four future WHL Prospects Draft picks from the Ice, including three first-round selections.
But the WHL will do well in Wenatchee, predicted Price, who coached in Washington state as an assistant with the WHL’s Tri-City Americans. Price noted hockey is marketed differently in the U.S.: “The vibe from the parking lot and then into the arena is a little different [than in sa国际传媒]. There’s more of a football-game type feel to it.”
Victoria has been no stranger to WHL franchise moves. The Cougars played on Blanshard Street in the old Memorial Arena from 1971-72 to 1993-94 before being moved to Prince George. The Royals were the former Chilliwack Bruins, which moved to Victoria in 2011-12 to become the Royals at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
