Wednesday 30 September 2020

GX94's announces first 4 Junior Hockey Broadcasts for 2020/21 season

Fri. Oct. 9th/20 – Swan Valley Stampeders @ OCN Blizzard (No Pregame/7PM MB time) 

Fri. Oct 16th/20 – Swan Valley Stampeders @ OCN Blizzard (No Pregame/ 7PM MB time)

Fri. Oct 23rd/20 – Swan Valley Stampeders @ Waywayseecappo Wolverines (7:20PM/7:30PM MB time)

Fri. Oct 30th/20 – Waywayseecappo Wolverines @ Swan Valley Stampeders (No Pregame/ 7PM MB time) 

Friday 25 September 2020

SJHL's Yorkton Terriers to hold 2020 Fall Training Camp this weekend

 




With the start of the 2020/21 Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League season still up in the air, the Yorkton Terriers will go ahead and hold their fall training camp this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Westland Arena in Yorkton.

To follow with the health and safety protocols surrounding COVID-19, the Terriers are only allowed to bring in just over 30 players into camp, which will split into three teams that'll each play two games one day and 1 game the other two. 

Terriers' Head Coach/GM Mat Hehr says' even though there is a limit of how many players they can bring, he's still excited about the group. 
"It'll be all of our returning and signed guys that are coming up and then just a handful of our prospects and draft picks like our first round pick this year Carter Herman and 2nd round pick Dustin Renas as well so we're we're excited to see the younger guys and how they match up with the older guys and we'll aslo have a couple other list guys that are still kind of vying for spots,  so we'll definitely take a good long hard look and they'll be lots ice for them."

Hehr adds they are excited to get together and get back onto the ice, but after this weekend's main camp, what they do next is still up in the balance. 

"We'll kinda playing it day by day we're we're trying to get documents together here to send to Sask Health and you know we've been going back and forth with them and and it sounds positive right now but as you know and we know with the virus that everything can change in a day so we're just going to keep on playing it day by day and go from there."

The Terriers' sessions will run starting tonight (Fri) at 6PM with two sessions, then 2 more tomorrow afternoon (Sat) and it'll wrap up with two more on Sunday morning starting at 10AM. 

The camp will be closed to the public to follow the health guidelines, but fans can follow along to the Terriers on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to follow along with the camp all weekend. 


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Full audio with Terriers Head Coach/GM Mat Hehr below: 


Thursday 24 September 2020

SHSAA announces new Return to Play protocols; Some Sports to begin on Monday


Starting on Monday some high school sports can kick-off in Saskatchewan after the Saskatchewan High School Athletics Association announced some new return-to-play guidelines. 

Starting on September 28th, the sports of Football, Soccer and Cross Country may begin practicing while Volleyball can commence on Oct. 13th. 

The only exception for a participant cap will be Football which will 80 while the others sports will still have a cap of 50 participants for mini-leagues. 

SHSAA is also asking that for Football that it be either 6 aside or 9 aside to limit the amount of participants which allows for mini leagues to comprise of 4 to 5 teams. 

Other Sports: 

Cross Country

-Virtual Provincial run

- Athletes won't be ranked by time at Provincial level

Volleyball

- 50 competitors (including all on court which is players, officials and coaches)

- Mini leagues four to five teams

Soccer

- Asked to play 7 on 7 

- No Offsides, No Throw or Kick-Ins, etc. 


The return to play protocols for the rest of the High School sports including curling, basketball, badminton and track and field will be made available at a later date. 

CLICK HERE for a full look at the new SHSAA Return to Play protocols.


Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League announces they've been approved to begin games in October




The Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League is excited to announce that Hockey Manitoba has approved their league to move into Phase 3 of the Return to Play Plan.

This means that the U18 AAA League are permitted, beginning October 1st,  to have game play.

As per their last update, the 2020/21 season is slated to start on October 16, 2020 and they are working with teams to confirm home dates for their revised schedule. 

They anticipate releasing a full schedule in the next 2 weeks.

Wednesday 23 September 2020

Waywayseecappo drops overtime decision in Virden to kick-off MJHL Preseason; Wolverines acquire 20 year old F Wolter from Portage

The Waywayseecappo Wolverines' scored two late 3rd period goals by Russell, MB's Tyson Zimmer and 20 year old newcomer Mack Belinski to tie it up but they eventually fell 3-2 in overtime in Virden to kick-off their 2020 MJHL Preseason schedule. 

Colin Cook scored the OT winner for the Oil Caps who got singles from Josh Belcher and Owen Blocker. 

Liam Tereposky (19 saves on 20 shots) and Nathan Falloon (17 saves on 19 shots) split the goaltending duties for Wayway. 

The Wolverines continue their preseason on Friday when they visit Neepawa at 7:30PM MB time. 


Other Wednesday MJHL Preseason result: 

Winkler 4 Selkirk 3 
(Max Collette with SO winner) 

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The Waywayseecappo Wolverines have acquired forward Colby Wolter (00) from the Portage Terriers in exchange for future considerations.

Wolter, a native of Falun, Alberta, played in 14 games for the Terriers last season in an abbreviated injury season, where he racked up 6 points (3 goals, 3 assists). Wolter was excited when he found out he had been dealt to Waywayseecappo. “I’m super excited to get to Wayway and get on the ice with the boys. It will be good to get back in the swing of things and get the season going.”

Prior to his stint in Portage, Wolter played in the Alberta Junior Hockey League, where he had 41 points in 94 games.

When he arrives in the Waywayseecappo, he will reunite with some familiar faces. During the 2016-2017 season, Colby won an Alberta AAA U18 Championship and went to the Telus Cup with our coaches Taylor Harnett and Josh Lee. “The time I spent with Taylor and Josh in Leduc will make my transition easier because they know what type of I am and know what to expect of me. I also know what to expect out of them as coaches. I am excited to play for Taylor and Josh again. I want to bring the same winning mentality we had in Leduc to Wayway and end my 20-year-old season off with a Championship.”

The Wolverines would like to welcome Colby and his family into our organization!

(Wolverines Press Release)


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Tuesday 22 September 2020

Swan Valley drops MJHL Preseason Opener in Dauphin on Monday night

 The Swan Valley Stampeders' dropped their MJHL Preseason opener on Monday night, falling 6-1 to the Dauphin Kings at Credit Union Place.


Dauphin product Garrett Hrechka led the way for the Kings with a 4 point night (1G 3A) while Ben Hackl had 2G 1A and Zach Turner, Matthew Ramsey and Slade Stanick chipped in with singles.

 
2004-born prospect Ekam Dhaliwal replied with the lone goal for Swan who featured a roster of all 2004 and 2005 born players.

 
The Stamps' split their goaltending duties with Darby Tipton turning aside 22 of 24 shots before relieving to Tressor Wotton who made 29 saves on 33 shots.


The Stampeders' continue their preseason on Friday night when they visit the OCN Blizzard while Kings will host Neepawa on Sunday evening. 

Thursday 17 September 2020

Waywayseecappo & Swan Valley and 10 other MJHL clubs begin their Fall Training Camps starting on Friday!




We are just a day away from the 12 Manitoba Junior Hockey League teams being able to holding their training camps ahead of the start of the 2020/21 regular season which gets underway next month.

Fall training camps will look a little bit different this year due to the ongoing global pandemic, with teams asked to bring in just 34 players in for the tryouts.

For the Swan Valley Stampeders they will hold two games a day and a a practice both Friday and Saturday before wrapping up with a intra-squad game on Sunday before making some cuts. 

Stamps' Head Coach/GM Barry Wolff says there are just excited to get going.

"Yeah no question it's been a long time coming,  March seems like it was 25 years ago and you know to get back into the regular routine in the atmosphere and the players are starting to roll in so it's definitely an exciting time here."


The Stamps' had their 2019/20 playoff season was cut short in March when the CJHL cancelled the remainder of the season when they were up 2-1 in the MJHL Quarter-Final against the Waywayseecappo Wolverines. 

Wolff commends the work of the MJHL and Manitoba Health officials to help get them back on the ice. 

"No question, all the work that was done behind the scenes and to make you Manitoba health feel comfortable with the schedule on allowing us to play games is  incredible especially when you know we thought maybe once we took the step forward that some other leagues would follow and that's obviously not hasn't been the case yet so is it just makes the work that our league has done, just puts us up there on the pedestal."

The Waywayseecappo Wolverines will also begin their Training Camp on Friday at the Waywayseecappo Arena Complex. 

Wolverines Head Coach/GM Taylor Harnett says he's excited to finally get things rolling and he's expecting to have a pretty turnout for camp. 

"We'll being looking for guys to have compete and great character and we're gonna spend the next few weeks evaluating all those components and get the best 25 guys to start the year and it's gonna be a hard main camp I've talked to the players daily and kind of gave them a heads up a few months ago to make sure that they're ready to give it their best and work hard and and have a real competitive camp."


For more on the Stamps' follow along to their Twitter at @SVStampeders while follow @mjhlWolverines for all the updates from Wolverines camps. 


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Audio with Wolverines' Head Coach/GM Taylor Harnett 


Audio with Stamps' Head Coach/GM Barry Wolff 

Wednesday 16 September 2020

Training Camp Q & A with Melville Millionaires Head Coach/GM Mike Rooney



 



 1. What has the early stages of your Fall Camp been like?


"Camps went really well, we really put together a real competitive environment and you know what whether they're returning guys or list guys or maybe free agent guys everybody showed pretty well and it's really forcing us into a lot of difficult decisions."


         2. What have you seen from some of your        returnees? 


"Yeah no doubt you know what we you know course we've Luke Nkwama and Jonathan Krahn who are great leaders and have a strong skill set up front right away and you know we got a number of other guys there obviously that that really lead the way for us so that that's a good starting point and you know our young guys they've ben really impressive and you know what we know we're gonna have a little bit different look, and we have arguably get  3 of the best 2003 born. 17 year old forwards you could possibly get in the SJHL,  so we're pretty excited about that and it looks like we're gonna have a pretty exciting squad to watch."


         3. What's your plan going forward has you can continue to wait for the go-ahead to play? 

"Our plans have been put into place actually going back to June, we felt that if there wasn't actual games scheduled right upon us that we would go to what we refer to as the development phase we got a lot of creative ideas where it's not just a day after day of practice, but  we would develop skills, develop our team play and develop a competitive atmosphere and  that's been really good.  It's something where it's optional for them they don't have to be here for that until we get 2 weeks away from our game schedule but they've all bought in and they want to be here so that's exciting."


         4. What's your billeting situation been like thus far?

"Certainly different times right now Benny but it's been really tough, as excited as we are about our team and about our group you know the sad part is that come Monday when we  reconvene here after the weekend and we simply don't have enough billets we've actually have more billets right now in your Yorkton than we do in Melville it's dire needs and I get it with COVID, I get that everybody's lives are disrupted but we're really trying to make a contribution to city and we really need that support it's not you know trying to cry wolf too early or anything like that but this is real you know guys will go home for the weekend and our billet coordinator Renee has been working really hard and I feel bad for her but it's reality we will not be able to bring guys back and that's the sad part it's real and it's a little bit stressful right now. "


        5. Whats the assurance message you send to some prospective Mils billets?

"I know there's always different things that can attribute to it and you know if you have that revolving door of trading guys all the time you know what I don't believe in not obviously there's going to be player movement it's junior hockey you know what I look great at the start of the recruiting we look for good kids, good people we understand I wouldn't want to have an attitude or disciplinary problem in my dressing room so why would I expect that you do to. We've we went over and above with COVID precautions  every player that came into camp  had the test prior and if they couldn't have a test prior to wherever they're coming from then they got tested on arrival. We do daily temperature checks, we wear masks at the rink, and everywhere, we are over above what the majority of teams are doing and number 1 is we wanna keep our players safe we want to keep our staff and we wanna keep our billets and community safe and I think people that go down on a shopping spree to Regina and there's more risk going there then having one of these young players stay at their homes."
          

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If you're in Melville or area and you're interested in billeting a Millionaires' player please contact Renee at 1-306-730-7334


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Full audio of interview with Mike Rooney can be heard below: 


Waywayseecappo Wolverines Coaches Show - Sept. 15th edition

 

Tuesday 15 September 2020

Yorkton Terriers 2020 Annual General Meeting Recap

 

 

Just under 30 socially-distanced people were in attendance as SJHL’s Yorkton Terriers held their 2020 Annual General Meeting last night (Mon) in National Bank A Room at the Gallagher Center

The Terriers are coming off COVID-19 shortened 2019/20 season that was cut short back in mid-March in the middle of their SJHL Quarter-Final series against the La Ronge Ice Wolves. 

The pandemic, as it's done to many other things had an effect on the Terriers' financially as the hockey club suffered a loss of $76,999 from the 2019/20 season,  which now makes it an accumulated deficit in addition with the loss from the 2018/19 season for total of $131,793.

Terriers' President Corvyn Neufeld says they had lots of their fundraising ventures postponed or cancelled that didn't help the hockey bring in much revenue.

"We had a really exciting event planned with ladies night which was sold out that had to be postponed and that was that was looking to be a really nice fundraiser for us, we normally help out at the Yorkton Exhibition summer fair every year, working the gates and that's that's usually a $10,000-12,000 fundraiser for us, the alumni golf tournament which is not going to happen and our lottery was negatively impacted so the the list goes on and on.

Neufeld says along with getting the chance to get back on the ice whenever the SJHL gets the go-ahead from Saskatchewan Health officials, they want to continue the ideas they had for this past year that were affected by COVID-19.

He also mentioned that there were events and things that were postponed this year that they can look forward to occur in the future that will help with the bottom line financially. 

"There are promising things like some of the things were just postponed so that means that they're gonna happen again just when when that will happen we don't know but yeah there's a SHA hall of fame induction banquet that that's still going to happen and for the ladies nights it can still happen so for there are promising signs is just a matter of when we can get it back to those things."

Terriers 2020/21 Board of Directors:

Elected for new 2 year terms ending in 2022
John Anderson
Corvyn Neufeld
Chris Kosteroski
Kurt Karcha
Pat Holtkamp
Blaine Buckle

Directors on 2nd year of 2 year term ending in 2021
Darren Campbell
Chad Holinaty
Curtis Maleschuk
Peter Franck

**Thomas Mamela (Resigned from board meaning 1 One year term is open)
 

Some Financial Report notes:
-- 2020 Lotto Revenue not shown in the financials due to the Lotto being extended into June.

– Gate receipt revenue dropped over $66,000.

– Got over $23,000 dollars combined from Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy and Saskatchewan Small Business Emergency Payment Program
 

Terriers President Corvyn Neufeld spoke after Monday’s meeting:


Some Hockey Operations Notes: 

-Club waiting on approval from Sask Health to go ahead with Training Camp

- Eligible returning Defenceman Jordan Mis (going to school at NAIT) and Callum McDonald (requested trade back to BC) will not be returning to hockey club for 2020-21 season 

- 17 players eligible to return to Terriers for upcoming season (12 F's 4 D and 1 goalie)

Terriers Head Coach/GM Mat Hehr spoke after Monday's meeting


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Monday 14 September 2020

2020/21 MJHL Regular Season schedule has been released

 The Manitoba Junior Hockey League released their 2020/21 regular season schedule.

The schedule will span over 22 weekends beginning on October 9th and ending on March 13th.

Teams are split into three-four team divisions to limit provincial travel and minimize the risk of exposure between the teams.

Teams will play each divisional opponent eight times and out of division opponents twice, for a shortened 40 game season.

The Swan Valley Stampeders will begin their season in The Pas on October 9th against the OCN Blizzard, while the Waywayseecappo Wolverines will start their season at the Credit Union Place in Dauphin against the Kings, also on October 9th.

Wednesday 2 September 2020

Gallageher Center's arena in Yorkton will now be known as "Westland Arena"

 Effective September 1, the former Farrell Agencies Arena at the Gallagher Centre has become the Westland Arena, as Westland Insurance Group recently purchased Farrell Agencies Limited in Yorkton.    

“Westland Insurance is excited to be part of the Yorkton community and to continue the relationship with the Gallagher Centre as Westland Arena. We are looking forward to continuing our involvement in the community and surrounding area,” said Tim Mackie, Executive Vice President, Operations, for Westland Insurance. 

“We are pleased to welcome Westland Insurance Group to our Gallagher Centre sponsorship family, and look forward to continuing the excellent working relationship we have experienced with Farrell Agencies since 2006,” said Mayor Bob Maloney.  Our arena is one of the most important assets in our community and is integral to the lives of so many of our residents throughout their lives,” said the Mayor.   

The current sponsorship agreement runs until 2026.