OT: Winnipeg ICE sold - Moving to Wenatchee, Washington renamed Wenatchee Wild

[Guardian17]

Western Hockey League

Headquartered in Calgary, Albert, the Western Hockey League (WHL) consists of 22 Member Clubs located throughout Western Canada and the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

whl.ca

 

[jetsmooseice]

Missed the game last night except for the first 5 and last 5 minutes. Looks like the Blades were strengthened by getting De La Gorgendiere back in the lineup, while the ICE were probably feeling some bus legs.

ICE got killed by a 2:00 5 on 3 situation where they gave up two goals to surrender the league. Winnipeg has a good PK but giving up a 2 man advantage for a full two minutes is a pretty big hurdle to overcome. I saw the ICE pressed hard late in the game and had some great chances culminating in Zach Benson's point blank chance with like two seconds to go, but Ethan Chadwick stood tall and miraculously kept it out of the net. Big bounce-back game for him after losing in Winnipeg on Wednesday.

Anyway, I'm sure the ICE will enjoy a little rest until they play Calgary at home in a back to back on Wednesday and Thursday.

 

[snowkiddin]

Dylan Guenther getting released to the Thunderbirds is likely the death blow for the ICE’s championship chances. Seattle already has the better roster and now they’ve added a superstar (at the Dub level). Hope to see the ICE fight hard and take it, but I’m expecting a repeat of last years East final.

 

[jetsmooseice]

Dylan Guenther getting released to the Thunderbirds is likely the death blow for the ICE’s championship chances. Seattle already has the better roster and now they’ve added a superstar (at the Dub level). Hope to see the ICE fight hard and take it, but I’m expecting a repeat of last years East final.

Not spectacular news for the ICE but not an insurmountable hurdle either IMO.

Things happen, upsets happen... Everett was first in the Western Conference last season and they got knocked off in the first round by Zack Ostapchuk and the 8th seed Vancouver Giants. Also, Seattle isn't the only heavyweight team in the conference... Portland is a contender in their own right and a long series between the two could inflict some damage on Seattle. So can Kamloops for that matter. The ICE also have a reinforcement coming, in the form of Wyatt Wilson who will shore up the back end if and when he ever recovers from his injury (ha).

Let's not lose sight of the fact that the ICE gave the Oil Kings a pretty good run for their money last season, even though it was a 4-1 series in the conference final, two of the Oil Kings wins were in OT, and only the series clincher was a big win for Edmonton. I'm not making excuses, just saying that a few good bounces could have swayed the series. i.e. had Gage Alexander not made that blind backhand pass behind the net that lost game 1, it could have a been much different outcome. So I think the most that can be said here is that it has gone from being the ICE's championship to lose to it being a multiple horse race with the ICE, Thunderbirds, Winterhawks and Blazers as the top contenders.

 

[tbcwpg]

Not spectacular news for the ICE but not an insurmountable hurdle either IMO.

Things happen, upsets happen... Everett was first in the Western Conference last season and they got knocked off in the first round by Zack Ostapchuk and the 8th seed Vancouver Giants. Also, Seattle isn't the only heavyweight team in the conference... Portland is a contender in their own right and a long series between the two could inflict some damage on Seattle. So can Kamloops for that matter. The ICE also have a reinforcement coming, in the form of Wyatt Wilson who will shore up the back end if and when he ever recovers from his injury (ha).

Let's not lose sight of the fact that the ICE gave the Oil Kings a pretty good run for their money last season, even though it was a 4-1 series in the conference final, two of the Oil Kings wins were in OT, and only the series clincher was a big win for Edmonton. I'm not making excuses, just saying that a few good bounces could have swayed the series. i.e. had Gage Alexander not made that blind backhand pass behind the net that lost game 1, it could have a been much different outcome. So I think the most that can be said here is that it has gone from being the ICE's championship to lose to it being a multiple horse race with the ICE, Thunderbirds, Winterhawks and Blazers as the top contenders.

I agree, I think the ICE have the advantage of what appears to be a weaker conference to get through (knock on wood) - I think it could be like the 2018 Jets, in that I think the Jets were a better team than Vegas but they were just worn out from a bruising series against Nashville that they had nothing left in the tank. The ICE could play the Vegas role there in that sense.

 

[jetsmooseice]

I agree, I think the ICE have the advantage of what appears to be a weaker conference to get through (knock on wood) - I think it could be like the 2018 Jets, in that I think the Jets were a better team than Vegas but they were just worn out from a bruising series against Nashville that they had nothing left in the tank. The ICE could play the Vegas role there in that sense.

Good analogy.

The main heavyweights in the East other than the ICE are MJ, Saskatoon and Red Deer. The ICE haven't had much trouble with Red Deer (mind you they were missing Ben King the last couple of games), and they have proven capable of beating Saskatoon notwithstanding this weekend's loss (4-2 on the season against the Blades). Moose Jaw is the only team that I could potentially see giving the ICE a real headache in the playoffs, but even then the ICE are 2-2 against them on the season with the last two games being wins including a 6-0 win the last time they played.

Even if the ICE meet MJ in the playoffs (which I would expect), I don't think it would be as brutal and grinding as a TBirds/Winterhawks series. Throw in a series against Kamloops and the Birds could be pretty worn out by the time they reach the finals.

 

[jetsmooseice]

Well, so much for my plan to have the Winterhawks grind down the Thunderbirds in a long playoff battle in the Western Conference



Both the Jets fan and ICE fan in me are disappointed by this news...

 

[snowkiddin]

Well, so much for my plan to have the Winterhawks grind down the Thunderbirds in a long playoff battle in the Western Conference



Both the Jets fan and ICE fan in me are disappointed by this news...

You’ve really got to appreciate what the Thunderbirds have done though, from their perspective. Yeah, they fell backasswards into Lambert, but moves like trading for Guenther’s rights and trading for Point among others. It’s what I’ve been wanting the ICE to do.

That said, I think we have a better shot at upsetting Seattle than we did at upsetting Edmonton last year.

 

[jetsmooseice]

As things stand right now, it looks like the likeliest first round opponents for the ICE would be Medicine Hat, Regina or Swift Current. There's an outside chance of taking on Calgary or Brandon.

6		Calgary Hitmen	49	23	19	5	2	53	0.541	22	163	154	0-3-2-1	1-6-2-1	647
7		Regina Pats	49	24	22	2	1	51	0.520	22	179	196	0-1-0-0	6-3-1-0	651
8		Medicine Hat Tigers	50	21	21	7	1	50	0.500	19	183	172	6-0-2-0	7-1-2-0	619
9		Swift Current Broncos	47	23	21	1	2	49	0.521	21	158	176	1-0-0-0	4-4-1-1	675
10		Brandon Wheat Kings	48	19	22	7	0	45	0.469	18	144	167	0-2-2-0	3-4-3-0	679

No question that Regina would trigger a fan frenzy at the box office because of the 98 factor, I'm sure that hearing the Pats would be Winnipeg's first round opponent would be absolute music to 50 Below's ears. Brandon might create some excitement too because of the regional rivalry, but I think the novelty of the Battle of Manitoba has worn off a bit for the Brandonites as compared to the first season in 2019-20 when ICE games against the Wheaties felt like a Brandon reunion with all the black and gold in the stands at the ICE Cave.

I think it's pretty safe to say that the ICE would be very heavy favorites against any of these teams, although we will get a fresh look at Calgary and Swift Current very soon.

 

[jetsmooseice]

Super random tidbit about a guy you don't hear about much, but Evan Friesen had a nice top of the crease goal last weekend vs Brandon, and he has been front and centre more often lately. I looked him up on eliteprospects and it turns out he is 2G 2A in his last 5 games. Big numbers for a fourth line depth player like him. Nice to see my dawg Evan, good Winnipeg kid, getting the results!

 

[Guardian17]

Western Hockey League

Headquartered in Calgary, Albert, the Western Hockey League (WHL) consists of 22 Member Clubs located throughout Western Canada and the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

whl.ca

 

[snowkiddin]

Super random tidbit about a guy you don't hear about much, but Evan Friesen had a nice top of the crease goal last weekend vs Brandon, and he has been front and centre more often lately. I looked him up on eliteprospects and it turns out he is 2G 2A in his last 5 games. Big numbers for a fourth line depth player like him. Nice to see my dawg Evan, good Winnipeg kid, getting the results!

Guess who opened the scoring tonight …

 

[jetsmooseice]

Domination by the ICE last night. They haven't had too many of those kinds of games lately so it's nice to see it happen.

Wyatt Wilson was finally in the lineup, got to see him paired with pretty well everyone with 7 d-men, although Karter Prosofsky did come out partway through the game for reasons that weren't clear to me. I was wondering if he might be a little sluggish in terms of conditioning but he didn't look out of place to my eyes.

As one might expect there were some chippy moments in such a one-sided game, so it will be interesting to see how things go in the second half of the back to back tonight.

Lots of scoring to go around last night but I have to feel for Carson Latimer, he had several chances or near-chances but couldn't quite get it done. AFAIK he hasn't scored at home yet, I'd like to see him break the seal.

Guess who opened the scoring tonight …

3G 3A in the last 5GP!

Saw him have a lighthearted moment with his old Winnipeg Sharks AAA teammate Ethan Buenaventura who started in net for the Hitmen last night...

 

[snowkiddin]

Domination by the ICE last night. They haven't had too many of those kinds of games lately so it's nice to see it happen.

Wyatt Wilson was finally in the lineup, got to see him paired with pretty well everyone with 7 d-men, although Karter Prosofsky did come out partway through the game for reasons that weren't clear to me. I was wondering if he might be a little sluggish in terms of conditioning but he didn't look out of place to my eyes.

As one might expect there were some chippy moments in such a one-sided game, so it will be interesting to see how things go in the second half of the back to back tonight.

Lots of scoring to go around last night but I have to feel for Carson Latimer, he had several chances or near-chances but couldn't quite get it done. AFAIK he hasn't scored at home yet, I'd like to see him break the seal.




3G 3A in the last 5GP!

Saw him have a lighthearted moment with his old Winnipeg Sharks AAA teammate Ethan Buenaventura who started in net for the Hitmen last night...

They said on the radio that Prosofsky was hurt blocking a shot and they would wait for an update

 

[Guardian17]

Western Hockey League

Headquartered in Calgary, Albert, the Western Hockey League (WHL) consists of 22 Member Clubs located throughout Western Canada and the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

whl.ca

 

[jetsmooseice]

Wow, what a battle last night. After getting pounded the night before I kind of expected a frustrated, chippy Hitmen team but they actually came out flying and capitalized on an unusually weak defensive performance by the ICE and a very off Mason Beaupit in net. Kind of made me wonder if the ICE need to shore up their defensive fundamentals a little, they are always very eager to have dmen join the rush which resulted in several odd man rushes for the Hitmen going the other way, but that's another story. Things improved after Beaupit got yanked in favour of Daniel Hauser, who stabilized the situation.

The ICE bounced back from a couple of two goal deficits and eventually took the lead on a flurry of 4 goals in 6 minutes. Of note was Connor McClennon's hat trick which put him into second overall in all time ICE goal scoring. As noted by James Patrick in his post game comments, had he not been robbed of basically a season's worth of games by the early 2020 pandemic shutdown and the drastically shortened bubble season, it's fair to say he would have likely become the all time leader.

Hayden Moore of the Winnipeg Bruins got called up for his first WHL game, I saw him take his rookie lap in warmups and he had a gaggle of supporters cheering him on. I don't have a keen coach's eye to make a direct assessment of his performance but to my eyes he looked comfortable and fit in, no obvious mistakes and handled himself well in faceoffs. Jonas Woo was one of the breakout stars of the back half of the 2021-22 season, maybe it'll be Moore this season?

Next... bring on the Oil Kings.

 

[Guardian17]

Western Hockey League

Headquartered in Calgary, Albert, the Western Hockey League (WHL) consists of 22 Member Clubs located throughout Western Canada and the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

whl.ca

No post game presser from Coach Patrick.

 

[Tom ServoMST3K]

I'll actually be at my first-ever Ice game (Second ever major junior game) on Wednesday!

It's Avery Pickering appreciation night.

 

[jetsmooseice]

I'll actually be at my first-ever Ice game (Second ever major junior game) on Wednesday!

It's Avery Pickering appreciation night.

I'll be interested in your takes, I always enjoy hearing what people think about the team and players, as well as the experience generally.

SC shocked the ICE last time they came to town with a 4-3 win... they are no longer a pushover.

 

[RetroWinnipeg]

I'll actually be at my first-ever Ice game (Second ever major junior game) on Wednesday!

It's Avery Pickering appreciation night.

Hopefully you get your fill of cheesy bread and pancakes.

 

[RetroWinnipeg]

Another media outlet spelling concern about the future of the Winnipeg Ice.

CRACK IN THE ICE: First-place WHL team could be on last legs in Winnipeg

The Winnipeg Ice have built a dominant WHL team, but their failure to build a new rink puts the franchise’s future in question. Read more.

winnipegsun.com

Of course, when The Free Press reported on a similar story, the league and franchise released a statement calling such rumors about fines and sustainability concerns as false.

 

[jetsmooseice]

Another media outlet spelling concern about the future of the Winnipeg Ice.

CRACK IN THE ICE: First-place WHL team could be on last legs in Winnipeg

The Winnipeg Ice have built a dominant WHL team, but their failure to build a new rink puts the franchise’s future in question. Read more.

winnipegsun.com

Of course, when The Free Press reported on a similar story, the league and franchise released a statement calling such rumors about fines and sustainability concerns as false.

Here's how I look at it:

Is the team well run? Yes. The standings are clear evidence of that.
Is it paying its bills? Well, we certainly haven't heard anything to suggest it isn't.

So what exactly is the "problem" that the WHL is trying to fix here? If the owners are content with the arrangement then why does the league feel the need to meddle in the situation? Maybe the WHL should keep its nose out of it and go deal with some real problems. Or are they going to say "screw you" to Winnipeg and revoke the franchise? I'll never buy another WHL ticket again if that happens.

 

[Guardian17]

Another media outlet spelling concern about the future of the Winnipeg Ice.

CRACK IN THE ICE: First-place WHL team could be on last legs in Winnipeg

The Winnipeg Ice have built a dominant WHL team, but their failure to build a new rink puts the franchise’s future in question. Read more.

winnipegsun.com

Of course, when The Free Press reported on a similar story, the league and franchise released a statement calling such rumors about fines and sustainability concerns as false.

Sadly, you can see the writing on the wall.

Look at what's been traded away.

According to WHL blogger Alan Caldwell, who tracks these things, the Ice have traded away picks in the first, second and fourth rounds in this year’s draft, all their picks from Rounds 1 through 6 in 2024, their top four picks in ’25 and their first six picks in ’26.

Seems like they're going for a championship this season and then sell the team.

It's too bad as I really enjoyed the game I went to, but, the arena they play in really sucks.

 

[RetroWinnipeg]

Sadly, you can see the writing on the wall.

Look at what's been traded away.

According to WHL blogger Alan Caldwell, who tracks these things, the Ice have traded away picks in the first, second and fourth rounds in this year’s draft, all their picks from Rounds 1 through 6 in 2024, their top four picks in ’25 and their first six picks in ’26.

Seems like they're going for a championship this season and then sell the team.

It's too bad as I really enjoyed the game I went to, but, the arena they play in really sucks.

I think it's normal practice for a team gunning for a championship in junior hockey to go all in. Remember that all these players have a limited shelf life in the CHL.

Look at the Edmonton Oil Kings now after their championship. These things go in cycles.

 

[jetsmooseice]

I think it's normal practice for a team gunning for a championship in junior hockey to go all in. Remember that all these players have a limited shelf life in the CHL.

Look at the Edmonton Oil Kings now after their championship. These things go in cycles.

Exactly this. The ICE have gone all in as they pursue a championship... they're not burning the team to the ground before selling it.