It was announced Friday, June 16 that the Winnipeg ICE of the Western Hockey League (WHL) has been sold to David White and will be relocated to Wenatchee, Washington. The team will be rebranded as the Wenatchee Wild and play at the Town Toyota Center, which seats 4,300. This gives the league 11 teams in each conference. Wenatchee’s current British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) franchise will cease to exist. It’s unclear what will come of the BCHL franchise. Wild General Manager Bliss Littler said they’ll have to sell it either to an owner that would keep it in the BCHL or move it to the North American Hockey League (NAHL).
Littler touched on how it’s the first time they’re not an outlier in a league as they were in the NAHL and BCHL. When they were in the NAHL, they had to fly everywhere with their closest opponents being in Alaska. In the BCHL, they were the lone US-based team. With being in the WHL, they’ll be able to have teams much closer and a lot of visiting fans of opposing teams.
“We’ve never really had a whole bunch of rival fans travel or our fans travel there,” Littler said. “This is something that puts us right in the middle of the US Division. I think in this conference I think we have probably the best travel.”
The farthest opponent in the US Division for Wenatchee will be the Portland Winterhawks. In Washington, the Wild have the Everett Silvertips, Seattle Thunderbirds, Spokane Chiefs and Tri-City Americans. In British Columbia, they have close opponents with the Kamloops Blazers, Kelowna Rockets, Vancouver Giants and Victoria Royals. The farthest opponent in the BC Division will be the Prince George Cougars.
“So, I think it’s huge, I think it’s huge, I mean one, the league it really speaks for itself, but as far as the City of Wenatchee, I think this just solidifies the 15-year journey through tier-2 hockey,” Littler said. “It solidifies the commitment that David White made to buy a team to move it here, there’s no doubt hockey’s here for the long term.”
Littler touched on the youth hockey aspect and how players there grew up playing against programs that WHL teams have, specifically those in the US Division. He noted that when the youth teams go on the road, they’ll sometimes catch a WHL game.
When it comes to the transition from the BCHL level to the WHL level, Littler touched on how fans will see players stay for longer since it’s not a college route. But if players don’t end up going pro, they’ll get a stipend for college for every year they play in the WHL. With those players staying a little longer than BCHL players would, Littler touched on the talent they’d have.
“I think our fans are absolutely going to love it,” Littler said. “For myself, I think I’m going to love the next level, the highest level of junior hockey. I think fans will really get to know the players here, I think that’ll be something. I think they’ll see the level of hockey, I think people will see that it’s definitely different. I think they’ll see a quicker pace game and a more physical game so I think that’s right up Wenatchee’s alley here in with our fan base.”
He touched on Connor Bedard and said how he’ll definitely go number one and how it should be an exciting draft this year.
“Supposedly most people say the Western Hockey League is a top developmental league in the world at developing players for the NHL. I think just working with those types of players, having them in town here, I think watching those players grow and develop, I think that’s going to be awfully exciting.”
The last two seasons, Winnipeg has been one of the top teams in the league and fell to the Seattle Thunderbirds in this last season’s WHL Championship series.
“They still have some really high-end guys that can return if they don’t make the NHL team this year,” Littler said. “We’ll probably have three NHL first-round draft picks on the team. There’s a chance that those guys and you hope they make the NHL teams. Again, that’s why they play junior hockey, is to move on and use it as a stepping stone and in this league it’s a stepping stone to the National Hockey League.”
Some of those talented players who could come back include Matthew Savoie, Conor Geekie and Zach Benson. Savoie is signed by the Buffalo Sabres while Geekie is signed by the Arizona Coyotes. Benson is expected to go in the top 10 picks in this year’s NHL Draft June 28 in Nashville, Tennessee at Bridgestone Arena, where the Predators play.
As far as a schedule goes, Littler said he thinks it’ll be early July when that comes out and that on the website people will start seeing players that are protected shortly. However, it should be noted with the move to the WHL, the team will have a longer season that goes from September to the end of March with the playoffs starting at the tail end of March and early April. The BCHL plays a 54-game season while the WHL plays a 68-game season. This will see the Wild play 14 more games with the step-up. With the roster, they’ll have and all the close opponents, this should be an exciting season for the Wild organization, their fan base and those around the region.
Northwest Sports Desk 