It isn't often that professional hockey teams fold in the middle of a season, but the team with the jersey to the left - the UHL's Mohawk Valley Prowlers - were one of the few pro teams who did fold midway through their campaign. The team only lasted in Utica, New York from 1998 to 2001, so it's not like they had a massive impact on the community in their short existence. However, there are a few notes to examine when it comes to the Prowlers calling Utica home for parts of three seasons. Let's look at the Prowlers announcing their financial issues and what happened from there.
According to a report from The Associated Press on February 8, 2001, the Prowlers sought bankruptcy protection, depending on who you believe, sometime between Friday, February 2 through Tuesday, February 6 after telling a judge that the team was "spending more than 40 percent than it takes in". Citing total assets of $1.7 million and liabilities of $3.94 million, it's not hard to see why the team was suffering as it was spending $1.40 for every dollar made.
With the announcement, the players on the Prowlers' roster voted to strike in knowing that they likely weren't going to be paid until the bankruptcy matter was resolved. Rumours of missed salary payments totalling $40,000 and missed rent payments forcing players to be evicted from their apartments gave the players all the necessary motivation they needed not to play, and the team had no way of borrowing money to make their payroll while under bankruptcy protection despite owner Jack Tompkins saying that the players were owed only $5667 due to creditor protection. As a result of the team being unable to honour their contractual obligations to the players, the entire roster was declared as creditors owed money. Would ever get the money owed?
As the headline from the Syracuse Herald American stated, the Prowlers were forced to use replacement players for their scheduled game on February 11, 2001 against the BC Icemen. For those wondering, the "BC" stands for Broome County as the Icemen called Binghamton, New York home, but they took the ice against a Prowlers team that literally was made up of whoever the Prowlers could find who wasn't under contract. The end result was an 18-4 blowout by the Icemen, and Prowlers' management vowed that Wednesday's game against the Icemen would also see replacement players take the ice in Prowlers uniforms. Based on those results from Sunday, it would appear that their Prowlers needed professional players back.
It seems that Mohawk Valley wasn't done dealing their contracted players, though, as the Prowlers traded 12-goal, 35-point centerman Harold Hersh to Quad City on Monday, February 12. That's one way to satisfy one creditor as Hersh would finish the season in Quad City where he'd score 16 points in 19 games before adding six points in 11 games en route to a UHL championship!
The AHL's Lowell Lock Monsters would pick up a player from the Prowlers as well as they added noted bruiser Andre Payette from Mohawk Valley. Tye 6'2", 205-pound Payette had already made a name for himself in the UHL, scoring nine goals and 18 assists while racking up 244 PIMs in 45 games. Lowell added Payette to their lineup to replace noted pugilist Kip Brennan who returned to the OHL's Sudbury Wolves after it was discovered he still had junior hockey eligibility.
Apparently, business continued as if nothing ever changed for the Prowlers as they waived Quintin Brickley who never even played for them while claiming John Dowd from New Haven. On the other side, former leading scorer Jay Mazur, who was delcared a free agent following the bankruptcy filing, signed with New Haven to strengthen their lineup. Clearly, things were starting to crumble in Mohawk Valley, so it seemed like the inevitable was on the horizon.
On February 22, the final nail in the coffin was hammered as the Mohawk Valley Prowlers closed their doors on the season and on the franchise. With the team officially in bankruptcy proceedings, trustee Michael Balanoff oversaw the proceedings of how the team would repay its creditors which, as the article states, included over 1000 season-ticket holders. Of course, players were also included in the list of creditors, but any players still under contract and on the Prowlers payroll were officially made free agents by the UHL and were able to sign with any team of their choosing. Most players went on to find a new team by the start of the following season, but there was one replacement player whose statistics caught my attention as I was researching another story. Depending on when, he may have been part of the 18-4 loss against the BC Icemen back on February 11.
This young man is Terry Craven. In this picture taken on February 21 as the Prowlers cleared out their lockers following the announcement of the team folding, the 24 year-old had played a total of seven professional minutes of UHL hockey - one with the Asheville Smoke and six with the Mohawk Valley Prowlers. He had 24 NCAA games to his name with the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts where his GAA and save percentage weren't going to get him scouted by NHL personnel, but he could be a decent goalie with a little seasoning in the UHL.
I'm not here to bring down Terry Craven in any way because he clearly got stuck in an untenable situation. Playing for the Prowlers while the franchise crumbles is not one that any player would want, but Craven's numbers are hard to ignore. Consider the following:
In his six minutes of standing in the blue paint for the Prowlers, he surrendered five goals on 11 shots and suffered his only professional loss at the UHL level or above in terms of his professional career. That is heartbreaking to read for a kid just trying to find his way into pro hockey, but Craven's record will show his Prowlers time with an 0-1-0 record, a 46.75 GAA, and a .545 save percentage. Just brutal!
There is a bright spot, though: Craven did get picked up as a goaltender for the ECHL's Lexington Men O'War in 2003. He spent two minutes on the ice in the ECHL with Lexington and made one save, but the Men O'War clearly saw something in Craven by bringing him in as an EBUG after spending nearly two years out of hockey!
Terry Craven's story won't be a 30-For-30 on ESPN or a Netflix special, but he did get nine minutes of professional hockey under his belt. Two-thirds of that time came in a Prowlers jersey where he was thrown to the wolves, but Craven did spend two minutes in an ECHL game where he officially made one save and finished with a 0.00 GAA and a 1.000 save percentage. The Prowlers franchise may have died in 2001, gone for good, but Terry Craven wasn't quite done.
Sometimes, out of the worst situations, good things happen. While Terry Craven never had a long or propserous professional hockey career, he did stop one puck in the ECHL with the Lexington Man O'War which is more than a lot of other good goaltenders can say they did. Who knows if that would have happened had it not been for the UHL's Mohawk Valley Prowlers franchise hemorrhaging money.
As we know, the NHL has mandated that every team has to have an Emergency Back-Up Goaltender, EBUG, available this season. We've already seen fun stories about Peter Thome getting his shot and the return of the first NHL EBUG to win a game, but there was an EBUG sighting on another team long before David Ayles stepped onto the ice for the Hurricanes. Pictured to the left is that EBUG, and his name is Joe Franke who was pressed into action on December 14, 2002 as the Fort Wayne Komets and Elmira Jackals battled in the ECHL! How did this happen? Who is Joe Franke? Is he officially the first EBUG in modern hockey? Let's find out as we look at this awesome hockey history!
Franke wasn't on the Fort Wayne roster that night or any other night as an everyday goaltender. Instead, Franke was hired in 1978 by the team as their full-time equipment manager, but that didn't stop him from getting his name on the line-up sheet as a netminder more than 30 times in his illustrious career before he stepped away from the organization in 2020! And that leads us to December of 2002.
Again, the Komets put out an incredible video about this significant moment in their history and in hockey history, so I'd be remiss if I didn't post it here. Here is the video about Joe Franke's big night!
Pretty incredible video, right? Franke went in with eleven minutes remaining in the third period with Fort Wayne and Elmira tied 1-1. But how did Franke even get the chance to head out onto the ice?
As mentioned in the video, Komets starting goaltender Tom Lawson was called up to Milwaukee by the AHL's Admirals as they were battling a rough stretch with injuries and recalls by the Predators. As such, that left Pokey Reddick as the lone netminder for Fort Wayne despite him struggling with a virus. Cory Campbell, Scott Rideout, and Parris Duffus were the only other goalies used by the Komets that season, and none were available for their game against Elmira, forcing Franke into stand-by mode in case anything happened.
With Reddick cramping up in the third period and unable to play, Franke was sent to the dressing room to get ready as he would be needed to stop pucks. Minutes later, Franke would emerge down the tunnel wearing #35 in full gear as he stepped onto the ice. Shortly after he took his spot in the crease, Colin Chaulk scored for the Komets and Franke, unbelievably, earned an assist on his goal!
With Fort Wayne leading 3-1 after scoring a second time in the final frame, all the Komets had to do was shut down the Jackals for the win. However, the Jackals would rally for two goals late to tie the game at 3-3, and this UHL contest needed a shootout to determine the winner. Could Franke shut the door in the skills competition?
After both shooters failed to score in the first round of the shootout, Fort Wayne scored three times - Dustin Virag, Colin Chaulk, and Kelly Perrault - while Franke stopped Aaron Phillips in Round Five to give Fort Wayne the 3-1 shootout win for the 4-3 victory in the game! As such, Franke earned the win, picked up an assist, and stopped four of six shots plus four more in the shootout! How awesome is that debut?
While he's not the first EBUG in hockey history, Joe Franke might be the first EBUG to win a game at any professional level in modern hockey. Picking up an assist is also pretty cool for any goalie, but imagine getting an assist in your only game as a professional goalie! Well done, Joe, in crossing off two major stats in one fell swoop!
Just for fun, the Komets, as mentioned in the video, won the UHL championship that season, and that would add a second championship ring to Franke's jewelry box as he had also won a Stanley Cup with the 1991 Pittsburgh Penguins! He'd also add three Turner Cup rings from the IHL and a Central Hocley Lague championship ring during his time with the Komets, but his eleven minutes in net will never be forgotten in Fort Wayne, Indiana!
I know it won't happen, but maybe the Komets should retire #35 in honour of Joe Franke's tenure and his one big win in a Komets net!
The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, takes over the UMFM studio space once again tonight to talk all things puck. Usually, we have a main story which we want to focus on to explain the nuances that fans should know, but tonight's going to be just a smorgasbord of smaller stories that will fill the hour. There will be discussions on each, but there isn't one main topic that will eat up a half-hour of show time. If you're ready for lots of little stories that need some dissecting, make sure you're ready to roll for The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!
Tonight, Teebz and Jason will rock the hockey world by talking about a number of topics including the Hometown Remix jersey announcement, the Islanders making their third jersey official after the fan voting closed, the Gwinnett Gladiators going back to the future, the NHL allowing a banned jersey number again, the AIHL playoff picture for this weekend, Dublin's ambitious new project, a former NHLer returning to the ECHL, a Stanley Cup winner who will miss the start of the season, a Hall-of-Famer who may have suffered, and anything else that may bounce across our respective desks today! Settle in for some glove-dropping, shot-blocking, stick-swinging, and puck-chucking chatter on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT on one of 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!
If you live outside Winnipeg and want to listen, we have options! The UMFM website's streaming player works well if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store.
If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard! And because both Teebz and Jason are on the butterfly app where things are less noisy, you can find Teebz here and Jason here on Bluesky!
Tonight, Teebz and Jason talk bad jerseys, good colours, fun numbers, Aussie madness, Irish dreams, Russians returning, Danes hurting, saving brains, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!
Oilers fans are hoping this isn't going to be a common occurrence, but goaltender Frederik Andersen will start the season on the shelf after being injured during an off-season training session. He'll be joined by defenceman Alec Regula and forwards Mattias Janmark and Matt Savoie as players who miss training camp with injuries, but that one-year, $2.8-million contract that Andersen signed to stabilize Edmonton's goaltending will be tested in October as the Oilers are forced to start the season with a netminding tandem that is missing their big catch in free agency.
There were no reports on what may be ailing Andersen as the start of the season nears, but one has to wonder if the heavy workload he endured through the playoffs had something to do with his current injury. At the time, it was reported as a knee injury, and that should have fans worried as goalies generally need knees that work well.
Of course, this comes on the heels of Andersen missing time in late October 2024 with a lower-body issue which, eventually, required knee surgery in November 2024, and that injury kept him out for roughly three months before returning in January 2025. He practiced for a week with the Hurricanes before the team decided to place him on injured reserve again, limiting him to just 22 games in 2024-25.
Andersen is 36 years-old so he's not getting younger, and repeated "lower-body injuries" that he's had over the course of his career don't heal as fast. I respect that the Oilers saw him as an upgrade to their goaltending situation, but there's a reason why the Hurricanes went with Brandon Bussi over re-signing Frederik Andersen, and a lot of it has to do with being younger, cheaper, and more durable. That's not to say Andersen can't recover and help Edmonton win, but Andersen played just 107 games in the last four seasons for the Hurricanes.
As it stands, the Edmonton Oilers will start the season with Tristan Jarry and Devon Levi as their goaltending tandem, and Frederik Andersen will work to get himself ready for a late-October or early-November debut assuming all goes well. If the Oilers get the Tristan Jarry who sported an .858 save percentage in 19 appearances last year, the month of October could be rough. Devon Levi has yet to prove he can be an NHL goalie, so the Oilers are going to have to hope that Andersen recovers quickly from whatever this injury is.
Even if his recovery gets him back in the lineup by the start of November, he'll need some time to be game-ready as he's scheduled to miss all of training camp and the exhibition games that the Oilers play. With fifteen games in November alone, the Oilers may need all three goalies healthy if they're going to manage each one's minutes.
The Oilers will be on the road from October 31 to November 3 where they play the Islanders and Rangers back-to-back before finishing off the trip against the Devils. They return home for a game against the Ducks on November 5 that starts a four-games-in-seven-days run, and then they hit the road for six games in nine nights between November 14 and 22. If the Oilers or Andersen wanted to be thrown into the fire after his recovery, the November schedule might be that fire.
I don't know who placed the curse on Connor McDavid and/or Leon Draisaitl, but they're going to have to hope that Jarry and Levi can hold the fort while Andersen is on the mend. If the losses start piling up before Andersen's expected return, it may be too deep of a hole to dig out of when it comes to making the playoffs this season.
For those that are unaware, there are specific numbers that cannot be worn in the NHL and on specific teams. Most of these are retired numbers that teams no longer keep in circulation, but specific numbers like #99 are retired league-wide so no one can wear that number again. There are two numbers that the NHL demanded be removed from circulation due to their ability to mess with the NHL's early statistical programs, and those numbers are #0, last worn by Neil Sheehy, and #00, last worn by Martin Biron as seen above. However, it seems the NHL has evolved enough that these zeroes are no longer a problem for their stats programs thanks to one team's signing announcement today!
The Minnesota Wild were going about their business today by posting on their website that they had hired Peter Thome as their new Hockey Operations Analyst. Nothing in that seems earth-moving, but they tacked on that Thome will also serve as the Wild's Emergency Backup Goalie (EBUG) this season. As you may recall, every team is required to have an official EBUG under contract this season.
The former NCAA and ECHL netminder and former 2016 Columbus Blue Jackets draft pick had a short career stopping pucks at the professional level, but he's also worked as an analyst in the USHL and as a video coach in the AHL. All of that is fine and dandy for Thome while he's wearing a suit, but there was one line that stuck out about what he'll be wearing as a goaltender for the Wild if he's needed:
"He will wear sweater No. 00 with Minnesota."
How can that be after the league banned the number in 1996 over issues with their player database and the inability to accurately record players using those numbers? Did it take thirty years for the NHL to figure out how to properly enter #00 as a valid number into that database? Will we see all EBUGs wearing #00 this season based on Thome's number? We all have questions that need answers!
I've seen a few websites indicate that all EBUGs this season will be assigned #00, and that may very well happen. However, there is no language in the NHL-NHLPA CBA Memorandum of Understanding filed last season that speaks to this number assignment and that includes Attachment 87 that speaks directly to the new EBUG rules that teams are required to follow. Logically, however, that would make sense.
Whatever the case may be for the other 31 teams, there will be one player who has #00 as his assigned jersey number next season. Congratulations to Peter Thome not only on his hiring today with the Minnesota Wild, but for becoming the answer to an NHL trivia question one day! Will #0 be the next number to be reinstated?
With the regular season coming to a close in the "land down under", six teams would know who was playing whom next week in the AIHL Playoffs. They're competing for the trophy to the left - the Goodall Cup - which was most recently won in 2025 by the Melbourne Ice. There were interesting games played this weekend with playoff spots on the line, and the defending champions were one of those teams. With every team approaching its 30th game of the season, let's take a look at who qualified to play next week, which teams earned byes to the semifinal, and which teams are the likely favorite to play in the one-game, winner-takes-all final on August 30 at O'Brien Icehouse!
Newcastle Northstars
We'll start with the Northstars who have seemingly been at the top of the AIHL standings all season long. The Northstars needed a win to guarantee themselves a top-two finish, and two wins would lock up the top spot in the AIHL. They were facing the eight-place Central Coast Rhinos and the seventh-place Sydney Bears who were fighting for their playoff lives. Would they earn the top seeding?
The Rhinos weren't about to roll over and allow Newcastle to have three points for free as the teams were tied at 0-0 through 20 minutes of play. Two quick goals by the Rhinos before the second period was five minutes old put the Northstars back on their heels a bit, but they'd get one of those back 56 seconds after the Rhinos' second goal. The second period would end in that 2-1 score with Central Coast needing just 20 more minutes for a big win.
Good teams find a way to win, though, and the Northstars would draw even when Evgenii Skachkov scored his 40th goal of the season midway through the third period, and Aziz Baazzi pushed Newcastle ahead by a 3-2 score with his goal with just over five minutes remaining. The Rhinos simply couldn't find an answer to that goal as Newcastle took the 3-2 game and moved closer to securing first-overall in the standings. Big shout-out to Rhinos goaltender Anand Oberoi who made 55 stops in the loss and deserved better.
Sunday's game against the Bears was made a little easier based on other scores on Saturday, and the Northstars needed just a win in regulation or in extra time to secure top spot. Despite the Bears jumping out to a 3-0 lead through 20 minutes, the Northstars found the back of the net in the second period, but still trailed 5-3 when the horn sounded. Just as they did one before, though, they crushed dreams with a five-goal third period to capture the AIHL's top spot with an 8-5 win over the Sydney Bears for their 21st win.
Canberra Brave
The Brave had a shot at wrapping up first-place with wins and a little help, but we know the Northstars already had secured a share of first-place by Saturday evening. The Brave also needed to win to hold off the Melbourne Mustangs who had one remaining game, and that was against this Brave team. Canberra controlled their own destiny in this weekend's games, so could they capture a bye to the semifinal?
Canberra had the pleasure of dealing with the sixth-place Melbourne Ice on Saturday, and the Ice were battling for their own playoff lives as they held the final playoff spot. After a first period that saw Melbourne take a 2-1 lead followed by a scoreless second period, the Brave fell behind 3-1 before scoring twice in the final 35 seconds of the game to push this game to overtime at a 3-3 score! Dominic Canic and Justin Maylan were the heroes there, but this game wasn't done.
Overtime solved nothing, so a shootout was needed to find a winner. Ice netminder Tatsunoshin Ishida stopped both of the Brave's first two shooters while David Booth scored for the Ice. Melbourne's Kolton Shindle would end this game as the third Ice shooter when he beat
Joel Hasselman, giving the Ice a 4-3 shootout win over the Brave! The shootout loss pushed the Brave ahead of the Melbourne Mustangs by one point, but Sunday's game now loomed large when it came to determining second-place in the AIHL! See below for Sunday's game!
Melbourne Mustangs
Melbourne already knew that they could not catch the Northstars following Newcastle's win on Saturday, so second-place was the goal for the Mustangs. With the Brave ahead by one point, the Mustangs were in must-win mode as a regulation or extra-time win would push them past the Brave and into second-place. The Brave, for their part, also had to win as a loss would allow Melbourne to leap past them, but an extra-time loss would see Melbourne move into second-place by virtue of total wins. There was high-stakes hockey drama on Sunday afternoon at the O'Brien Icehouse in Victoria, Australia!
The Brave found themselves reeling after another slow start as they trailed by a 3-0 score at the end of 20 minutes, but they'd score three goals of their own to put the Mustangs on their heels at the end of the second period. After Spencer Cox put the Brave up 4-3 just 53 seconds into the final frame, the two teams would battle for the next 18 minutes until Cox was sent to the sin bin for holding. On the power-play, Mustangs defender Brody Crane fired a wrist shot that got past Joel Hasselman and dented twine with 30.6 seconds remaining, and this game was tied at 4-4 and heading to extra time!
In overtime, the Brave were cursed by another penalty as Casey Kubara was sent off for tripping with 92 seconds remaining in the game. Knowing they had to win to secure second-place, the Mustangs threw caution to the wind and brought goaltender Noah Giesbrecht for a fifth attacker. Would this gamble pay off for the Mustangs?
Defender Philippe Caron send the Melbourne crowd home happy as he tees up his twelfth goal of the season to give the Mustangs the 5-4 victory over the Brave and, more importantly, moves the Mustangs into second-place in the AIHL standings! What a comeback!
Perth Thunder
The Thunder knew they would either be in fourth-, fifth-, or sixth-place as the season wound down thanks to the gap that opened up in the standings between the top-three teams and themselves. Thanks to a few key wins down the stretch, Perth only needed one win this weekend to lock up fourth-place. With a pair of games against the last-place Adelaide Adrenaline, Perth knew what it had to do.
Perth grabbed a 1-0 lead through the first period on Saturday before the teams traded goals in the second period. The Thunder would score two shorthanded goals and a power-play goal in the third period, however, to salt this game away as the 5-1 victory moved them to 48 points where none of the Sydney Ice Dogs, the Sydney Bears, nor the Melbourne Ice could catch them in the standings.
That made Sunday's game against the Adrenaline all for naught, but the youngsters who make up Adelaide's roster showed up to close out their season with a win! The Adrenaline built a 2-0 lead through 20 minutes and a 5-0 lead through 40 minutes en route to a 5-1 victory for their third win of the season and something to build on for the 2027 season! Perth, however, will be the fourth-seeded team.
Sydney Ice Dogs
The Sydney Ice Dogs controlled their own destiny going into the final weekend of play. They wanted to win both, of course, to give them the best chance of making the playoffs, but they could also use help when it came to the Sydney Bears and the Melbourne Ice. The Ice and Bears, thanks to scheduling, had just one game remaining on their calendar, so the Ice Dogs had the advantage here. All they had to do was get ahead of Melbourne, and they'd bump the defending champions out of the playoff picture! Could they actually do that? Two games against the ninth-place Brisbane Lightning certainly helps!
Rarely do I get to say that these two teams combined for 36 goals this weekend, but things went a little crazy in Brisbane between the Ice Dogs and Lightning. Saturday night saw Sydney establish a 5-2 lead in the first period, and it's a lead they would not relinquish despite Brisbane;'s best efforts in a 13-10 victory! That win put them a point back of the Ice after Melbourne's shootout win, so there was more work to do on Sunday if the Ice Dogs wanted in on the playoffs.
If you thought that the coaches may have had a chat with their players about playing defence, think again. The Lightning built a 4-1 lead through 23 minutes of play, but the Ice Dogs knew the stakes of this game. They rattled off seven goals in just over 27 minutes of play while only surrendering one more, and the Ice Dogs defeated the Brisbane Lightning by an 8-5 score to leapfrog the idle Melbourne Ice into a playoff spot! Other games still needed to be completed to know where the Ice Dogs would ultimately finish, but Sydney punched their ticket to the playoffs with this win over Brisbane!
Sydney Bears
The Sydney Bears were scoreboard watching when it came to the Ice and Ice Dogs. Their last game was on Sunday against the Northstars, so they were hoping that Brisbane could do them a favour and keep the Ice Dogs from climbing the standings. What made Sunday's game weird is that the Bears knew what their status would be after Melbourne's game on Saturday, and because they actually had a 0.5-point lead over the Ice in the standings thanks to a weird decision made by the AIHL. In short, the Bears were already in the playoffs thanks to that half-point regardless of what the Ice did on Saturday.
As we saw above, the Northstars ended the Bears' season on a losing note by an 8-5 setback, but that loss was also more costly than just a loss in the standings. The loss allowed the Ice Dogs to jump the Bears in the standings as well, leaving the Ice Dogs in fifth-place and the Bears in sixth-place. The defending champions in the Melbourne Ice were officially eliminated by the Ice Dogs' win on Sunday.
The Playoff Picture
With the six teams officially known for the playoffs, the AIHL released the following graphic for fans to follow over the next two weekends.
The Perth Thunder and the Sydney Ice Dogs will meet next Friday with the winner moving on to play the Newcastle Northstars on Saturday while the Canberra Brave and Sydney Bears will meet on Friday with the winner of that game earning the right to play the Melbourne Mustangs on Saturday. Obviously, the winners of the semifinal games will meet in the final on Sunday, August 30 at 2pm Australian time, and that game will be broadcast on ESPN!
There's no doubt that playoff hockey is the best hockey, but, when playoff lives are on the line, heroes emerge and bold teams prevail. We saw the Mustangs and the Ice Dogs win their way into better playoff seedings, and now we'll see which of the six remaining AIHL teams can win their way to championship glory on August 30! Three-straight wins is all that stands between one team and a celebration!
With the calendar flipping to August and the summer entering its later stages of the season, summer hockey leagues and camps will begin to give way to full seasons once more. When the seasons are flipped, though, teams who play through the winter in the southern hemisphere will get to look forward to warm summer days like we're experiencing now. That's the case for the New Zealand Women's Ice Hockey League as the NZWIHL crowned a champion today despite the game being televised during the wee hours of Saturday in North America! Which teams made the final and what were the storylines? Let's take a dive into the NZWIHL!
The two teams shown above were your finalists from the four-team NZWIHL as the Auckland Steel and Wakatipu Wild earned their way into the final game to determine the 2026 NZWIHL championship. The Wild beat the Dunedin Thunder on Saturday to book their spot in the final while the Steel dismissed the Canterbury Thunder earlier on Saturday to claim their berth as well. Dunedin, it should be noted, beat the Thunder in the bronze medal game on Sunday afternoon.
Auckland came into the final as the favorite thanks to posting an undefeated regular season where they went 11-0-1-0 for 35 points. That one overtime win came back on July 25 when the Steel needed 57 seconds beyond regulation time to win 2-1 over Dunedin. Jasmine Horner-Pascoe scored her 14th goal in overtime for that win, and she'd finish second in team and league scoring with 26 points. League leader Katya Blong had 35 points, third-place leader Lauren Askenazy had 21 points, and fourth-place leader Brooke Patron had 17 points all for Auckland. In short, they scored a lot and won a lot.
Wakapitu struggled to find their rhythm this season, posting a 2-6-1-3 record for 11 points and finishing in third-place. Kelli Burstein ha a good season with ten goals and 14 points, but no other Wild player scored more than seven points. New Zealand-born Jordan Wichman was 2-3-1-0 this season with a 2.75 GAA and a .921 save percentage, but it's hard to win games when the Wild only averaged 2.00 goals-per-game. However, a four-goal outburst by Burstein powered the Wild to a 5-1 win past the Thunder in their playoff game for an unexpected chance at Sunday's NZWIHL championship!
Would the Wild have enough left in the tank to upset Auckland?
That question was answered early in Sunday's championship game as Auckland scored three times in the opening ten minutes and five times in the first frame to pace the Steel to a 5-1 lead after twenty minutes. The teams would trade goals in the middle period before Auckland tacked on two more in third period to skate to the 8-2 championship win as the 2026 NZWIHL season came to a close!
Highlights from the NZWIHL championship game can be seen below!
What's fun in all of this is seeing a player like Katya Blong do well as she skates with McGill where she's earning her kinesiology degree. Blong looks like she's going to be one of New Zealand's best players for a long time, and it's awesome to her skating in the Canadian university circuit. Brooke Patron was a Saskatchewan Huskies defender for four seasons and she appears to be helping the NZWIHL and the Steel with her skills. Goaltender Alexa Gibson seems to be enjoying life in Auckland after skating for the Ottawa Gee-Gees!
Even cooler is that Lochlyn Hyde, who splits the goaltending duties with Gibson, has jumped into the NZIHL - the men's league - on occasion when teams have needed a goaltender. To date, Hyde has played three games in the top division where she has a 3.50 GAA and an .885 save percentage, and has helped out the second-division league twice where she's officially 1-1-0! How cool is that?
On the other side, Wakatipu had no players who suited up in U SPORTS, but Kelli Berstein did play for the University of Minnesota. However, the gap in skill between these two teams was evident in the final as Auckland outshot Wakatipu 38-22 and controlled the play a lot. I get that no one is going to tell Auckland to break their team up to disperse talent across the other three teams, but the 14-point gap between Auckland and second-place Dunedin is hard to fathom in a four-team league. Something has to change for New Zealand hockey to continue to develop good players for international competitions.
Congratulations to the Auckland Steel on winning their fourth-straight NZWIHL championship! It's their eighth championship overall in the NZWIHL, and I imaging they'll be gunning for a fifth-consecutive and ninth-overall championship in 2027 if everything goes well. Perhaps we'll see another team step in and claim victory, but another solid season is in the book for Kiwi hockey, the NZWIHL, and its players!
The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, returns tonight with a studio full of guests! It's not a CBS soundstage with a live studio audience or anything, but tonight will see Survivor: NHL Playoffs wrapped up as Michaela, along with two guests, join us at the UMFM offices to collect prizes, talk hockey, and have a few laughs! It should be a good chat with 2026 Survivor champ Michaela and her guests as they'll spend the full hour with us talking hockey on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!
Tonight, Teebz and Jason welcome Michaela and her guests to the show where we'll award her the jersey of her choice and all the other associated prizes worthy of a Survivor: NHL Playoffs champion. We'll talk to her about cheering for the Hurricanes, who she may have been cheering for other than her chosen team, and whether or not beating her dad, Colin, has caused problems at home. Beyond that chat and laughter, the group will look at how the Winnipeg Jets did when it comes to free agency and the draft, whether or not Connor Hellebuyck starts the season in Winnipeg, the Vancouver Giants being on the move, European hockey news, and some rule changes in the WHL and SPHL that should be adopted by other leagues. It's going to be a fun show with Survivor champion Michaela and her guests, so make sure your listening to The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT on one of 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!
If you live outside Winnipeg and want to listen, we have options! The UMFM website's streaming player works well if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store.
If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard! And because both Teebz and Jason are on the butterfly app where things are less noisy, you can find Teebz here and Jason here on Bluesky!
Tonight, Teebz and Jason meet Michaela, shower her with prizes, talk hockey, have some laughs, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!
Tonight, the PWHL welcomed a pile of players into their ranks as the PWHL Draft took place in Detroit, Michigan. I'm not sure if there were any surprises when it came to the first dozen picks made, but the Seattle Torrent decided to give one woman a shot who has certainly earned a look when it comes to professional hockey as UBC Thunderbirds forward Grace Elliott was selected 38th-overall in the fourth round! There may have been some familiarity for Seattle when it came to picking Elliott which I'll look at below, but it was another night where a pile of very good, very capable U SPORTS players were left without a team when the draft concluded. I'm not surprised considering how little U SPORTS does to promote these exceptionally-talented women, and it makes me wonder what exactly U SPORTS does to help its athletes achieve their athletic goals and dreams.
Make no mistake that Grace Elliott deserved to be drafted tonight. She's a two-time Canada West Player of the Year and the 2025 U SPORTS Player of the Year after blowing away most of UBC's school scoring records and placing her among the best historically in both Canada West and U SPORTS. Grace was always a good player, but her size, her skill, and her smarts became quickly evident as her efforts helped the UBC Thunderbirds reach new heights each year.
If there's one woman who knows how good she was, it is new Seattle Torrent head coach Christine Bumstead who often watched Elliott work her magic from the University of Saskatchewan Huskies' bench. In 15 regular season and playoff games between the Huskies and Thunderbirds between 2021 and 2025, Elliott scored seven goals and seven assists. The catch, however, is that she scored three goals and four assists in the two games played between the two teams in 2024-25, so Coach Bumstead is very aware of how explosive she can be.
Elliott will likely get every chance to crack the Torrent roster, but I wouldn't expect that Bumstead will guarantee anything with the influx of talent she has at her fingertips. Elliott will need to earn every inch of ice and every second of ice time just like she did in Vancouver, but we've seen how good she can be when she's focused. Having her alongside Lexie Adzija gives Seattle two impact power forwards, but she has proven time and again that she has the scoring and skating to play with almost anyone on the Torrent roster.
If I were Bumstead, I'd be looking at Jenna Buglioni as her linemate. Buglioni was her high-scoring teammate with the Greater Vancouver Comets where Buglioni had 26 goals and 52 points in 29 games while Elliott had 27 goals and 50 points in 32 games during the 2020-21 BCFAAA U18 season! That was the only season they played together, but it seems pretty clear that they had an incredible season playing together! Could we see them reunited in Torrent colours?
What I do know is that Grace deserves all the kudos for being drafted and moving one step closer to her hockey dreams. Congratulations, Grace, and we'll be cheering for you as this season gets underway!
Erica Rieder, who played for the University of Manitoba, was selected 60th-overall in the fifth round by Montreal, but Victoire GM Danièle Sauvageau knows her very well from her U SPORTS days with the Montreal Carabins. Rieder, who was playing for Lulea in the SDHL, has always been an incredible two-way defender who can skate, but she'll get a chance to step into the Montreal lineup this season.
Gabriella Durante, who suited up for Italy in the Olympics and won their only game in that tournament, was picked by Seattle with the 62nd-overall pick, but there's an obvious tie there to Christine Bumstead again who saw her play with the Calgary Dinos. Durante earned her role as Italy's starter at the Olympics with her solid play, and she should be just as good on the west coast stopping pucks.
Montreal used the last pick of the draft to select Concordia Stingers forward Emilie Lavoie who had a solid season in the RSEQ, and she was even better playing in Kitchener at the U SPORTS National Championship. Lavoie is one of those players that Sauvageau loves - an engine that doesn't stop, the puck seems attracted to her stick, and she can finish. She'll need to work hard to crack that talented Montreal roster, but Lavoie is a steal for the Victoire at 72nd-overall.
If you're waiting for the other shoe to drop with the "But..." in the title, the conjunction has nothing to with the players above. These four players earned their accolades and opportunities, and equally deserve the celebration for their personal achievements.
It does, however, have to do with the fact that there was virtually zero promotion or hype done by U SPORTS to elevate the profiles of all the players who played in their conferences. I find it baffling that U SPORTS wants to be taken seriously as a viable option for women who want to chase their hockey and PWHL dreams, but they do little to help those women who have excelled at the U SPORTS level.
Maybe they produced a whole package that was distributed to all twelve PWHL teams and didn't mention it, but I can almost guarantee that didn't happen. I can say this because only four U SPORTS players were taken in the six rounds of the PWHL Draft that saw 72 players selected. Yes, the argument can be made that every player picked was chosen for a reason by each team, but dynamic players like Jessymaude Drapeau, Tatum James, and Courtney Kollman were all left watching rather than being selected by any of the teams.
Tory Mariano, who didn't play last season, was chosen by the Ottawa Charge 13 picks before Rieder despite having six goals and 25 assists in 131 games with Northeastern University over her four years of defence for the Huskies. I'm not saying she isn't good enough nor should she not be picked, but what qualities does she possess after sitting out last year that are better than a defender like Waterloo's Lyndsy Acheson or Olympian and former Toronto defender Gabrielle de Serres who weren't picked tonight? Did I miss something here?
The Ottawa Charge, Toronto Sceptres, Vancouver Goldeneyes, and Hamilton Whatevers took a grand total of zero U SPORTS players in this year's draft. I can understand the American teams not taking U SPORTS players due to a lack of scouting thanks to streaming paywalls, but Troy Ryan, San Jose's GM and head coach, is a former Dalhousie Tigers women's hockey head coach. Both Seattle and Montreal took two players each, and both of those teams have women in positions of leadership with strong U SPORTS ties.
I'm not saying that Seattle nor Montreal made their picks with a need to draft U SPORTS players, but they're drafting from a larger pool of players and talent by looking at U SPORTS players. We saw how important the U SPORTS players were for Montreal this season as Alexandra Labelle, Catherine Dubois, and Kaitlin Willoughby played key roles for the Victoire in their Walter Cup victory. I'm not saying that every U SPORTS player will bring that return, but teams like Vancouver and Toronto who missed the playoffs should be capitalizing on the talent found in their own backyards before other teams do.
In lamenting the above, I will admit that I have a significant bias when it comes to seeing U SPORTS players getting their fair shakes. Four players were chosen tonight, and that's entirely worth celebrating when it comes to competing in the best women's hockey league on the planet. I just struggle to understand why U SPORTS isn't putting all twelve teams on blast when it comes to how good these players are. Why is this a task that seemingly no one wants?
Congratulations to Grace, Erica, Gabriella, and Emilie who, I'm hoping, will be on the opening night rosters for the Torrent and the Victoire, respectively. These women deserve the accolades they've earned, and I'll be cheering for them with every career moment they reach. I just wish there were more players for whom I could cheer.
At no point does anyone ever think they'll be the first to do something or to accomplish something, and today saw the OHL's Brantford Bulldogs do something that they had never done before, but it did happen once before. The player pictured to the left is 17 year-old netminder Sophie Jovanovic who played with the Toronto Nationals U18 AAA program in the GTHL this season, and, yes, she is a girl. She's not the first woman to be drafted by an OHL team - Sarnia did that with current MacEwan Griffins netminder Taya Currie - but she did become the first and highest-selected woman in the OHL U18 Priority Draft when Brantford selected her with their 40th-overall pick! Clearly, the Bulldogs see talent in Jovanovic with this pick, and, based on her play in the GTHL, I think she has a better-than-good shot at being the first woman to suit up and start a regular season game in the OHL!
If you go looking for Jovanovic's numbers from this season, you likely won't find them anywhere unless you're a scout for a major junior team. The GTHL made the shrewd decision to stop posting statistics from all age groups on their website so that players, parents, and team staff wouldn't have access to every player's numbers. Frankly, I'm all for this decision because, as some may know, hockey parents can be overwhelming regarding their child's statistics, so kudos for the GTHL for drawing a line in the sand for the good of everyone.
What you should know is that Jovanovic has already committed to playing between the pipes for the University of Wisconsin in the NCAA, and we know what kind of players they recruit and produce. If they were asking Sophie to commit to them, she's likely better than a number of male goalies already because the Badgers simply win.
When she was playing with the Marlboros U16 team, Sophie was featured on Sportsnet during Hockey Day in Canada. I posted the video on the January 19, 2025 edition of The Rundown as Sophie's story seemed like the introduction to a woman who is going to have a long and storied hockey career. Her brother, Matthew, was drafted by the Saginaw Spirit in 2020, so seeing her go to the Bulldogs in 2026 is pretty cool! Of course, this is just another chapter in her story!
While she will graduate from high school in 2027 and likely look to join Wisconsin at that time, the option of having the OHL's Brantford Bulldogs should allow Sophie an opportunity to, at the very least, practice with the team. Perhaps she can get into a preseason OHL game just like Ève Gascon did with the QMJHL's Gatineau Olympiques in 2021 before heading off to the University of Minnesota-Duluth where she continues to impress with her goaltending talents. Either way, having options is always good for a young goalie like Jovanovic so she can test herself against players at various levels of hockey!
I'll bang this drum again, but Sophie Jovanovic is a goaltender that Hockey Canada should have an eye on as she continues along her path. She's a competitor, she loves playing and competing, and she has a bright future. I'm not saying she'll be an Olympic lock or anything, but her trajectory is certainly on the right path if she wants to reach those heights. She'll be noticed playing with Wisconsin, her education will certainly pay dividends down the road, and there likely will be PWHL offers once she finishes adding to her education.
Sophie Jovanovic looks like she's going to be a game-changer for the Wisconsin Badgers, she could be a future Team Canada stopper, and she may see time with the OHL's Brantford Bulldogs. What can't be argued is that she was good enough to be noticed by the Bulldogs and by the Badgers, and she'll have a chance to skate with one, if not two, incredible programs if and when she chooses. Sophie Jovanovic is a player who you'll likely want to keep an eye on in the future!
Congratulations go out to Sophie Jovanovic on being drafted by the Brantford Bulldogs - another significant step in her career!
Tonight saw a dramatic overtime finish in the ECHL's Western Conference Final as the Fort Wayne Komets rallied to force overtime at 3-3 in Game Six. Based on the image to the left, though, you know what happened as Jakov Novak scored 64 seconds into the fourth period, sending the Kansas City Mavericks back to the Kelly Cip Final after eliminating the Komets in six games. With the Florida Everblades already waiting to see who their opponent was going to be, we now know we'll get a sequel to the 2024 Kelly Cup Final featuring these two teams.
Back in 2024, the Everblades were seeking their third-straight Kelly Cup championship, meeting the Brabham Cup-winning Kansas City Mavericks in the final. This year, the Everblades will look to claim their fourth title in five years by meeting the Brabham Cup-winning Kansas City Mavericks in the final. The Everblades will also bump their ECHL-best seven appearances in the final to eight while looking to capture a record fifth Kelly Cup with another series win this year.
Kansas City isn't looking to be a note in history for a second time, though, as the franchise will be seeking its first Kelly Cup in its second appearance in the final. Like the NHL's President's Trophy, the top ECHL regular-season team hasn't always fared as well in the playoffs, and Kansas City will look to join the 1997 South Carolina Stingrays, the 2006 Alaska Aces, the 2008 Cincinnati Cyclones, the 2011 Alaska Aces, and the 2014 Alaska Aces as the sixth team to win both the Brabham Cup and the Kelly Cup in the same season.
Despite these two opponents meeting for the Kelly Cup just two seasons ago, the script could be written in an entirely different language if things continue to trend as they have been. Florida has been lightning lamps in the Eastern Conference bracket early and often as they have found another gear for the postseason once again. Kansas City has had a few bumps along the way, but they have a deep roster with excellent scoring and goaltending so this Kelly Cup Final looks like it's going to be a good one featuring two solid squads!
The series will begin in Kansas City on June 5 where Florida comes in looking sharp. They feature goaltender Cam Johnson, the Nick Vitucci Award as ECHL Goaltender of the Year in both 2025 and 2026, who is the ECHL all-time leader in postseason wins and shutouts. His 1.35 GAA and .945 save percentage are a big reason why Florida is back in the final. Anthony Romano has 11 goals to lead the playoffs, Carson Gicewicz has eight goals including two shorthanded markers, and 15 Everblades have dented twine when it comes to team scoring depth.
Florida enters the final with a 12-2 record in the playoffs, scoring 50 goals while surrendering just 20. They rank ninth in power-play efficiency at 13.5% on 7-of-52 scoring, but they are tops in the playoffs while shorthanded as they've killed 95.1% of penalties on 39-of-41 opportunities. Perhaps most impressively, they are 6-0 at home in these playoffs, and have scored first in every playoff game this far, outscoring their opponents 15-4 in the opening frame!
The Mavericks boast six players in double-digit scoring with Bobo Carpenter having nine goals and Jackson Jutting having seven markers. Every player that has dressed for a playoff game has recorded a point, so the Mavericks' depth is solid. Goaltending duties have been split between Dylan Wells and Jack Lafontaine with both going 6-1, but Wells has superior numbers with a 1.94 GAA and a .928 save percentage. We'll see who starts in Game One on home ice, but the Mavericks won't worry about either goalie in this series.
Kansas City was a league-best 28-4-4 away from home in the regular season, and they'll look to continue their strong play which has pushed them to a 12-2 record through the playoffs with a 6-1 record both at home and on the road. They've scored 55 goals while allowing 31, but are 8-0 when scoring first in the playoffs. They boast the fourth-best power-play efficiency in the playoffs at 24.1% on 13-of-54 opportunities, but are ninth-best in the playoffs at 83.0% on 39-of-47 penalty kills. Kansas City likes playing in the second period, though, crushing their opponents 25-7 in scoring in the middle frame!
It took Florida five games to defeat Kansas City in 2024, and I suspect that the Mavericks don't want to see anything close to that happening again. The teams split the two games in Kansas City before heading to Estero, Florida where the Everblades won three-straight contests to capture their fourth Kelly Cup. Florida outscored Kansas City 23-13 in those five games, so this year's Kelly Cup Final might simply come down to an old playoff adage: "defence wins championships".
The Kelly Cup Final begins on Friday at Cable Dahmer Arena in Independence, Missouri. The rest of the series schedule can be found here, but this should be a heckuva series between two absolutely dominant playoff teams! The toughest part? Only one can win!
The four countries shown by their flags to the left will be playing IIHF hockey next season, but the reality is that two countries will be moving down to the Division-1A tournament while two countries will join the top-14 teams playing for the IIHF Men's World Hockey Championship. If you've been following the action, you may already know who is being relegated and promoted, but these four countries are the nations in question. Who's dropping down? Who's going up? Let's find out!
Great Britain came into the IIHF Men's World Hockey Championship as the 17th-ranked nation on the planet. They found themselves in a tough group that featured USA, Finland, Switzerland, Germany, and Latvia, but there was hope that they could qualify for a quarterfinal spot if they caught a few breaks against Austria and Hungary. If they could upset Latvia or Germany, Great Britain would likely not only qualify for the medal round, but they'd jump up in the IIHF rankings as well.
Things quickly changed for Great Britain after they dropped a 5-2 decision to Austria on May 16. A 5-1 loss to the USA, a 5-0 loss to Hungary, and a 4-1 loss to the Swiss put them in jeopardy of battling to stay out of relegation territory, but it didn't get any better in a 4-0 loss to Finland. Tack on a 6-0 loss to Latvia and a 6-3 loss to Germany, and the British went winless in Switzerland as they would be the Group A team who was relegated to the Division-1A tournament.
Defender Nathanael Halbert led the British in scoring with a goal and two assists from the blue line, and goaltender Mat Robson went 0-4-0 with a 4.94 GAA and an .875 save percentage. Veteran Liam Kirk led the way with 19 shots in the tournament, and Halbert had the best seat in the house most often as he served 10 penalty minutes.
Italy began the 2026 IIHF Men's World Hockey Championship as the 20th-ranked nation on the IIHF World Rankings, and they were in Group B with the likes of Canada, Sweden, Czechia, Slovakia, and Denmark. Italy likely was looking at the games against Slovenia and Norway as the ones they had to win if they hoped to avoid relegation. Without any NHL talent on their roster, this had to be a solid team effort from the Italians if they wanted to finish in a quarterfinal berth and remain as part of the top tournament. Otherwise, they'd be in a tough spot.
Canada handed them an expected loss by a 6-0 score on May 16, and Slovakia doubled the number of losses with a 4-1 decision. Italy entered the game on May 19 against Norway looking to reverse those fortunes, but the Norwegians played well in a 4-0 win. That Italian loss was followed by a 3-1 loss to Czechia and a 3-0 loss to Sweden. Needing a win desperately, the Italians gave Denmark everything they had, but fell short in the shootout by a 3-2 score. A final 5-1 loss to Slovenia resulted in Italy being the Group B team who is relegated to the Division-1A tournament next season that still needs a host.
Forward Tommy Purdeller had two goals and three points while forward Mikael Frycklund had three assists as the co-leader in points for Italy. Goaltender Davide Fadani was the only goalie to earn a point for Italy as he lost in the shootout while fellow netminder Damian Clara was 0-3-0 with a 3.35 GAA and a .921 save percentage. Defender Phil Pietroniro led the team in shots with 21 and forward Tommaso de Luca served three minor penalties to lead Italy in PIMs.
A country familiar with the teams in the top IIHF tournament will make its return as Kazakhstan earned a promotion back to the big dance. The 15th-ranked team in the IIHF rankings faced off against Lithuania, Japan, Poland, Ukraine, and France in the Division-1A tournament held from May 2-8 in Sosnowiec, Poland, and the Kazakhs emerged undefeated as they went 5-0-0 in the event. Two of those wins did come in the shootout, but Kazakhstan earned enough points for promotion to the 2027 IIHF Men's World Hockey Championship in Germany next May!
Kazakhstan's run in Sosnowiec saw them down Lithuania 4-1 on May 2, beat Japan 6-0, knock off Poland 3-2, defeat Ukraine 5-4 in the skills competition, and defeat France in the shootout as well. They scored the most goals in the tournament despite only scoring once on the power-play in eleven attempts, they tied Ukraine with the fewest shorthanded situations with eight, and they took the least amount of penalties with just 16 PIMs in the tournament on eight infractions.
Forward Artur Gatiyatov had a goal and four helpers while forward Arkadiy Shestakov had five helpers to tie for the team lead in scoring. Goaltender Andrey Shutov went 3-0-0 with a 1.30 GAA and a .933 save percentage as the top stopper, forward Vsevolod Logvin led with 17 shots, and defender Dmitri Breus was the goon with four PIMs.
Perhaps the one nation that should be celebrated for being promoted after everything the country has been through is Ukraine. It's hard not to be inspired knowing that this hockey team was able to focus on winning in Sosnowiec, Poland while friends, colleagues, and family are fighting for their lives back home. Ukraine certainly had a bumpier ride in getting to their promotion as the 27th-ranked team in the IIHF rankings went 3-1-1 in their five games, but that got them ten points and promotion from the Division-1A tournament!
Ukraine opened their tournament against the hosts on May 2, and Poland won that game by a 3-2 score. Ukraine would bounce back with a 2-1 win over Lithuania and a 3-2 win over France before dropping a 5-4 shootout decision to Kazakhstan. Ukraine capped off their tournament with a 3-1 win against Japan, and that was the victory needed to earn their promotion! Ukraine scored the second-most goals in the tournament, had a 5-for-17 power-play, and killed seven of eight shorthanded situations. They did commit twelve infractions, but were the second-least penalized team in the event.
Forward Danil Trakht led the tournament in scoring with four goals and four assists while forward Olexi Vorona had six helpers to tie for the lead in the tournament. Goaltender Bohdan Diachenko played every second for Ukraine, going 3-1-1 with a 2.17 GAA and a .923 save percentage. Olexander Peresunko led Ukraine with 15 shots, and both Yevgen Fedyeyev and Artem Hrebenyk sat for four minutes.
Both Kazakhstan and Ukraine will visit Mannheim and Dusseldorf, Germany as part of the 2027 IIHF Men's World Hockey Championship that's scheduled to run from May 14-30. Great Britain and Italy will await an announcement from the IIHF to know where they're headed for the 2027 IIHF Men's Division-1A World Hockey Championship, but it would seem they'll be joined by France, Poland, Lithuania, and the newly-promoted Estonia. Unfortunately for Japan, they'll be relegated to the Division-1B tournament, replacing promoted Estonia.
The quarterfinals for the 2026 IIHF Men's World Hockey Championship will be set after tomorrow's games, and we could see some intriguing matchups if things go as expected. Of course, that's why the games are played and upsets are a possibility, so we'll see who qualifies for the medal round at the IIHF Men's World Hockey Championship!
While the tournament hasn't likely been on anyone's radar outside of the teams, families, and organizations playing, I have been watching the 2026 Canadian National Para Hockey Championship all week. One of the things we pledged to do on The Hockey Show was to give sledge hockey in Manitoba and, by proxy, in Canada a bigger stage, and there is no bigger tournament in Canada than the National Championship! Team Manitoba packed their gear, hopped onto an airplane, and headed for Boucherville, Quebec on the south side of Montreal where they were hunting for medals against the six teams who rounded out the competition! They battled hard all week, played with pride, and represented Manitoba extremely well as the faced some excellent provincial teams in their quest for hardware.
The six other teams making up the tournament included Quebec, Atlantic, British Columbia, Ontario, a Quebec development team, and Saskatchewan which was actually made up of players from both Saskatchewan and Alberta. It should be noted that Saskatchewan was making their first appearance at the National Championship, so this is a huge step forward for the players from Alberta and Saskatchewan. No one expected them to win, but the experience in seeing some of Canada's best provincial teams should help them in the long run.
Quebec came into the tournament as the reigning four-time champion, so they were looking to add to their dynasty. Quebec funds their parahockey teams and leagues very well, so it should be no surprise that they are the team to beat every year. They were going to have to earn their fifth-straight championship, however, as a number of strong provincial teams made their way to Boucherville for the competition, so let's see how Manitoba did at the tournament!
Manitoba met Ontario in the morning game on Thursday, and we were witness to a tight-checking game. Manitoba, though, found a few breaks and got pucks to the net, allowing them to take the morning game over Ontario by a 3-1 score with Cohen Klassen earning Player-of-the-Game honours. With Quebec defeating Team Atlantic, Manitoba began to prepare for the 0-1 Atlantic team in the evening.
Without dropping too much foreshadowing, Manitoba met Atlantic at 7:00pm ET in what was one of the best games of the opening day. It was clear that the two teams matched up very well as this game went back and forth, but it would be Atlantic who prevailed in the end by a 4-3 overtime score over Manitoba to send both teams into Friday with 1-1 records. Rainey Delaurier was named as the Player-of-the-Game, and the team began to prepare for Team Saskatchewan.
Before we discuss the Saskatchewan-Manitoba game, I would like to editorialize a little by saying that goal differential as a tie-breaker is always a bad idea. I understand the reason for it, but no team likes delivering a blowout score and no team likes being on the receiving end of a blowout. With Manitoba, BC, and Atlantic all entering Day Two at 1-1, Manitoba needed to put some space between them and the other teams when it came to goal differential. No one should like it, but Manitoba beat Saskatchewan by an 18-0 final score in the early Friday draw. Chris Frank earned Manitoba's Player-of-the-Game.
Manitoba's biggest test would come on Friday evening as they met the defending champions in Quebec. I watched this game in its entirety, and it's pretty easy to see why Quebec has won four-straight championships: they're fast, they're well-organized, and they can shoot. It wasn't a case of Manitoba wasn't ready to play, but moreso a case of Quebec just being on another level as they won virtually every race to loose pucks, they backchecked like demons, and they tore down the ice in transition. In the end, Quebec looked unstoppable in a 7-0 drubbing of Manitoba where goaltender Logan Bilodeau was named Player-of-the-Game after making a pile of stops.
Manitoba's 2-2 record earned them a date with Ontario on Saturday morning to advance to the semifinals, so they needed to come out and play strong again. This game was a back-and-forth affair as both sides showed some good jump in the offensive zone while making plays in their respective defensive ends. Despite both teams having chances, it would be Manitoba who found a little extra as they came out of this game with a 4-3 victory! Elijah Armbruster took Player-of-the-Game honours as Team Manitoba earned the unenviable semifinal against Team Quebec. Would we see Canada's juggernaut slayed?
The answer to that question was a resounding "no" as Quebec scored early and often in the semifinal to earn a berth in the gold medal final for the fifth-straight year. Again, it's not that Manitoba played poorly or missed assignments against Quebec. It's simply a matter of Quebec being that much better than everyone else. The final score in this one-sided affair was 14-0, and Manitoba would aim for a bronze medal in the final game of their tournament on Sunday. Goaltender Paul Hamm was Manitoba's Player-of-the-Game in this contest!
It was a 10:00am ET draw for the bronze medal game, and Manitoba would square off against Team Atlantic after they fell 3-1 to British Columbia on Saturday night. After the Atlantic took a 1-0 lead into the intermission, Manitoba would answer back early in the second period when Elijah Armbruster went high on the blocker side to tie the game. That seem to light a fire undr Team Atlantic as they scored three-straight goals to take a 4-1 lead into the second intermission, and this forecasting of two evenly-matched teams seems like a lie.
However, Manitoba scored two goals midway through the third period to narrow the gap to 4-3, and it seemed like we were in for a heckuva finish. That's where Isaac Armbruster made his impact on the game as he notched a goal with three minutes to play to tie the game at 4-4! No one else would dent twine over those last three minutes, so we were off to overtime with a medal hanging in the balance!
Overtime would be a ten-minute period played at three-on-three which makes no sense, but I don't make the rules. If no goals were scored, we'd see a shootout to decide the medal, and no one wanted that. The good news? We didn't have to worry about the shootout. The bad news, however, is that Team Atlantic would replicate the same result we saw on Thursday as they struck in overtime to win the bronze medal by a 5-4 score! It's not how Manitoba wanted to finish, but they should hold their heads high as this was an excellent game! Cole Maydanuk earned Manitoba's Player-of-the-Game honours.
Quebec and British Columbia would battle for gold, and it would be Quebec who earned their fifth-consecutive championship after defeating BC by a 2-0 score. What might be scarier is that Quebec, in their six games, outscored their opponents by a 39-0 count, so clearly they will wear that juggernaut title for another year with another gold medal. In the end, though, this was an incredible tournament for all seven teams when it came to how entertaining and exciting the hockey action was all week! Every team should be proud!
The final standings for the 2026 Canadian National Para Hockey Championship are as follows after the dust settled today:
Quebec
British Columbia
Atlantic
Manitoba
Ontario
Quebec development team
Saskatchewan
We need to get caught up with Team Manitoba at some point, so expect an episode of The Hockey Show dedicated to them in the near future. I know they probably don't want to talk about missing out medals, but they represented Manitoba well and we're still proud of their efforts. I was hoping and expecting Hockey Manitoba to post something about the team this weekend, but that didn't happen. At what point does Hockey Manitoba support this program and team?
What I do know is that Manitoba's parahockey team is made up of some of the best people in hockey that Manitoba has to offer, and every Manitoban should be trying to see these amazing athletes in action. They may not have brought home a medal from Nationals this year, but the athletes and coaches of Team Manitoba have the competitive sledge hockey scene trending in the right direction.
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