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Vancouver Sun
05-05-2025
- Sport
- Vancouver Sun
Busy Vees: Penticton playing in BCHL semifinals, making WHL expansion draft picks this week
Article content Leslie has said that if he doesn't sign a pro contract this summer, he'll spend his 20-year-old season beginning next fall with the Bowling Green State University Falcons rather than return to the Giants. Article content Leslie could be moved to the Giants' college exempt list and not count against the team's 50-player protected list after the expansion draft but not until then. If things didn't work out in pro or college and he returned to the WHL at some point this coming season, he'd be an automatic top-pairing defenceman. He finished second in scoring among blue liners across the league in the regular season this year with 72 points, including 21 goals. Article content If the Giants protect Leslie, chances are they'd want to protect a fourth 20-year-old as well, as cover for them. And that would mean they'd protect one less player overall. Article content The Vees were awarded the fourth pick in the first round of the WHL draft. Article content The WHL is slated to add another expansion team next summer, with a squad going into Chilliwack in preparation for the 2026-27 season. The league is taking applications for ownership and WHL commissioner Dan Near explained via text Monday that there's a 'number of interested parties,' and that the league is 'very pleased with the interest level and enthusiasm from prospective ownership groups thus far.' No word on when they might come to a decision. Article content Article content Chilliwack is home to the BCHL's Chilliwack Chiefs who, oddly enough, are currently facing the Victoria Grizzlies in the other league semifinal, for the right to to meet either Penticton or Brooks in the championship series. The Grizzlies and Chiefs are knotted at 1-1 going into Game 3 Tuesday in Victoria. Article content Chiefs principal owner Moray Keith has repeatedly said that he's not interested in owning a WHL team. The Chiefs are expected to remain in Chilliwack next season before moving elsewhere. Article content It was both the city council and the WHL that were interested in putting a team in Chilliwack. They've had the WHL before in the city, with the Chilliwack Bruins playing there from 2006-11 before moving to Vancouver Island to become the Victoria Royals. Article content The league's never announced what the Vees' expansion fee, but various league sources have put it at $15 million. Article content Penticton (41-8-5-0) and Brooks (40-10-2-2) had the BCHL's best records during the regular season, followed by Chilliwack (37-12-5-0). Victoria (28-17-8-1) was ninth. Article content Penticton lost in last year's best-of-seven Fred Page Cup league championship, falling in six games to the Surrey Eagles. The Vees had won the two years previous. The league no longer competes for a national title. They announced in May 2023 that they were leaving Hockey Canada and becoming an independent league. Article content Article content
Ottawa Citizen
29-04-2025
- Sport
- Ottawa Citizen
Blizzard win second MHL championship
For the second time since moving from Dieppe to Madawaska County in 2017, the Edmundston Blizzard are Maritime Junior Hockey League champions. Article content Article content The Blizzard swept the Pictou County Weeks Crushers in four straight games with a 3-1 victory in Game 4 of the best-of-seven Metalfab MHL Cup Final April 24 at the Pictou County Wellness Centre in New Glasgow, N.S. Article content The win gave the Blizzard their second MHL title since 2018 and their 13th championship in franchise history. The team won the league in 2015 as the Dieppe Commandos and was the runner-up at the former Fred Page Cup tournament that year. Article content The franchise also captured the MHL banner in 1995 as the Moncton Beavers, combined for three New Brunswick Junior Hockey League and Metro Valley Junior Hockey League titles in the 1980s, and won six NBJHL championships in the 1970s and early 80s. Article content Article content Edmundston's Game 4 win followed a 7-2 triumph in Game 3 April 23 in New Glasgow. The Blizzard took the series opener 6-3 April 19 and prevailed by a 7-3 margin in Game 2 April 17 at the Jean Daigle Centre. Article content Scorers for Edmundston in the fourth contest were Philippe Collette with a pair of goals and Jérémy D'Astous with a single. Frédéric Cousineau made 26 stops for the win, finishing the post-season with a 6-0-1 win-loss record, a .920 save percentage, and a 2.56 goals-against average in seven games between the pipes. Austin Caley went 6-0 with a 2.44 GAA and .890 save percentage. Article content Article content Thomas Fontaine turned aside 39 shots for the Crushers in the losing cause. Logan O'Neil netted the lone Pictou County goal. Article content Massé was named playoff MVP. The 20-year-old from Rivière-du-Loup, Que., finished the post-season with 22 points (10 goals, 12 assists) in 13 games, good for the most among players in the playoffs. Article content Crushers defenceman Drew Maddigan received the inaugural United General Insurance Corporation Lighthouse Award for the player in the playoffs who demonstrates excellence in athletics, academics, and community service. Article content Maddigan, 20, of Hammonds Plains, N.S., led all defenders with 14 points (two, 12) in 13 playoff games. Article content The Blizzard went on a 12-0-1 run in the playoffs after finishing first in the 12-team MHL and six-team Eastlink North Division in the regular season. Edmundston also ended the year in the top spot in the Canadian Junior Hockey League's weekly Top 20 power rankings.
