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The Province
31-05-2025
- Sport
- The Province
Victoria Royals lose two top players to NCAA's North Dakota — what's next for WHL?
Centre Cole Reschny, 18, and defenceman Keaton Verhoeff, 16, are the latest players to give up multiple years of junior to go the U.S. college route, taking advantage of new rules Get the latest from Steve Ewen straight to your inbox Victoria Royals centre Cole Reschny gave up multiple years of junior eligibility to join the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks in the fall. Photo by LARRY MACDOUGAL / The Canadian Press Jeff Marek's Thursday podcast that broached the idea of junior teams finding sponsors to pay star players sounded a little over the top. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors A day later, it became less far fetched. On Friday, the news broke that Victoria Royals centre Cole Reschny, 18, and defenceman Keaton Verhoeff, 16, were both giving up multiple years of junior eligibility to join the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks in the fall. Reschny could winding up going in the first round of this summer's NHL Draft, while Verhoeff might be a top-five selection in 2026. The Royals won the WHL's B.C. Division this past season and looked to be continuing in the right direction. How they regroup after Friday's news is anyone's guess. The NCAA announced in November that it was opening up scholarship opportunities to players from Major Junior leagues like the WHL for the coming season and the buzz around 17-year-old phenom Gavin McKenna of the Medicine Hat Tigers making that move started up instantly. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The Tigers play the London Knights for the Memorial Cup national title Sunday in Rimouski. McKenna could hoist the most prized trophy in junior hockey in this country, and moments later be asked in a media scrum about whether he's leaving for the American collegiate system. Various junior hockey people over the season have concurred that McKenna was in play to go to the NCAA, but they treated it as him being an outlier, the very tip of the top one per cent of players in the WHL. The thinking was that collegiate teams would want graduating 20-year-olds and the odd 19-year-old, in large part because they recruited players of that age when the Junior A ranks were their main feeder. Junior hockey's biggest selling point is the chance for fans to watch draft eligible players and world junior team candidates. Guess what? The NCAA isn't any different. There will be no better marketing for North Dakota than when Verhoeff is one of the first few names mentioned two drafts from now. And NCAA programs like North Dakota believe those high-end youngsters can compete against 22- and 23-year-olds. Essential reading for hockey fans who eat, sleep, Canucks, repeat. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Reschny and Verhoeff would have been in the top-five per cent of WHL players this coming season. There have been other underage players declare for schools as well. How deep will the NCAA end up taking from when all is said and done? Ten per cent? Will it get to 20 per cent? I asked Cecchini how the CHL could keep players from going the college route and what I got from the QMJHL Commissioner was an answer I never considered. — Jeff Marek (@JeffMarek) May 29, 2025 This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. This new way of life for hockey development was a topic on Marek's The Sheet podcast earlier in the week, when QMJHL commissioner Mario Cecchini was a guest. Marek asked Cecchini point blank whether the teams in the QMJHL, WHL and OHL should consider paying players. 'Well, right now we have a student/athlete status, so we have to be very, very, very careful about that,' Cecchini said. 'But there are sponsoring possibilities. So the teams right now, as we speak, cannot pay them directly, but can a local automotive dealer sponsor a player directly? That's doable and that's possible. That's within the framework that we live in. That's where we may want to turn our hats. 'It's probably one player per team at most. Call them a franchise player, for example, for a term that we know well in sports.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The irony is that they'd have to get it approved by the NCAA so that players can keep their college eligibility. You would think the NCAA would oblige, considering that they're doing exactly that with their Name Image Likeness (NIL) program. For hockey, this a major rethink, and hockey rarely has been one for major rethinks, and that includes in junior. The WHL went from 72-game regular seasons for its teams to 68-game ones in 2018-19 and that proved a much debated endeavour. For decades, the pitch to players from teams in the WHL was that they had a schedule similar to an NHL one, and that got you ready for the next level. The thinking is different now. Fewer games means more time to work on your skills, more time to work on your body in the gym. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The Boston University Terriers, with Vancouver Canucks defence prospect Tom Willander helping to lead the way, went to the NCAA championship game as part of their 40 total games this season. Medicine Hat's showdown with London Sunday will mark their 90th game of the campaign. There's also the matter of facilities. North Dakota's Ralph Engelstad Arena features a 1,400 square foot altitude chamber added to its weight room arena in 2021. That's an extreme, but it gives you an idea of what the WHL teams are now competing against. They'll need to find a way. Junior-aged CHLers who have committed to the NCAA for next season: • Malcolm Spence (2025)• Cole Reschny (2025)• Kristian Epperson (2025)• Lev Katzin (2025)• Luke Misa (CGY)• Henry Mews (CGY)• Clarke Caswell (SEA) And the flood gates haven't even opened yet. — Cam Robinson (@Hockey_Robinson) May 30, 2025 This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'For me, North Dakota was top-of-the-line,' Verhoeff told the Grand Forks Gazette. 'It's professional in every aspect of the training, the day-to-day, and the opportunity I was given there was too good to pass up. 'I checked out a couple of other schools. After looking at all the other great programs and schools, North Dakota is the one that spoke to me and I felt at home there.' Verhoeff, who turns 17 in June, is a 6-foot-4, 212-pound right-handed shot and had 21 goals and 45 points in 63 regular season games with the Royals. He finished his high school commitments early. The Athletic's Scott Wheeler had him at No. 5 in a 2026 mock draft he did in April. The 5-foot-10, 187-pound, left-shot Reschny put up 26 goals and 92 points in 62 regular season games with Victoria. Elite Prospects has him at No 22 in its consolidated rankings for this year's draft, led by a No. 13 from TSN's Craig Button. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Left-shot McKenna, who's 6-foot and 165 pounds, tallied 41 times and recorded 129 points in 56 regular season games with the Tigers. He then supplied nine goals and 38 points in 16 regular season games. He's, of course, the consensus projected No. 1 pick for 2026. One-time Canucks forward Byron Ritchie is McKenna's family adviser. He told Postmedia back in March that the NCAA was definitely an option, explaining how he worried about McKenna jumping from the WHL to the NHL after next season, which is what is expected. 'Going from playing 2009s, 2008s and 2007s (16- to 18-year-olds) if he stays, to playing the following year against men who are trying to feed their families and where every puck battle is life or death,' Ritchie said. 'It's a massive step from the Western League to the NHL. Can you ease that transition by having him playing next year against 22- and 23-year-olds?' @SteveEwen SEwen@ News BC Lions Local News Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Canucks
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Cole Reschny Commits To North Dakota
Kim Klement-Imagn Images Victoria Royals forward Cole Reschny has committed to North Dakota, it was announced on Friday. A native of Macklin, Sask., Reschny tallied 92 points (26 goals, 66 assists) in 62 regular season games for the Royals in 2024-25. He also won gold for Canada at the World U18 Championship earlier this year, where he recorded five goals and three assists in five games. Advertisement Reschny is eligible for the 2025 NHL Entry Draft and is ranked as the 25th best North American skater by NHL Central Scouting in its final 2025 prospects rankings. A 2007-born skater, Reschny will now make the jump to the NCAA and join the Fighting Hawks for the 2025-26 season. He'll likely play a significant role in his first season. Make sure you bookmark The Hockey News' NCAA Page for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns and so much more.
Time of India
01-05-2025
- Sport
- Time of India
How Cole Reschny became 2025 NHL draft's most relentless game-changer
Cole Reschny (via Getty Images) Victoria Royals ' 5-foot-10.5 centre Cole Reschny is fast becoming one of the biggest hopefuls on the 2025 NHL Draft prospect list. His remarkable work for the 2024-2025 season, particularly a solid playoff performance and impressive stint with Team Canada during the U18 World Championships , has already drawn him into the hearts of scouts as one of the favorites. With 117 points in 73 games this year, Cole Reschny is proving to the world that he's not only a prospect—he's an NHL superstar in the making. Why Cole Reschny has a dominant WHL presence Cole Reschny Scores OT Winner to Advance (2G)/Radim Mrtka Nice Moves 1A('25 Draft)Highlights 4-30-25 Cole Reschny's play in the 2024-2025 season has been simply exceptional. James Patrick, Cole Reschny's coach, indicated that in his estimation, there was not a Western Hockey League player who played any better than Cole Reschny during the latter part of the season. 'I will say this: I don't know if a player in our league had a better second half than him. (And) I know there's not one player that I can think of who played better in the playoffs. He put this team on his back and his playmaking and compete were elite,' stated James Patrick, looking back on Cole Reschny's key contributions to carrying the Royals into the playoffs. Leaving an instant legacy with team Canada The second his WHL season concluded, Cole Reschny didn't delay in reporting for Team Canada duty at the U18 World Championships. Although reporting late, he was named alternate captain and immediately left his mark. He registered a goal in his first game, a 5-1 win against Finland. Reschny's solid play did not end there, as he logged a two-goal, two-helper performance versus Norway and a game-winner in overtime against Czechia. 'He knows he's going to have to keep at it on and off the ice,' Victoria Royals General Manager Jake Heisinger said. 'I would say in the second half of the season that he was as dominant as any player in the league,' Heisinger described. 'He led us all the way through and when the stakes got higher, he raised his game for the playoffs and he really showed not only where he can take his game to but just how competitive he is, how badly he wants to win.' Cole Reschny's body of work includes more than his ability to score goals. Skating, his strength, as well as being a two-way player, ensures he is very much a prize prospect. Even at just 17 years of age, he has already received compliments on his defensive play, his faceoff work, and his penalty-killing ability. Coaches and trainers, including Adam Huxley, who trained Reschny since he was young, attribute his success to his work ethic and maturity. 'I've been around a lot of the kids in the draft, and I'm not a scout, but I don't think there's a better 200-foot player in the draft. There's not a chance,' Huxley said. Also read: NHL Playoffs: Tension rises as second round sparks fly What's coming for Cole Reschny? Cole Reschny's future has never been brighter. With a complete offseason of training in front of him, Reschny will develop his game some more, placing a focus on increasing his speed and agility. With his enthusiasm for the sport and his dedication to becoming an even better player, he'll be one to watch at the 2025 NHL Draft as well as into the future.
New York Times
01-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Meet Cole Reschny, the hottest prospect in the 2025 NHL Draft: ‘He stirs the drink'
ALLEN, Tex. — Ask Victoria Royals head coach James Patrick or general manager Jake Heisinger about Cole Reschny and they'll both say the same thing. 'I will say this: I don't know if a player in our league had a better second half than him. (And) I know there's not one player that I can think of who played better in the playoffs,' Patrick said. 'He put this team on his back and his playmaking and compete were elite.' Advertisement In those playoffs, Reschny registered 25 points in just 11 games, leading the Royals past the Tri-City Americans and to six games in a second-round series against the heavily favored Spokane Chiefs. 'I would say in the second half of the season that he was as dominant as any player in the league,' Heisinger said. 'He led us all the way through and when the stakes got higher, he raised his game for the playoffs and he really showed not only where he can take his game to but just how competitive he is, how badly he wants to win.' On the year, he registered 35 goals and 117 points in 73 combined regular season and playoff games. At year's end, NHL Central Scouting listed the 5-foot-10.5, 183-pound center as their 25th-ranked North American skater in the draft. Immediately after losing Game 6 to the Chiefs, he wasn't satisfied, either, hopping on a plane to Texas the following day to join Team Canada at U18 Worlds. Though he joined the team late, they immediately named him an alternate captain. In his first game of the tournament, he scored in a 5-1 win against Finland. A day later, on a back-to-back against Norway, he scored again and added two assists to give him four points in two games. And on Wednesday's quarterfinal against Czechia, he made it six points in three games, scoring a big late-second-period goal to tie the game 2-2 and an even bigger one to win it in overtime. He played 21:50 in the game, tops among Canadian forwards. COLE RESCHNY CALLS GAME IN OT😤 The @victoriaroyals' star #NHLDraft prospect sends 🇨🇦 to the semis❗️ #U18MensWorlds — Canadian Hockey League (@CHLHockey) April 30, 2025 It's already his third time performing for Hockey Canada, after winning gold at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, where he registered seven points in five games, and co-leading Canada Red in scoring with eight points in seven games at the 2023 World U17 Hockey Challenge before that. After chasing a second gold medal, it'll be onto the next thing, and then the next, and the next. The draft. Development camp. Skating and training with his skills coach and strength and conditioning coach, Adam Huxley, and daily hour-long drives from his small Saskatchewan town of Macklin and across the provincial border into Wainwright, Alta., to get to work. Advertisement That's the Reschny way. When he had his exit meeting with Patrick and Heisinger before departing for Texas, they didn't even have to tell him what they expected of him in the offseason, like they do for their other players. 'He's not a guy that you need to lay out what he needs to work on,' Heisinger said. 'He knows he's got to keep putting the work in on and off the ice and he's someone that's very driven and very motivated. As soon as the U18s are done, he'll be getting right to it.' There are about 1,200 people who live in Macklin. Just enough for a church, a school, a couple of inns, a couple of restaurants, a couple of car repair shops, and a hockey arena. 'It's a very small town,' Reschny said of his home. 'Just growing up there, it's tough. You have to drive a lot to get anywhere. It's fun though. It's a lot of driving but it's fun. (And) it's a pretty good rink in town. We're pretty lucky to have what we have there.' The Reschnys account for five of those people. Cole's dad, Clinton, works as an oil field services sales manager. His mother, Allison, is an educational assistant at the school, working with special needs students. Cole is the middle of three boys. His older brother, Austin, who he says has been the most influential person in his hockey career, is a 21-year-old forward at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. His younger brother, Anderson, is a 14-year-old defenseman at OHA Prep. His uncle, Trevor Reschny, also played at Northeastern University, where he served as the Huskies' captain in his senior year. Cole spends his free time fishing, snowmobiling and helping Clinton farm goats. The closest real hub, according to Reschny, is Lloydminster, a town of about 30,000 more than 100 kilometres north. Wainwright is only home to 6,000 people, but Huxley's group in the gym and on the ice is 25-30 pro and junior players, and they take pride in their offseason training group being equivalent to the ones at the top gyms and rinks in major cities like Calgary and Edmonton. Advertisement Huxley has been working with Reschny since he was 8 or 9 years old. His other clients include players such as Carson Soucy, Bobby McMann, Mason Shaw, Scott Ratzlaff and Jagger Firkus. Huxley, who played more than a decade in the AHL and ECHL and is the western head of player development for the skills development and technology firm Power Edge Pro, put Reschny in their group in the gym and on the ice when he was 15. When he first started skating and working out with them, they were 'shocked' by his age because of how mature he is. 'I don't think I've met a more professional, driven kid at 15-17 in my time doing this,' Huxley said. 'The older pro guys look up to him, I'm not kidding. You won't find a better kid. First and foremost he's an amazing kid, secondly he's a really good hockey player.' That's true of all three Reschny boys, plus Clinton and Allison. Huxley called Allison 'an amazing lady' and said Clinton 'just tells them how it is.' 'I don't think you've met a more respectful group of kids, a more polite group of kids. They're very, very well parented and you can tell when you talk to Cole his respect level for adults and older guys in the gym and on the ice, his coaches, is something you don't see much anymore,' Huxley said. 'He's an old soul and it's just a pleasure to be around all of the Reschnys. His parents are model hockey parents.' This summer, when the U18s wrap up and Reschny returns home to Macklin to start his offseason training with Huxley, his focus will be on adding a step, which scouts have asked about. Both Heisinger and Huxley said he's 'faster than people give him credit for.' 'I've had a couple of people ask me and they're not worried about his speed, but they've asked about it, and I have four or five clips where I say, 'Well, this is what you're getting. He's toasting defenders because his hands, feet and head move in sync,'' Huxley said. 'And he's continually working on his first three steps, which is their question mark. But when you look at his game as a whole, his brain and everything else works together so well. Sometimes I watch him and I'm like 'Go, go, go, you're the best player out there' but then I watch and he'll make the right play almost every time. He's a thinker.' Advertisement Despite his 5-foot-10.5 listing, Huxley also says Reschny's 'a beast in the gym.' Heisinger called him a 'powerful kid (who) gets to pucks' because of how motivated and driven he is. 'People look at size and to the naked eye they always look at height. And you know what, wingspan and length and reach is one way of looking at size and it's awesome to have, but Cole is built like Sid (Sidney Crosby),' Huxley said. 'He's low to the ice. His legs are super strong and going to be super explosive. And if you watch him down low, he isn't getting beat off pucks very often and that's because he's very, very strong.' Huxley thinks he could grow a couple of inches and get to six feet, too, and compares him to how thick and strong Logan Stankoven was at the same age (though Stankoven was 2 1/2 inches shorter). 'When you think of size, do you really think about height anymore? I think you think of, 'If I have the puck, how am I going to keep it?' And I think Cole is a very strong player. He's very strong for his age,' Huxley said. On the ice, that strength shows up in his ability to win and hold pucks, too. 'He's a battler,' Heisinger said. 'He wants to win puck battles. He's a guy that's in the fight to win the fight. He's going to do whatever it takes to win a game, to win a battle. He's the ultimate team guy, ultimate competitor, and someone that when the chips are down you want him on your side.' Patrick said the only player he has ever coached in the WHL who entered the league as strong as Reschny did at 16 was Minnesota Wild first-rounder Carson Lambos. 'Probably Cole's biggest strength is how strong he is on his feet, how strong he is on the puck,' Patrick said. That first season, Patrick said he didn't think there was a player in the CHL who had to play as much and as big a role as Reschny did. After first-line center Robin Sapousek got injured at the World Juniors, Reschny became Victoria's 1C at 16. In a perfect world, Patrick would have preferred his rookie season in the WHL to be in third-line matchups and minutes. Advertisement Instead, Reschny registered 59 points in 61 games, second on the team in scoring and fifth among WHL rookies. 'He stirs the drink. He makes players around him better. Two years in a row, as a 16- and 17-year-old, that team just has no success without him and it's very evident. Look at the players this year who played with him, look at the players last year who played with him, they both had career years,' Huxley said, pointing specifically to linemate Teydon Trembecky's jump from 10 goals and 20 points a year ago to 46 goals and 88 points this season. He actually had a 'really tough first couple of months' to start this season, according to Patrick, and didn't play particularly well at November's CHL USA Prospects Challenge (where he scored the game-winner in the second game of the event, his lone point in its two games). But he got better, and better, and better as the season went on. In the second half, Patrick said he was outplaying the opposing teams' 19- and 20-year-old first-line centers head-to-head as a 17-year-old. When they'd go into Prince George it was Wild 2023 second-rounder Riley Heidt, then 19. When they'd go into Vancouver, it was 20-year-old drafted prospects Connor Levis and Jaden Lipinski. 'He was playing these players head-to-head or outplaying them,' Patrick said, 'and coming away with two, three, four points, and playing in every situation, and playing the game the right way. But not only that, just how he led by example was pretty impressive. We hadn't seen too many instances like this and I certainly haven't. I don't think I've seen a 17-year-old play better in the playoffs in my time coaching in the league.' In the playoffs, it was Kraken 2024 top-10 pick Berkly Catton in Spokane. 'I think he showed here playing against a pretty potent top line in Spokane that his skating was more than fine,' Heisinger said. Advertisement All year, even when he got off to a slower start offensively, he was also Patrick's 'best defensive center' and 'top penalty killer' and 'top faceoff guy.' 'From the time I got here, he has played a real responsible two-way game,' Patrick said. 'And for me coming from the NHL to coaching junior, it was way more pronounced to have some young players who have no clue how to play the game defensively or no desire to play in the D-zone. And in saying that, it's never even been an issue for him. He feels a responsibility, he's aware of it, he knows how to play in the D-zone, he's good at taking away passing lanes, he's good at ending plays and he will get in the shot lanes. It's something that he has been willing to do and takes pride in from the time that I got here.' Huxley went a step further. 'I've been around a lot of the kids in the draft and I'm not a scout, but I don't think there's a better 200-foot player in the draft. There's not a chance,' Huxley said.
