10 WHL Things From Glen Erickson, Volume XXI

Like it or not, here’s a heaping helping of news from southwest Saskatchewan. Part of it is out of necessity, but it’s also a huge coincidence. Is timing really everything? Proceed with caution:

1. B.C. Division Flavour? When the Western Hockey League convenes at the Langley Events Centre February 18 for the 2026 WHL Prospects Game presented by Showpass, count on a very definite B.C. Division presence, especially behind the benches. The league announced Team East head coach Shaun Clouston of the Kamloops Blazers will be joined by Derek Martin (Kelowna Rockets) and Fred Harbinson (Penticton Vees). Team West head coach Mark Lamb of the Prince George Cougars will be joined by Parker Burgess (Vancouver Giants) and James Patrick (Victoria Royals). It’s as if the “Okanagan” is facing off against “The Rest”.
2. Prospects – A total of 44 players have been selected to suit up in Langley, of which 25 are Canadian-born. Clearly, the league has become a viable option for international players, with each team now allowed three import players. And, the current campaign has seen a significant increase in the number of USA-born players choosing the DUB. Many of the Americans have had some experience in the USHL, which according to many scouts over the years is pretty damn good hockey. According to the league office, this is the 27^th edition of an all-star-type game in the WHL. The last time it was played in the Vancouver area was awhile ago, back in 1972. That would be pre-Internet…the Rotary Dial era! 
3. Swift Current – What’s going on with the Swift Current Broncos? On Friday, Board Chair Trent McCleary and General Manager Chad Leslie took to the podium as the organization held a press conference that came across to me as kind of a state of the union address. If there is a team in the WHL fully immersed in a rebuild, it’s got to be the Broncos. In a city of about 17,000 – though the trading area would be about 50,000 people – it’s probably the league’s smallest market. A record of 11-31-3 through 45 games is bound to create some frustration. What I do know is we live in a world of social media craziness, where it appears the current coaching staff has been taking some heat. People with an axe to grind these days seemingly don’t have to worry about where the sparks fly, as they can slither about behind the shroud of anonymity. Regardless, there’s will always be a season-ticket holder somewhere, or just a random fan, who firmly believes he or she is really a qualified WHL general manager. You can give Shawn Mullin’s terrific coverage a look at Swift Current Online. It’s a real good read, with a nifty Ryan Huska reference, too.
4. Local Flavour – When the WHL instituted its bantam draft about 35 years ago, the landscape really changed. Many teams, until that point, were able to rely in large part on stocking their rosters with local talent. These were sought after places to play for many local players growing up and developing through minor hockey programs. Some of the nonsense the Broncos organization is dealing with appears to be associated with this dynamic. According to Mullin, there has been criticism of current head coach Regan Darby and assistant Travis Moen, as both men have sons on the Broncos roster. Moen joined the staff after his son Carter was drafted by the Broncos in 2023, while Darby had been with the team for multiple seasons before they traded for his son Hudson in September. Both McCleary and Leslie addressed it all head on. “At no point did either individual lobby for or request the inclusion of their respective sons on this team,” Leslie said. “All decisions related to player personnel fall under my authority. Carter Moen is a highly touted prospect who was drafted in the first round and is the centerpiece of our young corps moving forward. I made the decision to trade for Hudson Darby at the beginning of the season with the team’s needs in mind. We have a total of four local players on the roster this season, and that is something we are very excited about as an organization. Having local talent represented on our club has been tremendous for our community. And these players are exceptional individuals who bring high character, work ethic, and a genuine pride for representing their hometown.”
5. The Coincidence – I don’t profess to have all the inside information. I’ll leave that for the likes of Mullin, et al, in Swift Current media circles to explore. Many might remember it was Mullin on the play-by-call during the Broncos 26-game playoff run to its exciting 2018 league championship win. For some, that seems like a distant memory. However, in a crazy coincidence, which is certainly now timely, I spoke with former Broncos forward and WHL veteran Brady Birnie on January 20. He is one of four overage players with the expansion Penticton Vees this season. Birnie played four full seasons in Swift Current. He was “in the room” so, I’ll take his word for it, so to speak, over any of the social media hysteria and insinuations that seem to be creating some disruption these days. Suffice to say, Birnie loved his playing days in Speedy Creek. Of that, there is no doubt.
6. A Broncos Booster – I reached out to the Penticton Vees for an opportunity to re-connect with Birnie. (Thanks to Riley Pollock in Penticton for the assist!) Birnie, from Regina, is now 20. Back in May, Birnie was traded by the Broncos to the Vees. I asked him how his departure handled, angling for some feedback on the management team’s approach. “Our GM (in Swift Current) did an awesome job,” Birnie said. “He informed a few of us that they were going down the track of rebuilding their group. And he (Chad Leslie) has done a really good job, he’s grabbed so much draft capital in exchange for guys like (Rylan) Gould, (Luke) Mistelbacher, (Grayson) Burzynski and myself. He let us all know and we picked a few destinations, places we’d want to play. He was able to put us all on to the teams that were on our list.” All told, Birnie played 281 games, regular season and playoffs combined. “It worked out for us and for Swift Current,” Birnie said. “I follow them every day still and they’ve done a great job. They have so many young players. They got so many first-round picks now and they’re gonna be able to have a chance to pick some players. The future is definitely bright for Swift Current.” Take this all for what it’s worth. Clearly, Birnie is hardly a player demonstrating any measure of animosity.
7. Welcome to the Okanagan – Birnie landed in Penticton in late August, though he says there were numerous phone calls and zoom meetings among the players and management. He marvels at how things have come together in Penticton. “They were really busy here, either trading for players straight up or trading for guy’s rights,” Birnie said. “Even getting players to come here out of the United States. I always knew what was going on during the summer. They grabbed so many players.” Indeed, it’s a lengthy list. In a unique transactional twist, defenceman Nolan Stevenson (Shaunavon, SK) and Brooks DeMars were dealt to the Vees from Swift Current in the package along with Birnie. Stevenson, now 21, had already played in Penticton for two BCHL seasons, but the Broncos owned his WHL rights from the 2020 WHL Draft. DeMars, 16, is from Minnesota and has played 35 games this season in the DUB. And of course, I had to ask Birnie about the extremely difficult adjustment to the winter weather in the Okanagan Valley. “I went home over Christmas and that’s the one thing I do not miss,” Birnie said. “I was in my coat and I was just freezing. I don’t miss that. I mean, I think it’s plus-5 here today, and it’s January 20!”
8. The Heater – The day we spoke, the Vees had won 11 straight games. “We haven’t lost in the year 2026 yet, so knock on wood,” Birnie laughed. “We’ve had some little win streaks this year. I mean, we lose a game, and it’s just like we hop right back on the horse. We don’t really get discouraged. Now that everyone’s really comfortable with each other, we’ve got a real tight group. It’s just translating on the ice.” Birnie suggested that as an expansion team, the group really felt it had something to prove. “We started the year with kind of a chip on our shoulder. Going into the year, no one thought much of us. We’re getting everyone’s players that other teams didn’t want, basically. We’re kind of proving people wrong and we’re having fun doing it. We play really structured, I mean, that’s something I’ve been told from lots of people around the league and the coaches that watch us play. We’ve always got guys above the puck and that’s a part of our work ethic. It’s just kind of the culture here that was built before us. Everyone works so hard here. It translates into practice, to the games, in the workouts. It’s really contagious.”
9. A Broken Record? – I’ve touched on it previously. There has been a penchant of late by many among the WHL media throng to focus on achievements in what has been referred to as the “modern era” or perhaps, the “Internet era”. Be that as it may – thanks, but no thanks. When applicable, I’ll stick with my recollections of the DUB back in the Rotary Dial era of the 1970’s. According to Rod Pedersen in his 10 Weekend Things piece on Sunday, “the NFL honours the past better than any other league. Wish the others would do it more.” Agreed! I hope the whippersnappers in today’s media take this to heart because I think presentism sucks. Of course, these days it’s very exciting to watch defenceman Bryce Pickford of the Medicine Hat Tigers, as he forces goal judges to turn on the red light with a frequency not seen in the league for quite some time. The Chauvin, Alberta native has scored 33 goals in 42 games this season. That 33^rd tally nudged former Tigers rearguard Kris Russell, from Medicine Hat’s record book. So, with 24 games remaining, can Pickford light the wick another 17 times to eclipse the existing WHL goal-scoring record for defenceman of 50 goals? Keep in mind that Pickford did not play on the weekend in either of the Tigers’ road games in northern Saskatchewan, losses to both Saskatoon and Prince Albert.
10. Memory Lane – Defenceman Larry Sacharuk of the Saskatoon Blades set that standard for blueliners during the 1971-72 season, scoring 50 goals in 65 games. In that WHL era, I can assure you nobody was tapping out messages to each other on a keyboard using their thumbs. We didn’t mind getting ink on our fingers while reading about his exploits in the newspaper. The group of neighbourhood malcontents I ran with played shinny outdoors in our ski-doo boots with a sponge puck. We’d start out from behind the net, voicing our best Danny Gallivan impressions. “Now then Sacharuk!” Trust me, growing up in Saskatoon where the Blades were the only show in town, we all knew who Larry Sacharuk was and what he accomplished. His playing career was cut short in large part, due to a serious eye injury suffered when he was struck in the face by a slap shot. Believe it or not, there was some damn good hockey played in the DUB before we all became so engrossed in the world wide web. For me, those memories aren’t going anywhere!

Randoms – Penticton won three games in three nights on the weekend, against teams from three different divisions. The Vees (29-9-4-3) outscored their opponents, 16-3. The winning streak is now 14 straight games. The Vees have lost only once in regulation time since December 1…Cameron Schmidt ran his point scoring streak to 27 games with a third period goal Friday in Seattle against the Kelowna Rockets. On Saturday, the Everett Silvertips held Schmidt off the scoresheet, ending the streak. The last time Schmidt failed to register a point was November 10 as a member of the Vancouver Giants against, you guessed it, the Silvertips. The previous high this season was 20 consecutive games with a point by Ryan Miller of the Portland Winterhawks…There are four players in the DUB with 30 or more goals so far this season. Schmidt (33), Pickford (33) Joby Baumiller (32) and JP Hurlburt (31). Last season, Shea Van Olm of the Spokane Chiefs led the league with 49 goals…Among import players, Miro Holinka of the Edmonton Oil Kings is the top scorer with 28 goals and 34 assists in 42 games…If the Vancouver Giants didn’t have bad luck, would they have any? Top prospect Ryan Lin is out week-to week, injured on January 11. In the same game, Mathis Preston, acquired from Spokane near the trade deadline, was hurt in what was his second game with the Giants. He’s listed week-to week, courtesy a collision that landed Wenatchee Wild rearguard Brandon Osborne a six-game suspension for a kneeing major…With the aforementioned “local flavour” in mind, how about a tip of the hat for Red Deer Rebels forward Talon Brigley. The 20-year-old, now in his fifth full season with the Rebels, played his 336^th career game on the weekend, regular season and playoffs combined. Brigley, you may have surmised, is from Red Deer…The Prince George Cougars (28-16-2) have quietly strung together five straight victories, all against B.C. Division rivals…The Prince Albert Raiders (35-6-4) are on a bit of a tear as well with seven straight wins…If there’s one thing I know well and for certain, it’s the “we’ve got this” attitude among so many people in small communities across western Canada. Kudos to the fine folks in Rathwell, Manitoba for coming to the aid of the Notre Dame Hounds U17 team last weekend. Please take the time to google “Rathwell CBC Hockey” and give the story a look.

(Glen Erickson is a freelance hockey writer based in Medicine Hat, AB)