2023-24 Manitoba Bisons/CW

[Hollywood3]

July 16: News Round-Up

I thought there would be some news about recruits from the Bisons and/or other CW teams. But no such luck. So here are some stories being saved.

Such as the Manitoba Connection with the Vegas Golden Knights, including two Bisons.

The 2023 players include:

Zach Whitecloud - He's a Dakota Sioux, born in Brandon and started his career with the Virden Oil Capitals in the MJHL.

Keegan Kolesar - He's anther Brandon boy, who was drafted to Seattle of the WHL.

Nolan Patrick - He's a Winnipeg boy, who played with the Brandon Wheat Kings. He never played a game in 2022-23, which is the 2nd season out of six where he was injured the entire season.

Brett Howden - He's from Oakbank, which is where the Ice were supposed to build a WHL-sized arena. He was drafted by Moose Jaw in the WHL.

Mark Stone - He's another Winnipegger who went out to play in Brandon.

Former Knights' players include:

Ryan Reaves - Yet another Winnipegger who got his start with the Wheaties. But no cups for him, as he is off to Toronto.

Cody Eakin - He's another Winnipegger, but he started in Swift Current in the WHL. His NHL travels landed him with the Jets for a brief time, but he's now in Switzerland.

Cody Glass - Another Winnipegger, drafted by Portland in the WHL, and now in Nashville.

Brendan Leipsic - Like Glass, he's a Winnipegger drafted by Portland in the WHL but now in the KHL. He only had a half-season in Vegas.

Adam Brooks - Another Winnipegger who was drafted by Regina in the NHL. He only had 7 games with Vegas, and even had 14 games with the Jets in 2021-22. He played for Lehigh Valley in the AHL in 2022-23.

Off-ice personnel:

Kelly McCrimmon - GM - Though he had the misfortune of being born in Saskatchewan, he escaped to play junior with the Brandon Wheat Kings, where he went on to become GM. In total, he had 32 seasons as player/coach/GM in Wheat City. He also eventually owned the franchise and did not sell until he was two years into his Vegas tenure.

Vaughn Karpan - Director of Player Personnel - He played for the Bisons from 1982-83 to 1984-85 with time off to play for Team Canada in the 1984 Olympics. He then played for the national team through the 1988 Olympics.

Bob Lowes - Assistant Director of Player Personnel - He came from Prince Albert, so he likely needed remedial education. He played for the Bisons from 1985-86 to 1988-89, and was a player/assistant coach in 1987-88. He also coached the Wheat Kings for 9 years.

Broadcasters:

Gary Lawless and Shane Hnidy - They worked for TSN in Winnipeg but moved to Vegas when the Knights entered the NHL. Lawless is not from Manitoba, but Hnidy was born in Neepawa and played for the Atlanta Thrashers before they headed north.

From Jets to Vegas and Back:

Laurent Brossoit - He started in the Vegas net these playoffs before being injured. He played three seasons for the Jets, went to Vegas for two, and is headed back to the `Peg for 2023-24.

Connor Blake is a good golfer, and took a shot at qualifying for the U.S. Open. He won the first level, and fell short in the second.

Links:
➤ MRU: Cougars’ defenseman Blake takes to the links at US Open qualifiers

Holy Trinity has a couple of stories. One on a fund-raiser that brought in $125K and their captain, Travis Verveda, has signed a pro deal in Hungary. He signed with DVTK Jegesmedvék of the Erste Liga.

Links:
➤ TWU: COMPLETE CHAMPION CHALLENGE RAISES $125K FOR NEED-BASED SCHOLARSHIPS
➤ TWU: VERVEDA SIGNS FIRST PRO CONTRACT IN HUNGARY

Former T-ird player Matt Revel is coming back to be an assistant coach. He played in Austria last year.

Links:
➤ UBC: T-Bird alum Matt Revel returns as new assistant coach

Former Bison and Regina Cougar defenceman Brady Pouteau has been signed by the Fife Flyers, a Scottish team in the EIHL.

In prior announcements, other CW players to have signed pro contracts are Zac Patrick (Manitoba to Sweden), Brad Schoonbaert (Calgary to Kansas City - ECHL), Jared Freadrich (Alberta to France), Kade Jensen (MRU to Utah - ECHL), and Dawson Davidson (Alberta to Denmark).

Links:
➤ Elite Prospects: Brady Pouteau's Elite Prospects Career Stats
➤ Elite Prospects: Zac Patrick's Elite Prospects Career Stats
➤ Elite Prospects: Brad Schoonbaert's Elite Prospects Career Stats
➤ Elite Prospects: Jared Freadrich's Elite Prospects Career Stats
➤ Elite Prospects: Kade Jensen's Elite Prospects Career Stats
➤ Elite Prospects: Dawson Davidson's Elite Prospects Career Stats

 

[Hollywood3]

delete

 

[AUS Fan]

D-man Lucas Fry, Flin Flon to the Bisons.

 

[MiamiHockeyII]

Brett Howden - He's from Oakbank, which is where the Ice were supposed to build a WHL-sized arena. He was drafted by Moose Jaw in the WHL.

At the risk of overcorrecting, the arena was to be built in Oak Bluff, not Oakbank.

 

[Hollywood3]

July 21: Bisons Get Another Captain

LUCAS FRY - D - Flin Flon Bombers (SJHL)

This is another signing announced at Elite Prospects, but not yet at GoBisons.ca. Fry looks like a tall (6'2") and thin (209 lbs) defenceman. He's from Winnipeg, but after a season with Steinbach in the MJHL he went north for three seasons in Flin Flon (one being a 1-game Covid season). He was team captain and led his team to the SJHL final, which followed a decent run in the Centennial Cup in 2022. He only scored one goal, but had 108 PIMs in 54 games last year.

He also had a severe injury situation where a skate blade cut his arm. Hopefully, that is not habit-forming.

This gives the Bisons three new defencemen to go along with three new forwards and one new goaltender. All are from Junior A leagues, in a season where the CW seems to be short on new WHL grads.

Links:
➤ Elite Prospects: Lucas Fry Career Stats
➤ The Reminder: In Our Words: A salute for a downed Bomber captain
➤ Flin Flon Bombers: Bomber Captain, Lucas Fry, Commits to the University of Manitoba
➤ Flin Flon Online: Fry Commits To U of M
➤ Flin Flon Bombers: Lucas Fry Profile
➤ SJHL: Lucas Fry Profile
➤ MJHL: Lucas Fry Profile

 

[AUS Fan]

Gladstone, MB product Cameron Trimble LOI with the Bisons.

 

[Hollywood3]

July 26: Bisons Sign an 8th Junior A Recruit

CAMERON TRIMBLE - F - Neepawa Titans (MJHL)

Here's another signing discovered from Elite Prospects and not yet announced by the Bisons.

Signing number eight makes it four forwards, three defenceman, and a goaltender in the recruiting bin, all from the Junior A ranks. This represents a larger-than-usual turnover. There are still few announcements of WHL players entering the CW. Sask has 8 and TWU has one from a couple years back. Surely there is a flood of unannounced commitments yet to come. Will the Bisons get any?

Trimble is from Gladstone, aka "Happy Rock", and was a fan of Neepawa as a kid. He's not the scoring forward the Bisons need, with 26 goals and 31 assts for 57 points in 94 post-Covid games. He did wear an "A" and also had 117 PIMs. He's only 5'11" and 180 lbs, so I don't know how physical he can be.

Links:
➤ Elite Prospects: Cameron Trimble Career Stats
➤ Brandon Sun: Gladstone’s Trimble signs with Natives
➤ Neepawa Titans: Titans Name New Leadership Group
➤ Neepawa Titans: Player Profile
➤ Videos: Instagram : Facebook : YouTube

ELSEWHERE

Holy Trinity adds each new recruit to the same link, to the top of the list like a pancake. This new announcement is Skylar Cameron, a defenceman from the Nanaimo Clippers of the BCHL. He's their 4th recruit, and 2nd from Junior A, to go with an Austrian and an ECHL/WHL transfer.

Links:
➤ TWU: Men's Hockey New Recruits

There seems to be more than the usual number of CW departures this season. Former Steinbach Piston Brad Schoenbaert has keft Bedrock U to join the Kansas City Mavericks of the ECHL. He had four full seasons in the CW, plus the Covid season. He had 53 points in 83 games in those seasons.

Links:
➤ UofC: Schoonbaert signs pro deal in Kansas City

 

[Hollywood3]

July 29: CW RECRUITMENT SUMMARY

I have wondered aloud about the lack of WHL recruits by CW teams so far this off-season. (Everywhere except Saskatchewan, that is.) Also, teams like Alberta and Calgary have no recruits at all. Saskatchewan, MacEwan, and Manitoba have a very high turnover already.

 

[AUS Fan]

Ben Christian, Drumheller Dragons Defenseman (DDD) to Regina.


D-man Skylar Cameron, Nanaimo Clippers to TWU.

 

[Hollywood3]

August 14: NEW CWUAA SITE

The new CW site is up now. I updated the links in the original post. The former site had two schedule pages, the better one being on the Hockey Tech format. That one is still active. Last year's links are gone. The archives only have last year. The former PDFs with old standings are not linked. The League Stat is still going, and its Media Access link as well.

New hockey link: https://canadawest2023.prestosports.com/sports/mice/index
Hockey Tech Schedule/Stats: Canada West Men's Hockey
League Stat: ..:: LEAGUESTAT ::..
Media Access: Media Access - Leaguestat

 

[dm8895]

Ian Herbers and Stan Marple on Oilers Now.
Part one and two .
I’m a bit of a McDavid fanboy so I listen to Bob’s show quite often .

 

[Hollywood3]

August 17: CANADAWEST.TV RETURNS AND MACEWAN RECRUITS

I bought my CW.TV pass already. The links are up. The All Access pass is $89.99 and a single sport is $34.99. We'll have to see if the touted improvements materialize. Right now the CW.TV site features the on-demand Ukrainian tour from December-January. I doubt that the Bisons will draw close to 8,000 to any game this year.

Links:
➤ Canada West: 2023-24 Canada West TV passes now on sale
➤ Canada West: Visaic, Canada West Extend Partnership Through 2026
➤ Canada West: CanadaWest.tv

Recruiting announcements across the CW have hit the skids for several weeks now.

MacEwan have, however, announced two transfers and one recruit. They have a goaltender transfering from Concordia (Edmonton), a forward transferring from Carleton of the OUA, and a defenceman from Lloydminster of the AJHL. This gives them about a 50% roster turnover.

The goaltender from Concordia, Eric Ward, was 6-10-1, 4.05 GAA, .868 S%. Those numbers aren't good, but in his Junior A days, over three seasons, he was 47-28-11, 2.72 GAA, .908 S%.

The forward, Liam Ryan, is from Carleton. He never played last year and the year before had no points in 10 games. In three seasons in the BCHL he had 38 points in 88 games. He also had two cups-of-coffee in the WHL. His top offensive season was 2019-20 in the BCHL, where he had 12-9-21 in 51 games. They tout him as a defensive player, which must be true.

The defenceman, Tyson Kowalchuk, comes from the Lloydminster Bobcats of the AJHL. He had 21 points in 56 games and wore an "A" in his final season.

Links:
➤ MacEwan: Concordia transfer Ward adds competition to Griffins' goaltending stable
➤ Elite Prospects: Eric Ward
➤ MacEwan: Carleton transfer Ryan brings experience, character and 200-foot game to Griffins
➤ Elite Prospects: Liam Ryan
➤ MacEwan: Talented St. Albert D-man Kowaluk joins Lloydminster Bobcat teammate Bygrove on Griffins
➤ Elite Prospects: Tyson Kowalchuk

 

[Hollywood3]

August 18: Bisons Sign a Newfoundlander

BRANDON CASEY - D - Edmundston Blizzard (MJAHL)

I found out this signing not from Elite Prospects' list of confirmed transfers, but from their Bison roster page where I noticed a new name popping up. This happened before with Cameron Trimble (they did list him on the USports transfers on August 16th).

Born in Grand Falls-Windsor, Newfoundland, he has played junior hockey in Rimouski (QMJHL), St. John (QMJHL), Grande Prairie (AJHL), and Edmundston (MJAHL). This follows a stint in high school at Newbridge Academy in Nova Scotia. So once he plays in Manitoba, he will have covered a majority of provinces (6).

Links:
➤ Elite Prospects: Brandon Casey Career Stats
➤ Edmundston Blizzard: Blizzard obtains defenseman Brandon Casey
➤ Saltwire: Grand Falls-Windsor native Brandon Casey named to Rimouski Oceanic
➤ MHL: Player Profile

 

[dm8895]

August 18: Bisons Sign a Newfoundlander

BRANDON CASEY - D - Edmundston Blizzard (MJAHL)

I found out this signing not from Elite Prospects' list of confirmed transfers, but from their Bison roster page where I noticed a new name popping up. This happened before with Cameron Trimble (they did list him on the USports transfers on August 16th).

Born in Grand Falls-Windsor, Newfoundland, he has played junior hockey in Rimouski (QMJHL), St. John (QMJHL), Grande Prairie (AJHL), and Edmundston (MJAHL). This follows a stint in high school at Newbridge Academy in Nova Scotia. So once he plays in Manitoba, he will have covered a majority of provinces (6).

Links:
➤ Elite Prospects: Brandon Casey Career Stats
➤ Edmundston Blizzard: Blizzard obtains defenseman Brandon Casey
➤ Saltwire: Grand Falls-Windsor native Brandon Casey named to Rimouski Oceanic
➤ MHL: Player Profile

I’ve seen a lot of him, very smart hockey player . Not sure how he transitions to USports but he’s a decent sized kid who wasn’t overly physical, is an above average skater for a tier 2 defenceman.

 

[AUS Fan]

I’ve seen a lot of him, very smart hockey player . Not sure how he transitions to USports but he’s a decent sized kid who wasn’t overly physical, is an above average skater for a tier 2 defenceman.

His uncle is Brian Casey, who played 4 yrs at ACA and about 10 yrs in Europe, including 2 Spengler Cup stints.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

Brett Davis has signed with Florida of the ECHL. Big loss for the Bisons at this point of the offseason…especially if he was intending on being back.

 

[Hollywood3]

August 21: Bisons Make It Official and News From Edmontown

The Bisons made it official with respect to three signings previously posted in this thread. The players are Lucas Fry, Brandon Casey, and Cameron Trimble.

It appears that nobody has roster pages up yet, except for Elite Prospects where only new recruits are listed. There also seem to be a higher than usual amount of departures conference-wide. The Bisons have lost Zach Patrick (7th defenceman, frequently dressed as 4th line forward) and now Brett Davis (leading scorer and all-star).

Also, the Bisons are the only CW team without a pre-season schedule posted. Thus far, they do not have games on Sept 8-9 announced by another team.

Links:
➤ GoBisons.ca Men's hockey announce commitment of Lucas Fry, Brandon Casey & Cameron Trimble

The Mythical Monsters keep going with recruiting announcements. They have signed Eduard Wruck, a native of North Vancouver who last played for the OCN Blizzard (MJHL). He has also played for Port Alberni (BCHL), Steinbach (MJHL), and Weyburn (SJHL). He's a defenceman who, in 93 games of Junior A, has 7 goals and 32 assists. They tout him as a big body, but he has very few PIMs.

Links:
➤ MacEwan: Griffins' goal of getting grittier continues with addition of OCN Blizzard product Wruck
➤ Elite Prospects: Eduard Wruck

Ian Herbers and Stan Marple on Oilers Now.
Part one and two .
I’m a bit of a McDavid fanboy so I listen to Bob’s show quite often .

I listened to the interview and there were a few highlights, which cast light on the lack of WHL recruiting announcements.

- A lot of 2-year AHL deals are being offered to WHL grads. This "tips the scales" for a lot of players who in the past would have been hesitant to forego their scholarship cash.

- There was very little on new recruits, and it sounds like irons are in the fire but it is not like it used to be. Even a year ago. There was also discussion about there being more Junior A recruits now and in the future.

- They might have a recruit from Mexico!

IMO, you could add that remote learning makes it possible to cash your scholarship while playing pro. I wonder how many players might end up doing this.

 

[jetsmooseice]

- A lot of 2-year AHL deals are being offered to WHL grads. This "tips the scales" for a lot of players who in the past would have been hesitant to forego their scholarship cash.

Wait, what - if you go pro from the WHL, even on a measly one-time 2-year deal, you forgo your scholarship money?!?!

 

[Hollywood3]

Wait, what - if you go pro from the WHL, even on a measly one-time 2-year deal, you forgo your scholarship money?!?!

You get to play a half-season (usually in the ECHL). Lots of players turn to USports after the Christmas break.

 

[Hollywood3]

August 26: The Remparts Are Back!

The Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean (CMRSJ) (in English, Royal Military College Saint-Jean) is back and is in the RSEQ's new Division 2. It is always good to see a program revived.

CMRSJ had operated a Rec League team since the school was revived in 2008. Their team site has nothing newer than 2020-21 player photos, so who knows if they were even in the Rec Leagues last year. The RSEQ site does not show them in last year's college competition, either. Elite Prospects lists them as "not active".

The school did play high-level inter-university hockey from 1953-54 to 1961-62 and then again from 1965-66 to 1969-70. They were in the Ottawa-St. Lawrence Conference (OSLC), which competed for the University Cup once it was established. The OSLC was merged with the Quebec-Ontario Athletic Association (QOAA) and the Ontario Intercollegiate Athletic Association (OIAA) when all three conferences were realigned along provincial lines in 1971 into the Quebec Universities Athletic Association (QUAA) and Ontario Universities Athletic Association (OUAA). The QUAA changed names to become the QSSF and then the RSEQ, and the OUAA became the OUA in 1998.

It is good to see Quebec and B.C. trying out different methods to promote scholastic hockey in their provinces.

Links:
➤ Fandom/Wikia: Team Page
➤ CMRSJ: Team Website
➤ RSEQ: Team Profile
➤ Wikipedia: Royal Military College Saint-Jean

 

[Hollywood3]

August 30: We have a score!

CONCORDIA STINGERS 5
ASIAGO HOCKEY 1935 8

Links:
➤ Concordia: Schedule & Results
➤ Asiago Hockey: Team Website

I saw this on the OUA website, however they had it scheduled for September 1st. I could not find a game story nor summary for this one. Asiago is an Italian team in the ICEHL, which is mostly Austrian (formerly called the EBEL). Asiago has three former USports players: Giordano Finoro (Guelph Gryphons), Randy Gazzola (UNB Reds), and Justin Fazio (Queen's).

 

[dm8895]

Randy Gazzola (UNB Reds)

I’ve missed maybe 5 UNB games since 2002. In all that time he’s my favourite hockey player to come through the program. Not that anyone asked.

 

[Hollywood3]

August 31: Arghhh - Watereloo Loses

WATERLOO WARRIORS 1
EISPIRATEN CRIMMITSCHAU 5

Links:
➤ Waterloo: Schedule & Results
➤ Eispiraten Crimmitschau: Game Story (Google Translate)

The Ice Pirates have just one USports grad that I could find - Scott Feser from the York Lions.

 

[Hollywood3]

September 1: Mythical Mutants Defeat Evil Monkeys

MACEWAN GRIFFINS 5
ALBERTA GOLDEN BEARS 3

Links:
➤ Summaries: LeagueStat : CW
➤ UofA: Team Website
➤ MacEwan: Roster Page
➤ Media Access Roster Pages: MacEwan : Alberta

Quick Summary
Mac: V. Scott (03:36 2nd) , K. Gable (02:27 3rd) , E. Strang (10:13 3rd) , K. Chabot (17:19 3rd) , S. Simard (19:47 3rd)
Alta: N. Boyko (17:58 1st) , A. Hall (07:41 3rd) , J. Kendall (12:14 3rd)
Goal: Mac: Abel (19 shots, 18 saves), Davis W (21 shots, 19 saves); Alta: Kruger (11 shots, 10 saves), Bennett L (12 shots, 9 saves)

How about that! There are no game stories anywhere, however the U of A uploaded rosters, stats, and summaries to LeagueStat and the Hockey Tech system on the CW site, which appears to have survived the updated CW website.

The good thing about the roster pages is that we can see who has arrived and departed. The Monkeys’ website has no new roster page, but the LeagueStat media access page has new rosters for both.

Departed Monkeys (7)
- Carter Wolski
- Nolan Volcan
- Matt Berlin
- Ryan Hughes
- Matt Fonteyne
- Dawson Davidson
- Jared Freadrich

New Monkeys (5)
- Alex Thacker - Lethbridge/Victoria (WHL)
- Noah Boyko - Prince George/Edmonton (WHL)
- Mason Ward - Brandon/Swift Current (WHL)
- Jacob Herauf - Concordia (OUA) via Victoria (WHL)
- Jacob Kendall - Red Deer (ACAC) via Sherwood Park (AJHL)

Departed Mutants (12)
- Cameron Trott
- Daniel Baker
- Zach Webb
- Neithan Salame
- Elijah Brown
- Curtis Roach
- Nic Correale
- David Kope
- Cameron Reagan
- Kobe Mohr
- Merritt Oszytko
- Shawn Parkinson

New Mutants (9)
- Eric Ward - Concordia (ACAC) via Drumheller (AJHL)
- Ben Bygrove - Lloydminster (AJHL)
- Tyson Kowaluk - Lloydminster (AJHL)
- Eduard Wruck - OCN (MJHL)/Weyburn (SJHL)
- Kadyn Chabot - Spruce Grove/Drayton Valley (AJHL)
- Ethan Mercer - Flin Flon (SJHL)/Olds (AJHL)
- Liam Ryan - Carleton (OUA) via Nanaimo (BCHL)
- Vincent Scott - Canmore (AJHL)
- Samuel Simard - Drumheller (AJHL)

I’ll be delving into all teams’ arrivals and departures once all rosters are out.


NEXT UP

Sat Sep 2 Alberta at MacEwan EX 8:00 MDT
Sat Sep 2 Waterloo at EVL Landshut EX 5:00 ECT
Sun Sep 3 Waterloo at Ravensburg Towerstars EX 5:00 ECT
Sun Sep 3 Concordia at Klagenfurt EX 11:30 am EDT

 

[Hollywood3]

September 2: UQTR Is also in Europe

U.Q.T.R. PATRIOTES 4
SPARTIATES MARSEILLES 7

Links:
➤ X: UQTR Tweet

UQTR has been on tour to France before and, apparently, are there again. There's nothing about this on their website. I heard it on the X (to paraphrase ZZ Top). I believe this game was played on August 29th in Teulon due to problems with the ice at Marseille.

U.Q.T.R. PATRIOTES 1
LES BRÛLEURS DE LOUPS GRENOBLE 4

Links:
➤ X: UQTR Tweet
➤ Bruleurs de loups: Team Website

For some reason the Grenoble hockey team is called the "Wolf Burners". On August 31st they also beat UQTR. Their website has a game story, which I linked through Google Translate.

U.Q.T.R. PATRIOTES 5
LES RAPACES DE GAP 4

Links:
➤ X: UQTR Tweet
➤ Les Rapaces de Gap: Photos

This game was September 1st and gave UQTR their first win, against France's Raptors. I wonder if they have a Gap in Gap.

U.Q.T.R. PATRIOTES -
DIABLES ROUGES DE BRIANÇON -

Links:
➤ X: UQTR Twitter/X
➤ Diables Rouges: Team Website

This game is slated for September 2nd.