Wenatchee Wild joining WHL after move from Winnipeg
WINNIPEG, CANADA - MAY 13: Evan Friesen #10 of the Winnipeg Ice and Lucas Ciona #47 of the Seattle Thunderbirds prepare for a second period face-off in Game Two of the 2023 WHL Championship Series at Canada Life Centre on May 13, 2023 in Winnipeg, Ca
Wenatchee is the newest home of a Western Hockey League franchise.
David and Lisa White – owners of the Wenatchee Wild of the British Columbia Hockey League – purchased the Winnipeg Ice franchise and will move the team to Wenatchee for the 2023-24 season. The WHL team will replace the BCHL team owned by the White family and will take on the Wild name.
The Wild will join the Seattle Thunderbirds, Everett Silvertips, Tri-City Americans and Spokane Chiefs as WHL members from the state of Washington. The Portland Winterhawks make it six U.S. based teams in the league.
"We are very excited as an organization to join the Western Hockey League," David White said in a statement. "Our vision has always been to operate with the highest level of standards for our players, and we have a responsibility to develop players to the best of our ability and prepare them for the next level.
"For our players, our community and our organization, this is an incredible opportunity to provide the greatest overall experience in our great sport. The state of Washington is a great hockey state at all levels. We have a home now with an American division that finally provides us with the long-term sustainability we have been searching for."
The Ice were the best team in the WHL last season through the regular season. They finished the year with a 57-10-1-0 record and a league-leading 115 points. The Ice lost in the WHL Championship Series to the Seattle Thunderbirds – the Western Conference Champions – in five games.
The move of the franchise to Wenatchee will balance out the WHL conferences at 11 teams a piece. The Ice had moved to Winnipeg in 2019-20 from Cranbrook B.C. where they had previously been the Kootenay Ice. The move was contingent upon a new major junior hockey arena being constructed in Winnipeg as the Ice played in a 1,600-seat venue at the University of Manitoba. The arena never materialized and the team is once again on the move.
"Multiple attempts by the Ice ownership to construct an arena facility of acceptable WHL standards in Winnipeg, based on the agreed upon timeframes, were unsuccessful, leading to the relocation to Wenatchee," the WHL said in a statement.
"The Western Hockey League would like to thank the Winnipeg Ice fans for their support and the Ice organization for building a highly successful hockey program that we expect will have a great future in Washington State.
The Wild have been a member of the BCHL since 2015 after a seven-year run in the North American Hockey League. They won the Doyle Cup in 2018 as the Pacific Junior A Champions and earned a spot in the Royal Bank Cup (now Centennial Cup).
The Wild play at the 4,300-seat Town Toyota Center.
"The WHL and our member Clubs are delighted to welcome the Wenatchee Wild to the Western Hockey League," WHL commissioner Ron Robison said in a statement. "Under the ownership of David and Lisa White and the management of (G.M.) Bliss Littler, the Wenatchee Wild have become recognized as a highly-regarded junior hockey franchise, and we believe they will be a great addition to our WHL U.S. Division. We know hockey fans throughout Central Washington will be very excited to now be able to witness the world’s finest junior hockey league when the puck drops in Wenatchee this fall."