WCHA adds team to Premier League

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This article was published 12/02/2025 (269 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Western Canada Hockey Academy will launch its first-ever winter team next fall as the under-15 Wolves join the Premier Hockey League.

Jason Roblin, who is the vice president of operations at the academy, said the new program will fill a hole that exists in the age group.

“There are some strong players who don’t make AAA or AA in Brandon,” Roblin said. “U13 AA has four teams and when you get to U15, it cuts down to two teams, leaving some players who should be playing at least AA hockey left out without a place other to play that suits their skill level.

“And Southwest and Yellowhead only have AAA so if they don’t make AAA, they’re back to rural house league, which is probably not the best for them either in their development.”

The six-year-old PHL had 16 teams in its U15 division this season, with just one playing out of Manitoba — the Manitoba Strafers — and the others based in Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C.

The league currently operates U9, U11, U13, U15, U16 and U18 divisions.

The Wolves will host a showcase weekend in October, and then travel to showcases elsewhere for their 24-game schedule.

“Basically once a month you’re going to a showcase and then you’re practising and playing exhibition games on the other weekends,” Roblin said. All league games will take place at the showcases, with each team playing four games over a two- or three-day monthly, with a championship showcase weekend in March.

The academy certainly has experience with running teams, since this will be the third year the Wolves have had a spring program.

“It’s our regular customers asking us for more,” Roblin said. “They’re asking us for better programming, more programming. It came from our customers who saw this gap in Brandon. The kids who don’t make it as a minor in U15 AA or AAA still may want to play on that team as a major, and this allows for that to give them one more year of development without going back to house league.”

WCHA has not named a head coach yet, but Roblin said they have a pair of strong, non-parent candidates in mind.

The commitment is large enough that players won’t be able to skate in the minor hockey system too.

“This is different from Hockey Canada and Hockey Manitoba,” Roblin said. “This is a non-sanctioned league.”

The Western Canada Hockey Academy, which is housed in J&G Homes Arena, is in its fourth year. The 30 players are in Grades 5 to 8, with a separate program that offers a gym credit to players who want to take a spare in the first class, do their gym class at WCHA, and then catch a bus to high school.

Fifteen players are in that program.

The WCHA caters to Westman players, with some families moving to Brandon to attend and a bus that runs south to the Boissevain-Killarney area to pick up five players every day for school. They may expand bus service to Virden next season if the numbers support it.

In addition, they’ve had a few people inquire from outside Canada, but since the WCHA hasn’t set up billets yet, they’ve been turned away.

“We’re just trying to do a good job with what we’re doing right now,” Roblin said.

Tryouts for the Wolves are Aug. 25, 27 and 28, and are open to all Westman players and players from southeast Saskatchewan.

Jared Jacobson, who owns the Western Hockey League’s Brandon Wheat Kings and is chief executive officer and president of the Jacobson and Greiner Group of Companies, promised when the WCHA opened that his goal was to supplement the AAA system, not supersede it by putting a team in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League.

Roblin said that vision remains intact, noting the top kids will still want to play AAA, which is a higher level.

“We want it to be complementary,” he said. “We want to help develop the kids for that program but not interfere with it in any way.”

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