Savoie off to USHL, Geekie may follow

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This article was published 05/01/2021 (1740 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One high-profile Winnipeg Ice player is heading to the USHL and another is contemplating a move south with pandemic restrictions in Western Canada creating doubt the WHL will be able to stage a season.

Forward Matt Savoie, the top player chosen in the 2019 WHL draft, is set to join the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints and Conor Geekie, picked No. 2 overall, is considering offers from both the USHL and North American Hockey League teams.

The Fighting Saints announced Savoie’s impending arrival on their website Tuesday.

The 17-year-old from St. Albert, Alta., played 22 games while registering seven assists with the Ice as an underage affiliate in 2019-20 and is considered a potential top-five pick in the 2022 NHL draft. 

Savoie and his older brother Carter, a freshman at the University of Denver, attended Saints’ training camp in 2019.

“We are very excited to add Matt to our team,” said Saints general manager Kalle Larsson in a release. “We know his family well and we know what he will be able to bring to our program. We loved having him at our main camp and are ready to see him back on the ice in Dubuque.”

Meanwhile, Geekie’s decision to stay or go will have to come before the USHL’s Jan. 10 transaction deadline and depends heavily on the likelihood of a WHL season.

On Friday, Manitoba’s chief provincial health officer, Dr. Brent Roussin, is expected to announce a decision on extending the current health directive.

Manitoba is under code red in its pandemic response system, which has shut down sports across the province.

“We’re looking at all the options,” said Geekie’s father Craig from Strathclair. “It all hinges on what happens (Friday). Without going into too much detail, we are exploring probably three options in total.”

Conor Geekie, who turns 17 on May 5, is undrafted in the U.S. and is mulling offers from the USHL and NAHL. Should he accept one of those offers, it would be for the duration of the season.

Craig said his youngest son is still growing and now tips the scales at more than 200 pounds on his 6-4 frame.

Conor Geekie scored a goal and had four points in nine games for the MJHL’s Virden Oil Capitals before the season was halted in November. In 2019-20, he played seven games as an affiliate for the Ice.

“I’m not going to say that missing a year is going to hurt him,” said Craig Geekie. “But it will, to me, just set him back in a minor (way). (It will help) if he can just play, even if it’s for two or three months, and I don’t know a whole pile about the USHL but I know it’s a very good league, probably compared to the Western league. And the NAHL is very similar to the MJHL.”

With the BCHL currently on hold, at least two other Manitobans have recently left their teams to join USHL clubs: centre Carter Loney (Salmon Arm to Sioux City) and defenceman Hudson Thornton (Chilliwack to Fargo).

In addition, defenceman Owen Murray of the BCHL’s Penticton Vees is also pondering a move to the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers.

 

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14