Puck drops on 2025-26 WHSHL season

Winnipeg

Competition is already heating up in the Winnipeg High School Hockey League’s 2025-26 season.

“We’re underway, and hopefully Mother Nature will be nice to us and we won’t have to cancel many games,” WHSHL president Dana Gordon said.

The Vincent Massey Trojans will be looking to defend the title in the league’s Platinum Promotions Division, as well as the AAAA provincial championship. But the Trojans will face tough competition from perennial powerhouse schools such as Oak Park, River East, Selkirk, St. Paul’s, Sturgeon Heights, and hungry squads from Miles Macdonell, Steinbach, Collège Jeanne-Sauvé, Garden City, Westwood, Béliveau, and Shaftesbury (which moves up to the league’s top rung after winning the Winnipeg Free Press Division championship last season).

“We’ve seen some shifts, some schools from Winnipeg Free Press Division have moved up, and some from Platinum down to Price,” Gordon said. “You can have really strong team one year, but if you’re starting from scratch, with graduations and all that, then you’ve got a rebuild.”

This season, the Free Press Division includes J.H. Bruns, Collège Pierre-Elliot-Trudeau, Churchill, Centre scolaire Léo Remillard, Dakota, Gabrielle-Roy, Kelvin, Sanford, St. John’s-Ravenscourt, Springfield, Stonewall, and last season’s Price Division champions, Collège Louis Riel.

The Price Division features a strong mix of rural schools competing alongside Winnipeg schools, including Niverville, Edward Schreyer, John Taylor, Kildonan-East, Lorette, Lundar, Murdoch MacKay, Pinawa, Warren, West Kildonan, and Linden Christian.

“Overall, we’re confident we’re going to put a really good product on the ice,” Gordon said. “The biggest change is we now have a team in Lundar, Man. That’s exciting. Unfortunately, Powerview and Glenlawn were not able to have teams this year. But that’s cyclical, sometimes.”

Another big change this season, Gordon added, is the league has partnered with GShow Productions, a local broadcast company founded by Graeme Forsyth. Like its partnership with the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League, GShow will broadcast select games, which will include commentary, as well as pre- and post-game content. Subscribers can then follow along with the season.

“That gives some families who are maybe out of town or working a chance to watch those games,” Gordon said. “The kids are really excited about it. The beautiful part is any money made from subscriptions, they’ll give us a portion back for player development and support.”

For more information, including schedule, standings, and results, visit winnipeghshl.ca