MJHL’s 12th club will be called the Freeze
Three divisions, 40-game schedule features of pandemic-shortened season
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/09/2020 (2162 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The MJHL rocked the provincial hockey landscape by announcing Friday it was expanding with a second team in the Winnipeg market.
The new team will be fast-tracked and ready to play this fall; however, the unveiling also left major questions.
While the new franchise will be owned by 50 Below Sports + Entertainment, which also owns the Winnipeg Blues, league representatives said the unveiling of a nickname, logo and coaching staff would come at a later date.
Now, the Free Press can report the new team will be named the Freeze and it is also expected that former NHLer Josh Green, who served as an assistant coach with the WHL’s Winnipeg Ice in 2019-20, will return to the league as the club’s head coach.
Green, 42, had an extensive playing career in the NHL, AHL and Europe before settling in Winnipeg after he retired.
He served as an assistant coach for the Blues in 2018-19 before taking the job with the Ice, also owned by 50 Below.
It is also believed that Ice assistant GM and VP of hockey operations Jake Heisinger will serve as the Freeze’s GM.
In addition, former WHL goaltender Sonny Mignacca, 46, is in line to serve as the Green’s assistant coach.
Meanwhile, Blues GM Taras McEwen recently added head coach to his portfolio after the departure of bench boss Gord Burnett. Burnett left the club after one season to accept an assistant coaching position with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors.
The Freeze has already protected a number of players and beginning Tuesday will be holding a three-day prospect identification camp for players born from 2000 to 2005.
The addition of a 12th team solves a scheduling problem for the league, which plans to use three four-team divisions to carry out the specific timetable it needs to limit travel and virus exposure during the pandemic.
Under this framework, an eastern division will include the Blues, Freeze, Steinbach Pistons and Selkirk Steelers.
A central grouping will consist of the Portage Terriers, Winkler Flyers, Neepawa Natives and Virden Oil Capitals, while a western zone will have the Waywayseecappo Wolverines, OCN Blizzard, Swan Valley Stampeders and Dauphin Kings.
The league is planning to mimic a college-style regular season, scheduling games almost exclusively on weekends.
The plan is also to have each club play a reduced 40-game regular season, down from the standard 60. Training camps are set to open Sept. 18 with the regular season to start on Oct. 9.
Clubs will play each divisional rival eight times (four home, four away) and each of the league other eight squads twice apiece (one home, one away).
mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca
Twitter: @sawa14