Dave Anthony has been a broadcaster in the MJHL for the past 7 seasons. Every week, he’ll share a thought on the 12 teams in the MJHL and other things from across the league.
It was announced that the Winnipeg Blues and Winnipeg Freeze received their punishment for violating Hockey Manitoba’s directives at the time. Each team is losing their first-round draft pick. Also, the ownership group will pay a $5,000 fine. I do truly love the decision to put the money to charity. The funds will go towards COVID-19 PPE relief for frontline workers in Manitoba. Great touch by the MJHL and a great cause.
Before jumping into the Takes this week, I should explain a bit about what is happening. Because there is no hockey currently, I wanted to dig into the past. I went into the 2010/2011 season and pulled the top scorer from each team. I’ll go over their stats from the MJHL and we’ll look at where they went after their time in the league.
1) Portage Terriers – 1st place Sher-Wood Division – 86pts
Leading Scorer: Brent Wold – 22 goals, 46 assists for 68 points in 61 games
Wold’s first season in Portage was the start of a pretty amazing hockey career. After putting up 53 points for the Eastman Selects, the Lac Du Bonnet native got a one game cup of coffee for Neepawa. The following season, he landed in Portage and went off from there. In the next 164 games for the Terriers, Wold scored 184 points. On top of that, 35 points in 39 playoff games.
Wold was named to the MJHL All-Rookie Team in his first season. He was also part of the back-to-back MJHL Championship teams Portage put together.
Portage traded Wold along with Dylan Butler to the Dauphin Kings in exchange for forward Taylor Sanheim and the CJHL rights to Landon Peel in November of 2014.
Wold scored over a point per game with the Kings to end the 2013-14 season, 23 points in 21 games. 12 more points in 13 playoff games for the Kings.
After his MJHL career, Wold played 9 games at Utica College scoring 4 goals and 5 assists for 9 points.
He returned home and played a pair of seasons with the Lac du Bonnet Blues before in the MSHL before a brief stop in Ste. Anne with the Aces of the Carillon Senior Hockey League. 2017-19 he’s back at home in Lac du Bonnet with the Blues where he was named Captain last year.
2) Winkler Flyers – 1st place Addison Division – 83 pts
Leading Scorer: Michael Wilgosh – 38 goals, 43 assists for 81 points in 60 games
The 2010/2011 season was the 20-year-old season for Wilgosh who ended up playing 272 MJHL games between his hometown Selkirk Steelers and the Winkler Flyers.
Highlighting his time in the MJHL was the 2006-2007 Championship with the Selkirk Steelers.
Wilgosh came to Winkler in a trade for steady defenseman Lucas Alexiuk who went to Selkirk in the deal.
In the playoffs in 2010/11, Wilgosh had 12 points in 12 games.
After his time in the MJHL, Wilgosh moved on to the University of British Columbia from 2011-2014 playing in 43 games scoring a total of 11 goals and 3 assists for 14 points.
3) Dauphin Kings – 2nd Sher-Wood Division – 81 points
Leading Scorer: Shane Luke – 28 goals, 61 assists for 89 points in 60 games
Shane Luke is a hockey players hockey player. Coming from the Parkland Rangers program, he exploded onto the scene in Dauphin scoring at an incredible rate.
Believe it or not, his 81 points in 2010/11 was a step back from what he did in 2009-10 where he scored 101 points in 62 games.
In total, the man from Saint Rose Du Lac played all 241 games he suited up for in the MJHL with the Kings, scoring 116 goals, 214 assists for 330 points.
Luke was part of that well-oiled machine like team in 2009-10 that saw Dauphin win the ANAVET Cup and head to the RBC Cup where Luke scored 6 goals in 6 games while adding an assist. He was named the RBC Cup MVP.
Providence College was where Luke headed after 2010-11 and stayed there until 2014-15. While at Providence, he suited up for 128 games putting up 81 points in that span.
A brief 24 game stint for Amiens in Ligue Magnus (it’s in France) before heading to Russell and playing in the NCHL-MB where all he did was continue to dominate.
Here’s his three seasons with the Russell Rams:
14 games – 42 points. 3 games – 12 points. 9 games – 18 points.
4) Selkirk Steelers – 2nd place – Addison Division – 81 points
Leading Scorer: Colan Jackson – 44 goals, 35 assists for 79 points in 61 games
Looking at Winnipeg native Colan Jackson’s numbers, he’s a guy that looked like he could do it all.
He played 223 games in total for the Steelers and was part of the 2006 Championship run. In his MJHL career he had 127 goals and 144 assists. On top of that, he put up 289 penalty minutes.
He led the Steelers in scoring in the regular season then continued to dominate in the playoffs scoring 17 points in just 16 games.
In his final season, he led the league in goals with 44 and was named a MJHL Second Team All-Star.
Jackson went quiet after his final MJHL season before making a return in 2016-17 for the Ste. Anne Aces in the Carillon Senior Hockey League. He helped the Aces come away with a championship scoring 3 points in 5 regular season games then adding 5 more points in 10 playoff games.
5) OCN Blizzard – 3rd place Sher-Wood Division – 78 points
Leading Scorer: Denis Restoule – 28 goals, 27 assists for 55 points in 57 games
It was an interesting career for Restoule who started in the SJHL before a stop in the MJHL then returning to the SJHL before finally settling the MJHL.
Still with me?
Restoule started the 2009-10 season with the Melfort Mustangs of the SJHL. After 10 games, he went to OCN where he spent 21 games before going to Flin Flon and suited up there for 21 games.
After all that movement the year before, Restoule ended up back in OCN in 2010 where he would play his last two years.
In 2010, the then 19-year-old not only led the Blizzard in points but led the entire MJHL in penalty minutes with 124.
He would win the most penalized player award the following season as well, this time with 234 minutes total.
6)Swan Valley Stampeders – 4th place – Sher-Wood Division – 71 points
Leading Scorer: Shelby Gray – 36 goals, 25 assists for 61 points in 55 games
Gray came to Swan Valley by way of trade in 2009-10 from the Weyburn Red Wings in exchange for David Marmen and the trade instantly paid off for the Stamps.
In the final 43 games of that season, Gray had 46 points.
He continued to score in his 20-year-old season leading the team in points before spending the next three seasons with Adrian College where he scored 72 points in 73 games.
He managed only two games for the Lloydminister Border Kings in 2014-15 but rebounded with the Foam Lake Flyers of the Wheatland Senior Hockey League where he found his scoring touch again putting up a staggering 110 points in 37 games over two seasons.
In 2018-19 he moved to the Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan to play for the Wheat Kings of the BSHL (Big Six Hockey League) where he continues to play this year. He’s only played in one game so far this year.
7)Waywayseecappo Wolverines – 5th place – Sher-Wood Division – 65 points
Leading Scorer: Paul Van De Velde – 21 goals, 51 assists for 72 points in 59 games
Van De Velde spent his entire MJHL career with the Wolverines that spanned over parts of 4 seasons. For his career in the MJ, in 88 games, he put up a total of 103 points. He also added 23 points in 87 WHL games between the Everett Silvertips and Brandon Wheat Kings.
After his 20-year-old season where he led the Wolverines in points and was named to the MJHL First All-Star Team, he moved on to the University of Toronto where he’d spend the next 4 seasons.
Over that time, Van De Velde would skate in 105 games scoring a total of 28 goals and 48 assists.
In 2015-16 he played his last two games of record for the Carmen Beavers of the SEMHL. In those two final games, he scored 3 goals and added 2 helpers for 5 points before putting up 9 more points in 3 playoff games.
8) Winnipeg Saints – 3rd place – Addison Division – 63 points
Leading Scorer: Brett Chartier – 29 goals, 53 assists for 82 points in 57 games
The 2010-11 season would be the career high in points for Chartier who at 19, led the Saints in assists while being tied for the team lead in goals with Cole Pruden.
Following the 2010-11 season where he was named to the MJHL Second All-Star Team, Chartier would score 67 points in 52 games for the Saints, his final year in the MJHL and also collected his second straight MJHL Second All-Star Team nod.
Chartier had a brief stint with the University of Manitoba, where he was held pointless in just two games. He would move on to the Carman Beavers in the same season putting up 8 points in 7 games. The next year, he added another 16 points in just 10 games for the Beavers.
In 2015-16, he suited up for the Ild-des-Chenes North Stars in the Allan Cup.
The next year, he did the same but this time for the South East Prairie Thunder.
9) Neepawa Natives – 6th place – Sher-Wood Division – 54 points
Leading Scorer: Richard Olson – 16 goals, 29 assists for 45 points in 62 games
Olson was only 18-years-old when he led Neepawa in scoring in 2010-11. At that point, he was on his second MJHL team.
His career started in Selkirk before Neepawa. The 2011-12 season was a wild one and that might be putting it lightly. Olson travelled… that’s putting it mildly. Here’s how it goes.
Neepawa to Dauphin to Steinbach to Winnipeg Saints. In 2012-13, Virden to Swan Valley back to Steinbach where he was part of the 2012-13 Championship team that upset the Dauphin Kings.
In total, Olsen played for 7 MJHL teams. 283 games, 77 goals and 103 assists for 180 total points.
After the MJHL run, Olsen skated with the Wawota Flyers in the BSHL for 11 games scoring 8 points.
It all came back to Steinbach for one more season at least as Olsen suited up for the Steinbach Huskies of the Carillon Senior Hockey League. In 13 games he had 10 points and added 1 goal in 2 playoff games.
10) Winnipeg Blues – 4th place – Addison Division – 46 points
Leading Scorer: Patrick Henderson – 15 goals, 29 assists for 44 points in 49 games
After the conclusion of his MJHL career, Henderson went to play for Brock University for two seasons.
By far, one of the most interesting moves by any MJHL player belongs to Henderson.
In 2015-16, he went to the Hong Kong Tycoons. He’d finish the season with 14 goals and 20 assists in 17 games. That was good for 2nd place in team scoring behind Lucas Eshleman.
Random fact, Eshleman is still playing in Hong Kong today. Over the last 5 seasons, he has 234 points. Not connected to Henderson but I still thought it was worth noting.
I may never get to write about hockey in Hong Kong again, so give me a break.
11) Steinbach Pistons – 5th place – Addison Division – 45 points
Leading Scorer: Mitch Chagnon – 21 goals, 37 assists for 58 points in 57 games
‘Twas a tough year for Steinbach in 2010-11 but an impressive year for Chagnon who managed to score over a point per game on a team that won just 21 contests.
After leading the Pistons in scoring the season before, Chagnon moved on to the Dawson Creek Rage in the NAHL before settling in Portage for 11 games. He would score twice and added 5 assists for 7 total points. The final points of his MJHL career.
From 2014-15 he played for Mount Royal University.
In 2019-20, he made a dramatic comeback when he suited up for the Ste-Anne Aces of the Carillon Senior Hockey League. He found his scoring touch again putting up 6 goals, 2 assists for 8 points in 9 games.
Chagnon ended that season’s playoff run with 3 points in 3 games.
12) There were only 11 teams back in 2010-11. Any hockey fan would tell you the game has changed a lot in the past 10 years. Was it harder to score then, then it is now? Was there more physicality then? Is there more high-end skill overall on rosters now?
Either way, it’s safe to say… hockey cant come back soon enough.
