The Delta Sturgeon, making their first playoff appearance since 2020, won the Atkinson Cup tonight with a commanding 6-2 win over the visiting El Dorado Lynx in game 7.

It was a much closer affair than the score would suggest. Delta’s Alex Turcotte opened the scoring at 2:03 after winning a faceoff and moments later finding the puck on his stick in the slot, but Alex Ovechkin capitalized on an early Aliaksei Protas holding penalty to tie the game 3:29 later. Both Sergei Bobrovksi and Jake Oettinger had to make good saves on odd-man rushes early in the game as well.

JJ Peterka regained the lead for Delta at 14:47 when he tipped in an Aaron Ekblad slapper, and just 24 seconds later, Nathan MacKinnon tapped in a Jake Sanderson feed in the slot to make it 3-1 in front of the roaring home crowd.

Connor McMichael buried a rebound early in the second to give the Sturgeon a three-goal lead, and that’s how the score would stay until just 26 seconds into the third, after Oettinger stopped a Mikael Granlund breakaway but the Sturgeon couldn’t get the puck back and Ovechkin slipped one through the pads to make the score 4-2.

The Lynx turned up the heat after that, although they struggled to capitalize and leading scorer William Nylander was clearly hurt after a first-period hit from Roman Josi. An Adrian Kempe tripping penalty and the ensuing Protas powerplay goal would be the final stake in the coffin. Niko Mikkola scored with 4:25 left to make it 6-2 and that was all she wrote. Bobrovsky took a delay-of-game penalty with just over a minute left and that ended any hope of a Lynx comeback. The Sturgeon held on, and are your 2026 Atkinson Cup Champions!

Nikita Kucherov finished with the postseason lead in points, with 9 goals and 23 assists in 20 games for Delta.

After a disappointing 7-12-1 start transformed into a disastrous 0-10-0 streak at home in the second quarter, the Boston Banshees wasted no time in sounding the rebuild alarm with a pair of blockbusters.

The first deal saw Boston send its best defenseman, Josh Morrissey, as well as injured winger Tyler Seguin, and a fourth round pick to Clarington. In return, the Banshees get wingers Bobby McMann and Nicholas Robertson and, most importantly, Clarington’s first round pick in 2026. The Coyotes ended the first quarter tied for the league’s fifth worst record, so the pick should be a good one. Still, it’s the first time the Coyotes have positioned themselves as buyers. Morrissey dramatically changes the complexion of their blueline and will no doubt be paired with Mo Seider.

In the second move, the Banshees traded goaltender Ilya Sorokin to the surging Great Lakes Pilots for young winger Rutger McGroarty, goalie Elvis Merzlikins, and a second round pick. Although neither Sorokin nor Merzlikins have had especially good numbers this year, there’s no doubt that the acquisition of the former solidifies the Pilots’ goaltending in a way they desperately needed. Meanwhile, the Banshees will hope that Yaroslav Askarov can become their new backbone between the pipes.

We wrap up our four-part series of posts previewing the 2025-26 GWMHL season with the rest of the Sawchuk Conference.

You can read all the previous instalments right here:

• Plante part 1
• Plante part 2
• Sawchuk part 1

Ice Harbor Storm

24-25 record: 37-42-3 (lost in first round)
24-25 leading scorers: Sam Reinhart (82, 95-39-134), Aleksander Barkov (73, 27-106-133), Alex DeBrincat (82, 44-71-115), Mike Matheson (82, 11-67-78)
2025 draftees: Jett Luchanko (11), Daemon Hunt (33), Matej Blumel (54), Carter Mazur (77)
Key arrivals: Sam Carrick, Christian Dvorak
Key departures: Tanner Pearson, Daemon Hunt, Scott Perunovich, Juuso Valimaki
25-26 outlook: Despite managing a playoff appearance, the Storm had a pretty rocky year compared to expectations. Take a glance at is leading scorers and you’d expect it to have been a contender, but Ice Harbor got far too little secondary scoring (Matthew Tkachuk had just 17 goals in 80 games) and the team has also had a tendency to be a bit of a glass cannon: great offense with poor goaltending. All that said, the bones of a contender are still here: a well-rounded lineup, some young players on the rise (especially Dylan Guenther) and a goaltending trio (Linus Ullmark/Spencer Knight/John Gibson) that seems primed for a bounceback. Some of the vets are aging and the team’s window is shrinking, but the Storm are solidly on the playoff bubble, if not more.

Portland Winterhawks

24-25 record: 36-42-4 (missed playoffs)
24-25 leading scorers: Nick Suzuki (82, 45-43-88), Artemi Panarin (82, 35-49-84), Jesper Bratt (82, 27-56-83), Brad Marchand (82, 19-44-63)
2025 draftees: Jonathan Lekkerimaki (9), Drew Helleson (31), Ozzy Wiesblatt (66)
Key arrivals: Joel Kiviranta, Brett Pesce, Drew Helleson
Key departures: Ryan Hartman, Erik Gudbranson, Nick Leddy, Cam Talbot
25-26 outlook: As Portland’s young forwards–led by Nick Suzuki, with Logan Cooley and Shane Wright behind him–continue to flourish, alongside a very good goaltending duo in Mackenzie Blackwood and Adin Hill, the team should be better than the results it mustered last season. Part of that is something they’ve struggled to address for years: a lack of offensive finish from the back end. With the exception of Darren Raddysh and maybe JJ Moser (who had 32 points in 57 games but is unlikely to repeat those numbers) there’s not much pop there. The Hawks will have to rely on top-notch defense and a quick counterattack. The pieces are there to compete for a playoff spot, in any case.

San Jose Hosers

24-25 record: 49-26-7 (lost in second round)
24-25 leading scorers: Steven Stamkos (79, 63-54-117), Mitch Marner (69, 46-63-109), John Tavares (80, 40-52-92), Shayne Gostisbehere (81, 21-50-71)
2025 draftees: Ian Moore (85)
Key arrivals: Jason Zucker, Collin Graf, Mackenzie Weegar
Key departures: Joey Anderson, Kyle Maclean
25-26 outlook: The Hosers haven’t had a first round pick since 2021, and it’ll catch up to them eventually. A core that features the likes of John Tavares, Nazem Kadri, Mark Stone, Steven Stamkos, and Mats Zuccarello is a ticking timb bomb. But for now, those are all productive players to surround Jack Eichel and Mitch Marner. And they turned their latest first rounder into Mackenzie Weegar, a two-way force who instantly brings an already pretty good blueline (Mikhail Sergachev, Thomas Harley, Charlie McAvoy, Shayne Gostisbehere) into the upper echelons. Even a down year from Igor Shesterkin shouldn’t be enough to keep the Hosers from a solid playoff run. Contender.

Vancouver Night Train

24-25 record: 27-45-10 (missed playoffs)
24-25 leading scorers: Mathew Barzal (78, 24-47-71), Elias Lindholm (75, 18-36-54), Tommy Novak (71, 24-26-50), Mackenzie Weegar (82, 15-34-49)
2025 draftees: Jimmy Snuggerud (7), Calum Ritchie (19), Fedor Svechkov (27), Erik Portillo (49), Rory Kerins (71), Dylan Duke (80), Justin Robidas (86)
Key arrivals: Fedor Svechkov, Conor Timmins, Jake Christiansen
Key departures: Luke Kunin, Tommy Novak, Mackenzie Weegar, Nick Perbix, Jack Johnson
25-26 outlook: Trainwreck? With Mat Barzal expected to miss the majority of the season, along with Elias Lindholm’s declining offense, the writing was on the wall. That prompted the Night Train to ship out Mackenzie Weegar, easily one of its best players. The defense is still solid, led by Shea Theodore, Thomas Chabot, and Filip Hronek, with young Philip Broberg and Brandt Clarke seemingly ready to take on bigger roles, but the forward depth is a mess, and it’s doubtful that younger players like Logan Stankoven or Zach Bolduc are ready to make much of a dent. For a second straight year, it looks like Alex Kerfoot will be playing in the top six. Oh, and the team has possibly the worst goalie duo in the league in Sam Ersson and Tristan Jarry. It’s going to be ugly.

West Virginia River Rats

24-25 record: 46-29-7 (lost in first round)
24-25 leading scorers: Leon Draisaitl (81, 42-77-119), Nikolaj Ehlers (82, 39-60-99), Sebastian Aho (78, 29-51-80), Jake Guentzel (66, 27-48-75)
2025 draftees: Zayne Parekh (4), Ville Koivunen (17), Jakub Dobes (39), Colton Dach (59), Landon Slaggert (83)
Key arrivals: Kyle Palmieri, Eric Comrie, Jakub Dobes
Key departures: Erik Haula, Radko Gudas, Cayden Primeau
25-26 outlook: Getting bounced in the first round was not the expected result for the River Rats, a high-powered team with excellent depth up front and on defense. They even managed to turn Morgan Rielly into the pick that got them bluechipper Zayne Parekh this offseason. While Parekh is at least a year away, everything else is looking pretty rosy for West Virginia: Kyle Palmieri shores up the right wing, Dmitri Voronkov is developing well, and the team can throw out any line or defense pairing and hurt you. Juuse Saros is now the weak link: he was disappointing last season, and while the Rats went out and got Eric Comrie and young Jakub Dobes to lighten the starter’s load, they’ll still be chasing games unless he rebounds. That said, there’s no way to call this roster anything but a contender.