The 2026 GWMHL Rookie Draft took place this afternoon, and it started with a bang: two blockbuster trades featuring high-scoring wingers. In the first, Charleston sent Kyle Connor, along with Philipp Grubauer and a 2027 3rd, to Great Lakes for Barrett Hayton, 1sts in 2026 (used to draft Brady Martin) and 2027, and a 2027 4th. The second deal saw Vancouver trade away yet another star, sending Martin Necas to West Virginia for 1sts in 2026 (Berkly Catton) and 2027 as well as a 2026 2nd (Theo Lindstein). Great Lakes would later acquire Anze Kopitar from Salem for a 2027 3rd, while Boston swapped Akira Schmid with Portland for Brett Pesce.

To no one’s susprise, defenseman Matthew Schaefer went first overall to the Hamilton Ti-Cats, while Pittsburgh took winger Beckett Sennecke second and Vancouver drafting centre Michael Misa 3rd. Porter Martone (Boston) and Alexander Nikishin (Denver) rounded out the top five. The first goalie went at #12 (Jacob Fowler to Winnipeg).

Full results are available here.

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.