For the first time in over 20 years, the Kelowna Rockets will be hosting the Memorial Cup. The Rockets were chosen by a selection committee, which includes The Hockey News' owner, W. Graeme Roustan. Winning the bid means a busy few months for Rockets GM and President Bruce Hamilton, who is in the process of building a team that can bring a championship back to Kelowna next year.
Hamilton and his team have been busy since the CHL announced that the Rockets would be hosting next year's tournament. This included trading away some key players at the 2025 trade deadline in order to collect assets for the 2025-26 season. As Hamilton explained, hosting the Memorial Cup has a significant impact on how teams are built, as they need to be able to compete against the best in the CHL.
"Well, dramatically," said Hamilton. "We did this back in 2004. You build your team up as you were getting ready to bid. In 2020, when we lost it to COVID, we had made a whole bunch of player transactions, getting ready for that, and COVID hit. So we didn't even have the opportunity to move out the assets the year after, to recoup all our draft picks. So it was painful for a few years after that, just because of the way that that unfolded this time around. We were in a pretty good position with regard to personnel that we could move out to acquire assets that we wanted to get, you know, to have access to what would have been 18-year-old players last year that will be 19-year-olds this year. When we moved (Caden) Price and (Andrew) Cristall, those kinds of guys were worth a lot to teams trying to win. So we recouped a lot. We acquired a pile of assets. Some players, but a lot of draft picks, which are really your cash for when you're dealing for players going forward. And then, the NCAA rules changed, and it made it even more entertaining, because you were trying to trade for guys, or were interested in players that may be going to school and not here. So you had to restructure how you're allocating everything. A lot of things had conditions on them, whether the player was actually going to be here or not."
As Hamilton mentioned, the new NCAA rule has changed how teams around the CHL operate. Players can now depart the WHL early and commit to an NCAA school, while players who have already committed can join the WHL without becoming ineligible. Currently, there are still a lot of questions surrounding how this new system will work, which adds another level of complexity for GMs of CHL teams like Hamilton.
"It's gonna certainly eliminate the top young guys that would look at Junior A instead of Major Junior, to save their college status. All the best young players, I think, will want to come to the CHL. It's whether we have room for them. I think, with regard to the NCAA rules, we're going to go through a couple of years here of seeing how this kind of unfolds. If my memory serves me correct, Western Michigan's average age last year was over 23. You start taking 18-year-olds playing against 23-year-olds. There is a huge difference. You're playing young men against men. So I'm not so sure that we're going to see that continue to be the trend going forward. I think there's been a lot of real good players who have jumped so far, but I also believe that by Christmas, we may see a number of these guys wanting to come back simply because, one, they're not on the first line, and two, it's a big jump. Our 20-year-olds, when they leave here and go to the Canadian university programs, they don't have any idea until Christmas how far away they are from being at the level. So that's kind of where I think this path's going right now."
One of the big debates happening with the new NCAA rule revolves around player development. While players will have the chance to compete against older competition, they will not get the same amount of games or playing time as in the CHL. According to Hamilton, these factors could impact players' decisions in the future, and may lead to some coming back to the CHL after a few months.
"I think a lot of it is that it's kind of the shiny coin right now. Everybody's kind of drawn to it. But, I'm really confident that once these guys go through a season of playing 34, 36 games, instead of 68 or 70. The majority of our top players are almost like thoroughbreds. They want to play, and they want to play against the best in their age bracket. They aren't that interested in practicing four or five days a week; they want to play games."
Looking ahead to next season, one of the big questions surrounding Kelowna is the status of Tij Iginla. The Utah Mammoth prospect had double hip surgery and missed a significant part of the 2024-25 season. While Hamilton would not be surprised if he gets a trial run with Utah, he feels confident that Iginla will be back next year for Kelowna's Memorial Cup run.
"That'll be Utah's decision on that. I think a player who misses an entire season basically has lost a little bit of traction at that age. He's a very special player, and we fully expect him to be back, but whether they decide to give him some games to start the year wouldn't be unusual, because of his status as a first-round pick. Do we think he'll be back? Yeah. We think that him and (Carson) Wetsch and whoever else we put on that line are going to be a pretty dominant line. Look forward to him having a healthy year, and he needs to have a full year injury-free, and more importantly, that he's feeling good. Right now he's training here in Kelowna, and everything's going good from all reports. So I'm assuming he'll be at the start of our camp, and then take off to the Mammoth camp."
The Rockets also revamped their coaching staff this season by adding Don Hay, Josh Gorges and Brandon McMillan as assistant coaches. While Hay is one of the most experienced coaches in CHL history, Gorges and McMillan are making their debuts as WHL coaches next season. For Hamilton, bringing in former WHL and NHL players as assistant coaches is important, as they can share their experiences with the next generation.
"(Josh) Gorges is a Memorial Cup Champion, and Brandon McMillan went to the Memorial Cup with us, so he won a league championship. Don Hay, we don't need to go on and on about how many cups he's been to. So I think that we've surrounded Derek Martin with a really solid group. I really felt it was important that we got some young guys who understand this generation of players a little bit more. And in Brandon's case, he's just finished playing, and Josh has been coaching Junior A for a bit and also minor hockey. These guys have got young children, so they're engaged in that. Brandon was a very skilled player that skated really well, and I felt we needed to get a forward in the mix here, and we were fortunate enough that he was deciding that he didn't want to go back to Europe this year because he's got a young family here, and the timing was good. I haven't seen a guy as excited as he is to get to work and understands what it takes to be a coach."
Ultimately, Hamilton is hoping that all these moves will help secure a Memorial Cup championship for the organization and the city. At this point, the City of Kelowna is making a significant investment in the event, which should make for an exciting two weeks. According to Hamilton, there will be plenty of activities not just at the arena, but around the city once the tournament starts.
"Our partner is the city of Kelowna, which is unique. We wanted them involved, because there have been a number of enhancements spent on our building. First of all, they put a two-and-a-half-million-dollar score clock in it. But I think that anybody coming here will find that it's going to be nice and warm. Traditionally, our springs are nice, and that time of the year is really nice. Not too hot, and there'll be all kinds of golfing, wine tours, all those kinds of things. I think they'll find the way our building is situated, right downtown, right on the lake, that everything evolves from right here in this neighborhood. There are literally hundreds of restaurants in the area within blocks, so people are going to be able to socialize and enjoy themselves. They'll have an opportunity to tour the Valley, right from Vernon all the way to Penticton, and enjoy it. Kelowna is very excited to host this thing. They did a great job with The Brier last year. Simply, just 10 days of all kinds of different activities will be going on outside of the rink."
Based on the moves already made, Rockets' fans should be very excited for the 2025-26 campaign. They have a roster full of high-end talent and have a coaching staff that knows how to win at the WHL level. In the end, it will not be surprising if Kelowna has a dream season and brings the Memorial Cup back to the WHL.
Make sure you bookmark THN's WHL site and add us to your favourites on Google News for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more. This article originally appeared on The Hockey News.
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