The Ice will move to Wenatchee, Washington after four seasons in Winnipeg. (Photo: WHL)

By Christian Oldale

WHL’s Winnipeg Ice moving to Washington

Jun 16, 2023 | 11:48 AM

WINNIPEG, MB – One of the Western Hockey League’s (WHL) top teams in recent years will have a new home next season.

The WHL announced on the morning of Friday, June 16, 2023, that the Winnipeg Ice have been sold to businessman David White and will be moving to Wenatchee, Washington at the start of the 2023-24 season, and will be renamed to the Wenatchee Wild.

The Ice moved to Winnipeg from Cranbrook, B.C., where they were known as the Kootenay Ice, and began play at the University of Manitoba’s Wayne Fleming Arena in the 2019-20 season.

When the team was sold and was moving out of Cranbrook, a condition of the sale was that a new arena would be built in Winnipeg. That condition was never met.

In four seasons in Winnipeg, the Ice enjoyed regular season success, posting a 166-49-8 record. They finished the 2022-23 season with a record of 57-10-1, good for first place in the East Division, before falling in the WHL finals to the Seattle Thunderbirds.

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Wenatchee becomes the sixth U.S.-based WHL team and will join the WHL’s U.S. Division and Western Conference. The relocation to Wenatchee will allow the league to balance the conferences to hold 11 teams each.

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