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There are two important dates in the near future for the Warman Wolverines.
The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) team, which is hoping to relocate from Notre Dame in Wilcox, will need final approval from the City of Warman during a council meeting this coming Monday and then from the SJHL during its annual general meeting (AGM) scheduled for the first week of June.
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“It’s the final hurdle for us as an ownership group, and we’re all ready to go and super excited about the opportunities that lie ahead,” said Wolverines co-founder Cole Kachur.
As a condition of the relocation, the team has to prove they will be financially viable. Kachur said they are budgeting for about $850,000 for the 2025-26 season and have received a lot of support from business sponsors, with more being announced in the coming days.
The team has also hired an operations manager from Thunder Bay, Ont., who has previous experience working within Junior A hockey. However, Kachur said the team has fallen short of its goal to sell 1,000 season tickets. He explained the number was more of a tangible goal than a requirement by the league. Currently, around 400 season tickets have been purchased.
“But we’ve had a ton of great local corporate sponsorship and the sense of excitement within the community leads us to believe that come August or September, when hockey is top of mind again, that we will keep picking up season tickets and flex packs and some game day sales and it’s still our goal that we’re moving ahead and I think it will be a resounding success,” Kachur said.
The SJHL has said should the relocation be approved, all Notre Dame-listed assets and active players eligible for the 2025-26 season will be transferred to the Warman franchise. The team recently announced the signing of Owen Parks from the Fairmont Prep 18U AAA to the inaugural roster, and Kachur said the head coach and GM have ‘a lot of irons in the fire.’
“We have the first overall pick for both the 2009 and 2010 age group, and we’re looking forward to hopefully announcing those picks in front of our fans and sponsors and ideally, we’ll have some local kids who can step up to the podium and be part of the inaugural Warman Wolverines draft.”
The SJHL draft takes place June 10, and Kachur said the plan is to have a draft party at one of their sponsoring businesses.
While the final approvals are yet to be made, Kachur said all the conversations he’s had with the City of Warman and the SJHL have been positive.
“I think the league at the heart of it would prefer to have 12 teams playing next year. I think the SJHL is a very attractive market [for Warman] just from the demographics and you know all these things that make it the really fastest growing city in Western Canada. So, I think it’s checking all the boxes, but again, you know there are certain things that we can’t control so we’re gonna go and present our hockey operations and budgeting plan and hopefully get some constructive feedback and hopefully get the votes for the final approval.”
This hockey franchise was sold back in March. Athol Murray College at Notre Dame transferred ownership to a group of Warman-based investors, including Kachur and Jonathan Abrametz.
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