MJHL Stars Earn Opportunities at NHL Development Camps

Eleven mJHL standouts laced up with the pros last week

Manitoba’s hockey community was well represented last week, as 11 current and former players of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League attended NHL development camps, league-wide.

Nine NHL teams welcomed at least one MJHL player to their development camps, which are held annually in July for team draft picks, signees, and free agent invitees to prove their skills and abilities on the ice. Of the 11 MJHL players who attended the week-long camps, only three prospects are NHL draft picks (Adam Ingram, Warren Clark, and Connor Geekie), and only two played the 2023-2024 season in the MJHL (Dalton Andrew and Nathan Brown). 

Below is the full list of MJHL players that attended NHL development camps: 

Briley Wood (Neepawa Titans) - Colorado Avalanche

Riese Gaber (Dauphin Kings/Steinbach Pistons) - Florida Panthers

Adam Ingram (Selkirk Steelers) - Nashville Predators

Warren Clark (Steinbach Pistons) - Tampa Bay Lightning

Connor Geekie (Virden Oil Capitals) - Tampa Bay Lightning

Dawson Cowan (Winnipeg Blues) - Toronto Maple Leafs

Brett Mirwald (Waywayseecappo Wolverines) - Vancouver Canucks

Nathan Brown (Niverville Nighthawks) - Winnipeg Jets

Netminder Matt Radomsky spent three seasons with the Steinbach Pistons from 2016 to 2019. In that 82-game span, Radomsky averaged an impressive .925 save percentage and a 1.98 goals against average. He also helped lead the Pistons to the Turnbull Memorial Trophy in 2018, where he posted a .915 save percentage in the post-season.

Briley Wood collected 19 goals and 38 assists for 57 points in only 39 games with the Neepawa Titans through the 2022-2023 season. This past season, the 6-foot-3, 187-pound right-shot forward played in the WHL with the Wenatchee Wild, where he finished the season at a point-per-game pace with 62 points in 60 games. 

Gilbert Plains’ Riese Gaber spent two full seasons in the MJHL from 2016 to 2018. Although most of his MJHL tenure was with the Dauphin Kings, Gaber was shipped off to the Pistons halfway through the 2017-2018 season. In 24 games with the Pistons in the regular season, he gathered 11 goals and 27 points. Gaber also grabbed 10 points in 15 playoff games to help Steinbach win the Turnbull Cup against the Virden Oil Capitals.

After spending four very productive seasons with the University of North Dakota’s Fighting Hawks, Gaber is now set to begin his pro career, where he will spend the upcoming season with the Charlotte Checkers of the American Hockey League.

Adam Ingram’s stint in the MJHL was very brief. Ingram only played eight games during the 2020-2021 season due to the shutdown from the COVID-19 pandemic, and he grabbed seven points in that span. After playing one season in the USHL with the Youngstown Phantoms, where he tallied 55 points in just 54 games, Ingram’s now spent the past two seasons in the NCAA with St. Cloud University. Ingram was also drafted by the Nashville Predators in the third round, 82nd overall in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. 

Riverside, ON. product Warren Clark collected 38 points in 55 games with the Steinbach Pistons during the 2022-2023 season, his only year spent in the MJHL. Clark spent this past season with the NCAA’s St. Cloud University, grabbing three helpers in 31 games. After development camp with the Lightning, Clark will look forward to another season with St. Cloud.

Drafted by the Utah Hockey Club (formerly the Arizona Coyotes) 11th overall in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, Connor Geekie tallied one goal and three assists in nine games during his short time with the MJHL’s Virden Oil Capitals. Since then, the 196-pound centreman has spent the past four seasons in the WHL, playing for the Winnipeg Ice/Wenatchee Wild and Swift Current Broncos. Geekie was recently traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning from Utah as part of a package to acquire star defenceman Mikhail Sergachev.

Having attended development camp in Toronto with the Maple Leafs, 23-year-old forward Kyle Bettens produced 26 points the last two seasons with the NCAA’s University of Minnesota-Duluth. Bettens played in the MJHL from 2018-2020, when he accumulated 85 points in 89 games played with the Steinbach Pistons. In his first season with the Pistons, Bettens also put up 11 points in 12 post-season games. After his time in Steinbach, he also played in the USHL for two years, which was split between the Omaha Lancers and Youngstown Phantoms.

Warren, MB.’s Dawson Cowan is one of the youngest players on this list. The 6-foot-1, 185-pounder between the pipes only played 14 games in the MJHL during the 2021-2022 season with the Winnipeg Blues, posting a winning record of 6-5 along with a .890 save percentage. The 18-year-old then transitioned to the WHL, playing five games with the Winnipeg Ice before playing 71 games across two seasons with the Spokane Chiefs, where he gathered a record of 26-36-3 with an .891 save percentage. 

Born in 2006, Nathan Brown is titled as the “youngster” on this list. Committed to St. Cloud State University for the 2025-2026 season, Brown will look for another successful year in the MJHL with the Niverville Nighthawks. Brown was the 19th pick in the second round of the June 2022 MJHL draft, and this past season, he racked up 14 goals and 32 points as an 18-year-old. From Winnipeg, MB., Brown would have been able to learn what it takes to be a professional athlete after being invited to attend development camp with his hometown team, the Jets.