It might be mid-October but Manitoba's best are playing all over North America and are ripping it up. From the young women in the NCAA to the young me in the Western League and NHL, it's been a red-hot start for many of Manitoba's top players.
Linnéa Misner was one of the finest defenders ever to play for Dale Bear’s provincial Indigenous women’s hockey team. A star at Balmoral Hall and The RINK Kelowna, Misner spent the 2025-26 at Robert Morris University (NCAA D-1) in Pittsburgh where she was named to the All-AHA Rookie Team. In the spring, Misner transferred to Vermont for the 2026-27 season and made an immediate impact. The 5-foot-9 defender from Springfield, had three assists in her first three games and was named Hockey East Defender of the Week.
Hayley McDonald (East St. Paul) and the Manness sisters, Sara and Kate (LaSalle), played for Hockey Canada’s National Development Team in a three-game series against the United States at the Richmond Olympic Oval this summer. The USA won the series 2-1 after three very close games. McDonald and Sara Manness were then invited to the National Women’s Team training camp in Quebec City in October. A load of Manitoba players attended at the camp. Along with forwards Sara and Hayley, were goalies Raygan Kirk (Ste. Anne) and Corinne Schroeder (Elm Creek) and defenders Ashton Bell (Deloraine), Jocelyne Larocque (Ste. Anne) and Kati Tabin (Winnipeg).
Four-year veteran Ryder McClure of the Transcona Railer Express got off to a smokin’ start to the 2026-27 Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League season. After picking up an assist in the season opener, a 7-2 win over Charleswood, McClure had four goals and three assists in a 9-5 win over the Raiders. He followed that up with three goals and three assists in a 10-2 win over St. Vital. He cooled off in losses to Fort Garry/Fort Rouge (Twins) and St. James but with 14 points in his first three games this year, McClure is off to the best start of MMJHL career.
Athens Shingoose, the 16-year-old forward from Waywayseecappo who starred at Winnipeg’s RINK Hockey Academy and now plays with the Western Hockey League’s Prince Albert Raiders, had two goals and three assists in three games at the Team Canada’s U17 Development Camp this past July. Shingoose was also named the 2025-26 Indigenous Male Athlete of the Year by the Manitoba Aboriginal Sports & Recreation Council.
Ste. Anne, Manitoba’s Jocelyne Larocque, a defender with the PWHL’s Ottawa Charge and Canada’s National Women’s Hockey Team was inducted into the University of Minnesota-Duluth’s Athletic Hall of Fame. A five-year veteran of the PWHL and a member of Canada’s national team since 2011, Larocque, 38, is the most highly decorated international Indigenous athlete in Canadian history. Larocque played four years of varsity hockey at UMD and had 19 goals and 105 points and was the team’s captain in her senior year (2010-11).
Beausejour’s 18-year-old Brek Liske had a tremendous Philadelphia Flyers camp and it looks like he’s firmly on the NHL team’s Futures’ radar. In the meantime, back with the Western Hockey League’s Everett Silvertips, Liske got off to a solid start and was among the league leaders in power play goals through the first month of the season.
From left: Nicol, Ferreira and Mateychuk (Photos courtesy the Western Hockey League)
The Western Hockey League has announced that three Manitobans have been named to Team Canada’s two rosters at the 2026-27 U17 Challenge. Playing for Team Red will be Kamloops Blazers D-man Mateo Ferreira of Winnipeg and Everett Silvertips forward Reid Nicol of Brandon and on Team White will be Vancouver Giants’ defenceman Crosby Mateychuk of Dominion City.
A few months before the tragedy at Arizona State, when Matthew Mayich, 21, a third-round draft pick of the St. Louis Blues collapsed during an outdoor workout, Winnipeg’s Sam Court, 22, had already made his decision. He was out. After two seasons with the Sun Devils, Court quietly entered the NCAA transfer portal and will play his junior year of NCAA D-1 hockey with the Minnesota State Mavericks in Mankato, Minn. Mayich is still in hospital and while Court was gone long before the incident, it was as if he knew something was not right at ASU. Now, happy at Minnesota State playing alongside two other Manitobans – Daimon Gardner and Raiden Legall -- Court opened the season Oct. 9-10 against Wisconsin and scored MSU-Mankato’s only goal in 4-0 and 4-1 losses.
Hayden Paupanekis, 19, was one of the stars of Indigenous Team Manitoba when they won the gold medal at the National Aboriginal Hockey Championship in 2023 in Winnipeg. In early October, he scored his first NCAA D-1 goal for St. Cloud State University. At 6-foot-5, 210 pounds, he has a very bright future in the game. He was a third-round selection of the Montreal Canadiens in 2025 NHL Entry Dfat.
It’s hard to imagine anyone has worked harder at becoming an NHL goaltender than Winnipegger Joel Hofer. Hofer, who grew up playing in the Assiniboine Park Rangers Minor Hockey Association, starred with the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos and Portland Winterhawks has been trying to win the No. 1 job with the St. Louis Blues since the 2021-22 season. He played mostly in the AHL until the 2023-24 season when he played 30 games in. St. Louis. Last year, he played in 46 and had a 2.61 goals against average to go with 9.10 save percentage. This season, he’s off to a red-hot start. In two games he had 1,01 GAA and a .955 save percentage to go with two wins and a shutout. Looks like he’s finally made it. And at 26, he just could be Canada’s next No. 1 Olympic team goaltender.
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