2025 SWHL Season
2025 Recap
The '24-'25 season was all about the Brandon Wheat Kings and Edmonton Oil Kings. These 2 clubs were loaded with talent and continued to stock up through the regular season. Both teams were breaking records and racking up wins, but It just wasnt meant to be though as both teams found themselves out in the 2nd round of the postseason. The East finals would consist of Swift Current and Moose Jaw, with the Broncos taking the series in 7 games. ​
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Over in the West, Kelowna and Prince George entered the playoffs as favorites. Both teams loaded up for a playoff run and ran through the west. Tri-City also had a talented team, but fell early as they became the largest upset of the postseason when the up and coming Kamloops Blazers took them out in the 1st round. The west finals consisted of PG and Kelowna in what was a great battle, but the Cougars edged out the Rockets to claim the franchises first ever conference title.
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The 2025 SWHL championship was Prince George making there 1st appearance in the finals, while Swift Current was making their 3rd trip . GM Jared Down pulled all the right strings and cruised to a 4 games to 1 victory to personally collect his 1st title.
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2024 Recap
The 2023-2024 season was the year of the Western Conference... or so we thought. While Seattle, Vancouver and Tri-City battled all season for the top record in the league. The Saskatoon Blades quietly put their foot down and steam rolled through the Eastern conference.
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Lethbridge was solid as always, but it was the surprising Calgary Hitmen who gave the Blades the biggest scare, but both teams lost before getting a chance to prove themselves to Saskatoon. It was Prince Albert who upset Calgary in the conference semi finals. The Raiders were able to get 1 of the 2 wins vs Saskatoon this postseason, before the Blades moved onto the Finals.
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In the West, Vancouver rolled over everyone in their way. It did help though that both Seattle and Tri-City were upset in the 1st round. It looked liked no one was going to be able to beat Scott Ratzlaff and this Giants team... that was until they faced off in the finals against Saskatoon where the Blades Daniel Hauser could not be stopped, and lead the 4-0 sweep of Vancouver in the finals.
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2023 Recap
The 2022-2023 season was lead by the Swift Current Broncos from start to finish in the Eastern Conference. Saskatoon powered themselves into another Eastern division championship, but couldnt get past the Broncos in the eastern conference finals. The Broncos had a wealth of talent and only got better when the postseason started as superstar Dylan Guenther returned to the lineup for the postseason.
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In the West, Vancouver ran away with the conference, but Portland battled till the end picking up the US division championship, but ultimately ended up getting bounced in the 1st round. No one else in the West could match up with the Giants deadly line up as the Giants topped Seattle 4 games to 2 in the Western Conference finals.
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The Vancouver/Swift Current SWHL championship match up is what everyone wanted to see, and Vancouver looked as if the Broncos met their match, winning games 1 and 2, but then dropping the next 4 games as GM Russell and the Broncos go on to win their 2nd SWHL title.
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2022 Recap
The 2022 season was all about the powerhouses in the Eastern conference. The Edmonton Oil Kings got out to a fast start and looked to run away in the East, but GM Potts wouldn't let that happen. Lethbridge fought back to not only get the #1 seed in the East, but finish the season with the best record in the SWHL. The Eastern conference not only had the leagues top 3 teams, (Lethbridge, Edmonton and Prince Albert), but also 7 of the leagues top 9 teams when you add in Calgary, Saskatoon, Swift Current and Medicine Hat. The East was flat out dominating this year. It was a dog fight until the finish. ​
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Over in the West, we saw many teams in the middle of a rebuild, and the beneficiary of that was the Vancouver Giants. Vancouver rumbled their way to a #1 seed in the West with a hard charging Everett team that wouldn't go away. But in the end it was a cinderella Portland Winterhawks team (who barely made the post season) make the loudest noise.
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The Winterhawks collected their franchises 2nd western conference championship and would face off against an old friend in the red hot Edmonton Oil Kings in the finals. With the series splitting the first 4 games, Edmonton pulled away and took games 5 and 6 decisively and were crowned 2022 SWHL champions. It is Edmonton's first SWHL championship.
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2021 Recap
The 2020-2021 season is the most controversial season in the SWHL to date. The season was filled with uncertainty due to the delay of the WHL season, which meant no re-creates for the 1st time ever. Would teams go all in? Would teams sell for a more clear opportunity next season? And how would suspensions work with players playing in the AHL before the WHL season started? Well, everything ended up playing out exactly how it should have with the best 2 teams in the final...
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One of those teams was the Saskatoon Blades, and they made a huge statement winning their first ever division title and conference title, supplanting the defending champions Lethbridge Hurricanes . The Kamloops Blazers on the other hand road the deepest team the league has ever seen all the way to a 3rd consecutive western conference title.
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Saskatoon and Kamloops put on a show in the finals. The two teams went back and forth until the series was tied at 3 and forced a much anticipated game 7. Thats where Adam Herold trophy winner Dustin Wolf shined. Wolf would not be stopped as he and GM Williams lead the Blazers to their first SWHL championship.
2020 Recap
The 2019-2020 season will be remembered as one of the more exciting seasons the league has witnessed. Lethbridge dominated the East, while Seattle dominated the West through out the regular season. But the real story might have been the number of teams who truly competed and level of parity we saw in both conferences.
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In the East, Saskatoon and Regina competed hard and made Lethbridge work for that conference title. While Winnipeg, Red Deer, Calgary, Moose Jaw and Medicine Hat really surprised us with very competiteve teams. Calgary and Medicine Hat in particular ended the season on major hot streaks, and while they had hoped to carry that over into the postseason, it wasnt meant to be this year for those young teams. Lethbridge and Regina ended up facing off in the East finals and the Hurricanes in dramatic fasion came back from being down 3 games to 1 to take the series and head to the finals.
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While the West wasnt as deep in talent as the East, there was some quality teams to test the top dogs in Seattle and Kamloops. Portland, Prince George, Tri- City and Spokane all had rosters good enough to take the conference, but in the end it was Kamloops beating Tri-City 4 games to 2 to advance to the finals.
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In the finals, it was all Lethbridge. The Hurricanes sweep the Blazers to claim their 2nd straight SWHL championship!
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2019 Recap
The 2019 season was highlighted by the powerful Eastern Conference. Prince Albert and Kootenay went back and forth all season long, then finally the Raiders were able to edge out the Ice on the final day of the regular season. Lethbridge, Saskatoon, and Moose Jaw all had terrific regular seasons as well finishing as the 3-4-5 seeds as the 2nd tier teams in the East.
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In the West, It was a one horse show from start to finish as the Seattle Thunderbirds lead the entire way. But Kamloops, Vancouver and Prince George each had their moments as well.
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As the postseason begun, the top seeds started falling like flies. Prince Albert was upset by the 8th seeded Medicine Hat in the 1st round in what was one of the SWHL's biggest upsets in league history. The cinderella Tigers then took the Ice to game 7 in the 2nd round before getting eliminated. The West's top team then experianced the next upset as the Prince George Cougars took down the #1 seed Thunderbirds.
As we completed the conference finals, it was the Lethbridge Hurricanes and the Kamloops Blazers as the last two teams standing. It was a hard fought championship series that displayed some of the best defensive hockey the league as seen all season, as both teams goalies were rock solid, but GM Potts and the Lethbridge Hurricanes come away victorious and pick up the franchises first ever league title.
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2018 Recap
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In the Western Conference, teams were bunched up all season and flip flopping positions on a nightly basis. Multiple teams in the West would go on a significant run, only to cool off and watch another team slip past them in the standings. In the end, it was Kamloops and Portland fighting for the #1 seed all the way down to the final regular season game, were the Blazers were finally able to clinch. Portland and Kamloops would pick up their franchises 1st divsion title and finish #1 and #2 in the conference standings.
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The SWHL launched a new playoff format in 2018 to mimic the WHL, and to some disliking, we saw some 1st round match-ups that you wouldnt have normally seen. The most notable being the match up between Swift Current and Brandon, the leagues 2nd and 3rd best teams points wise.
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The Swift Current Broncos made quick work with each team they faced in the postseason, sweeping aside Brandon, Moose Jaw, Calgary and finally Portland while claiming not just the franchises first league title, but the first ever SWHL championship title handed out in league history.
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Congratulations to GM Russell and the Swift Current Broncos!
2017 Recap​​

The inaugural season of the SWHL had its ups and downs. The regular season proved to be a success as the Regina Pats won the Scott Munro trophy by winning the regular season championship, inching out the Seattle Thunderbirds by 3 points.. A late charging Brandon Wheat Kings made the Eastern conference interesting all the way to the wire. While Seattle was able to lead the Western conference from start to finish.
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The post season was on the same path, not to disappoint, before a catastrophic computer crash wiped out the league. No winner was to be announced in 2017. But the door is open in 2018 for one lucky GM to be able to call themselves the first ever SWHL champions!