It’s July, so it must be hockey time again, right? Cold ice, hockey smell, you know that feeling?
The Winterhawks are gearing up for their big anniversary—50 years of providing major junior hockey to the Rose City, and what a party it’ll be. Of course, there is going to be a wait on that.
The Veterans Memorial Coliseum, home to the Hawks and numerous other events, has housed the Hawks since 1975. It’s been around since 1960, with its first events in 1961. With that, it shows some age, so it needs some refurbishment. Much of the behind-the-scenes action took place during the regular season and playoffs. Now, it’s time for the big makeover. To do that, they will shut down all events in the VMC for a bit, and the Hawks are no exception.
The Portland Winterhawks will be a traveling team for several weeks, starting the season on the road. It’ll be close to Halloween before the Hawks can call Portland home again.
Preseason action will see a pair of games played in Everett, September 6 vs Spokane at 2 pm, and Sunday, September 7 at noon vs Seattle. They will travel to play Spokane in Spokane on September 11 at 4 pm.
The season will start for them in the far north of the WHL, home of the Prince George Cougars. A pair of games will be on tap as the Cougars enjoy their home opener. A week later, after returning the players to billets, they’ll head off for an up-and-back in Everett. Then comes the trip. A pair of games in the Okanagan, where they get their first taste of the Penticton Vees, and whether they’ll face Marek Schlenker in net remains to be seen. Then Kamloops is on the docket the following night.
A week later, the Hawks will start the Central Swing, games in Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Calgary, Edmonton, and Red Deer. The Hawks will head home. A week later will get a trek to Vancouver in a three-game set that weekend where they head home to open versus Saskatoon and Victoria, just six days before Halloween with a game on Halloween versus Prince George as part of a five-game home stand and end that homestand with the fourth and final game versus the Cougars.
The Hawks will have a good look at the Vees as they head to Portland for a doubleheader on December 13 and 14.
The Hawks will have early games on Friday, November 28, at 3 pm vs Regina, and on January 19, at 3 pm vs Spokane, with a 5 pm start for the New Year’s Eve game vs Everett. As per usual, all other weekday games are 7 pm, Saturday games are 6 pm, and Sundays are a 4 pm start. The season will conclude at home Saturday, March 21, vs Seattle, with the playoffs to start a week later.
The events and dates for the Hawks have been announced; opening night will be Saturday, October 25, vs. Saskatoon. Other notable dates include: Hawks Fight Hunger and Ladies Turkey Shoot on Sunday, November 16; Toy Drive on Sunday, December 7; Ham Shoot and Holiday Party (Ugly Sweater Night) on Saturday, December 13; Teddy Bear Toss on Sunday, December 14; Pride Night on Friday, January 9; and Hawks Fight Cancer on Friday, February 13.
New items to the list include Día de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) on Saturday, November 1, Pacific Islander Night on Friday, January 30, Winterhawks Night Market on Thursday, February 12, Chinese Lunar New Year on Sunday, February 22, and a smattering of Tributes to Winterhawks. There will be several other activity theme nights as well.
The Hawks are on a mission to find another broadcaster. Nick Marek, who has called games for the past seven years, is moving to North Carolina to be closer to family. He, along with Josh Critzer, has been developing the Winterhawks’ media presence. Critzer started covering the Hawks with the website PNW Hockey, which is all but dried up now with his move to the Hawks as Manager of Digital Media and Communications back in March. Josh has lent his voice in a color analyst capacity for a bit, but hasn’t announced if he is interested in a combined effort like that of Marek, which included not only the play-by-play of games but also podcasts, other tasks, and digital content. The Hawks had posted a “We’re Hiring” ad regarding Marek a few weeks back, but no further discussion has taken place.
Only a couple of players have announced their intention to commit to college. Josh Zakreski and Diego Buttazzoni have announced their intentions. The Hawks, like other WHL teams, will be able to field four overage players, those who come into camp at age 20 and will turn 21 during 2026. Joel Plante, Tyson Yaremko, Alex Weirermair, and Carter Southern are the current listed players with Zakreski also of age, but committing to college. Players who aged out this season would be Tyson Jugnauth, Kyle Chykowski, and Ryder Thompson.
With the VMC down for renovations, camp will most likely be held once again at Sherwood Ice Arena. Last season, the camp was closed to the public due to limited space, and we can expect a similar situation this year. The camp will take place the week prior to the Everett games, so it’ll be held from Thursday, August 28, through Sunday, August 31.
The fans are really thrilled with the past seasons on CW32, and most likely, they’ll announce a schedule soon, which tends to favor games later in the regular season. It’ll be interesting to see the feedback on the VICTORY app, which carried WHL Playoff games and the Memorial Cup, to see how much of a success it was.
Overall, with just over a month remaining, Hawkeytown is gearing up for what looks to be an impressive 2025/26 season.
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