2026-27 MANITOBA BISONS/USPORTS

May 12, 2026: FOUR ARRIVALS, TWO DEPARTURES, TWO EXHIBITION GAMES

With a handful of player announcements coming in, it is time for a new thread. This year, I guess, is the start of the Late Twenties. Time sure marches on!

There are four new players, all forwards. One is announced on the team website, one is at Elite Prospects and the LOI page, and two more are LOI-only. My guess is that more announcements will come soon at GoBisons.ca. Here are the rookies thus far:

LONDON HOILETT – F – Virden (MJHL)

London Hoilett is a Winnipeg boy coming home. Although he played his overage season with the Virden Oil Kings in the MJHL, he previously played for the Vancouver Giants and Calgary Hitmen in the WHL. His dad, Trevor Hoilett, played basketball and football for the Bisons. He is also a musician, with a stage name of Ty Kiddo. His numbers in the WHL were 175 GP, 25 G, 19 A, 44 Pts. In the MJHL they were 57 GP, 32 G, 26 A, 58 Pts.

Links:
➤ GoBisons.ca: The Hoilett legacy continues: WHL veteran London signs with men’s hockey

TEAGUE MCALLISTER – F – Alberni Valley (BCHL)

Here’s a player with no prior connection to Manitoba, having been born in Kitscoty, Alberta (a town I’ve never heard of) and played his junior hockey with the Lloydminster Bobcats (AJHL) and the Alberni Valley Bulldogs (BCHL). He was their “Unsung Hero” and “MVP” last year, and wore an A. He previously played for Canada West in the World Junior A tournament. His AJHL numbers were 83 GP, 16 G, 26 A, 42 Pts and his BCHL numbers were 60 GP, 22 G, 19 A, 41 Pts. He is currently the only Bison for 2026-27 listed at Elite Prospects, and is also on the LOI page.

ERIK PASTRO – F – Trail (BCHL)

Recruiting from outside Friendly Manitoba continues to be a “thing” for the new era Bison management team. We have here a native of Vernon, B.C. He played for the Vernon Vipers (BCHL) before accepting an offer from the University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks for 2025-26. Instead, he wound up returning to the BCHL and played for the Trail Smoke Eaters. Looks like the influx of Evil Monkeys did him in, although no links state this to be the case. His Junior A stats line is 161 GP, 47 G, 65 A, 112 Pts. In a unique twist, he will have played for two teams with a history of winning a world championship. The Trail Smoke Eaters (as a senior club) won in 1961 and the Bisons won it in 1931.

BRANDON FUNK – C – Spruce Grove (BCHL)

Although he finished his junior career with the Spruce Grove Saints (an Alberta team in the BCHL) Brandon Funk is a Winnipeg boy. He started with the Portage Terriers, Winnipeg Blues, and Steinbach Pistons (all of the MJHL). Then it was off to the Minot Minotauros (NAHL) for a half-season before going to Spruce Grove for a season-and-a-half. Last year he wore an A. At Elite Prospects he is listed as a recruit for the Long Island University team in NCAA Division 1. However, he signed a Bison LOI. His MJHL numbers were 159 GP, 51 G, 54 A, 105 Pts, in the NAHL it was 33 GP, 4 G, 10 A, 14 Pts, and in the BCHL it was 74 GP, 18 G, 20 A, 38 Pts.

DEPARTURES

The Bisons have lost two players who would have been entering their second seasons. Both came from the ECHL and had try-outs with the Manitoba Moose.

Lucas Brenton was the team’s best defenceman, and finished 6th in overall team scoring (28 GP, 3 G, 15 A, 18 Pts). He’s off to Michigan Tech of the NCAA. He’ll be difficult to replace.

Also, forward Blake Swetlikoff is back to the ECHL. He signed with the Greensboro Gargoyles on March 7, 2026. He was 7th in scoring amongst forwards. He started on the 1st line and finished on the 3rd. His numbers were 28 GP, 6 G, 8 A, 14 Pts. He had 6 assists in 18 ECHL games. I don’t know if that was an ATO or a regular contract.

EXHIBITION GAMES

The CW has not yet released a schedule, and the Bison website has nothing. However, two games against NCAA teams have been announced by the opponent. I linked those in the 2025-26 thread:

October 4th Bisons at North Dakota
January 2nd Bisons at Minnesota-Duluth

May 14, 2026: NEWS UPDATE

The Bisons’ website has uploaded a story on new recruit Erik Pastro. There was nothing mentioned about last year’s recruitment to the University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks before he moved on to the Trail Smoke Eaters. They do add that he was an honour-roll student, which is always nice for a university team.

Links:
➤ GoBisons.ca: British Columbia Hockey League veteran Erik Pastro commits to Bisons

Other than Manitoba, MacEwan and Regina have been busy with website recruiting announcements. We also have links from Mount Royal and Simon Fraser (now a CW member).

MACEWAN
Listed at Elite Prospects, MacEwan previously recruited BCHL goaltender Colin Reay and now they have forward Garret Thom. He had three games with the Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL) and after most of his career was in the AJHL, he finished in the BCHL.

REGINA
Regina has now posted two stories, covering the recruitment of three new players, bringing their total at Elite Prospects up to 11. They lost a lot of graduates so this will be a whole new team. The rookies in these announcements are Otto Hanson (forward, two cups of coffee in the WHL, otherwise from the BCHL), Eric Hoiness (forward from the SJHL), and Matthew Keller (defenceman who spent a year-and-a-half in the WHL before spending a year-and-a-half in the AJHL and BCHL).

MOUNT ROYAL
The Bluegars do not have any releases on the website about recruits. But they have one post with a collection of pictures from the 2025-26 season.

SIMON FRASER
When Simon Fraser announced an intention to ditch the NCAA and re-apply for membership in the CWUAA and USports, I was optimistic that this meant we would have a 10th hockey program in the CW in 2027-28. Instead, SFU is simply cancelling the independent team and continuing the BCIHL team. Neither team was an official varsity program and therefore do their own fund-raising.

It seems to me that the coaches and management of the travelling team were volunteers with a belief that a Division 1 NCAA team would draw crowds and become an integral part of the BC sports scene in a way that USports teams never do. SFU was a Division 2 team in other sports, and there is no Division 2 national championship in hockey. (In the NCAA, there are 65 teams in Division 1, 7 in Division 2, and 91 in Division 3.) So they were not good enough for Division 1 and ineligible for Division 3. They had a hard time getting Division 1 teams to travel to BC, so they played a predominantly road schedule every year. Whether they could have become a Division 1 team (like the Alaska teams) is now a moot point.

In any event, without university support, the volunteers and sponsors were unwilling to fork out the time and money for a USports program. SFU has made it clear that “no new programs” are being contemplated.

I would like to see SFU start official varsity hockey teams. However, after letting this golden opportunity slip through their fingers, I don’t see it happening. They used to have a women’s club in the South Coast Women’s Hockey League until 2014-15. Of note, Holy Trinity operated a team in that league through 2019-20.

On a brighter note, by staying in the BCIHL, that league stays at 5 teams and remains viable. I do support the development of “2nd tier” college and university hockey leagues in Canada. Of note, in the USA there is the ACHA (with 72 teams in Division 1, 200 in Division 2, and 140 in Division 3), and another 140 teams across three divisions in the AAU. Bishop’s has a team in the AAU. However, that leaves 551 teams in the USA and 17 in Canada (5 in the BCIHL, 7 in the ACAC, 4 in the RSEQ Division 2, and Bishop’s). In my view, campuses at this level should be viewed not as a means of developing professional players, but as a source of future sponsors, hockey dads, and sponsors.

May 18, 2026: NEWS UPDATE

A story on new recruit Brandon Funk has now been uploaded to the Bisons’ website. That leaves just Teague McAllister awaiting his news release. All four new recruits have now been added to the Bison roster page at Elite Prospects. The story did not mention his purported commitment to Long Island University (NCAA).

Links:
➤ GoBisons.ca: Manitoba Junior Hockey League veteran Brandon Funk commits to Bisons

MACEWAN
The Family Guys were handing out academic awards, and Dylan Bidyk took the honours in men’s hockey.

SASKATCHEWAN
The Banjo-Mutts landed a pair of decent recruits, both forwards. Jaeden Mercier played at Lindenwood (NCAA) the last three years after finishing his junior career with the Flin Flon Bombers (SJHL). Tyson Yaremko comes from Portland and Red Deer (WHL).

These are two of the four players listed for the Mutts at Elite Prospects. The others are defenceman Jaydon Dureau, a 25 year old who played in the AHL and ECHL the last four years, and forward Logan McCutheon, from Quinnipiac (NCAA) after concluding his junior career with the Lethbridge Hurricanes (WHL).

May 20, 2026: NEWS UPDATE

The Bisons have now posted their story on recruit Teague McAllister, thus “making it official” on the four recruits listed at Elite Prospects and the Letters of Intent page. For what it’s worth, neither Elite Prospects nor the LOI page have anything new since the last report. This story adds to the earlier post that McAllister was captain of Team Canada at the World Junior A Challenge in 2024.

Links:
➤ GoBisons.ca: Team MVP, Junior A veteran Teague McAllister joins Bisons 2026 recruiting class