REGINA — A southern Saskatchewan high school famed for producing hockey greats is planning to move its junior A team to a new city later this year.
The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League announced Tuesday the Notre Dame Hounds at Athol Murray College in Wilcox, Sask., are conditionally approved to relocate to Warman, just north of Saskatoon.
League commissioner Kyle McIntyre said the move is a result of the school creating a new vision that focuses on multiple sports — without a junior hockey team.
"Typically, the operating budget for a junior hockey franchise is anywhere between $800,000 and $900,000 annually," McIntyre said. "When you're in a small community and a small school of less than 300 people, it's very difficult to generate those resources."
He added most players no longer attend the school in the village.
"The board of directors thought it was important for the students to live in a village and operate like a village and all be part of a multi-sport, academic experience for students," he said.
The private school has produced hockey stars, including Wendel Clark, Curtis Joseph and Rod Brind'Amour. Players from as recently as 2019 have been drafted or played in the National Hockey League.
Wade Klippenstein, the high school's director of hockey development, said the sport has changed since the team began playing in the league nearly 38 years ago.
The Hounds won the Centennial Cup in 1988 during its first year in the junior A league, he said, and nearly every player on that team was a Division 1 recruit.
He said there are now more leagues, which creates additional competition. There are also changing eligibility rules.
"The amount of players who come here and train at our boarding school and end up playing Division 1 hockey has definitely changed from when I first started," Klippenstein said.
McIntyre said there are also more hockey training schools in Canada than before.
"(Notre Dame) no longer has the monopoly on hockey," he said. "I think they've identified, 'Hey, we need a new strategic vision for the school.'"
Klippenstein said the school plans to continue running a hockey program along with football, basketball, volleyball and rugby.
With growth in women's hockey, there are also plans to add another minor girls' team along with a minor boys' team.
"You're going to see a lot more female student athletes looking for a place to play," he said. "I knows this is news today of subtraction, but it's actually news of addition."
Saskatoon businessmen Cole Kachur and Jonathan Abrametz are in the process of purchasing the Hounds to move them to Warman, a city of 13,000, for the 2025-26 season.
The relocation is subject to approval from the SJHL board in June.
The league says Warman city council must also give the go-ahead, and the move depends on successful season ticket sales and corporate sponsorship.
If approved, McIntyre said, the team's eligible players and other assets are to be transferred.
"I think Warman is very energetic, very vital and very exciting," he said.
"They have one of the largest minor hockey associations in all of Saskatchewan. I think with having a team in the community and having the players work with the community, there will be a symbiotic relationship."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 18, 2025.
Jeremy Simes, The Canadian Press
