With the SEMHL announcing the season starting toward the end of October, the Winkler Royals are gearing up for what they hope will be a special 2025-26 season.
Let’s get it started
“I think we’re all very excited over here,” Jayme Janzen, the Royals backup goalie, GM, and general jack-of-all-trades, says with a smile. “Everyone is excited to be back on the ice. We’re getting closer to the start, and everyone has that itch to get out there. We’re excited for how the team is taking shape.”
A group got together on Saturday for a skate, and Janzen says it was good, knocking the rust off and getting the lungs back. “It’s always good. Good to see the guys, everyone gets back into the room, and it’s good to see guys you haven’t seen over the summer. It’s great to get a burn going and get back into things.”
Roster taking shape
“We’re looking good,” Janzen says proudly. “We’ve got numbers, which is always nice. We have a lot of guys coming out, and for the most part, we’ll return a lot of the same guys, but we’re also adding in some younger guys. We’re really excited about the young guys coming in, and the impact they can make.”
Carrying positives over
From last year, Janzen says there are a few things he’d like to see the group bring into this new season. “We had a few new guys join us last year, and for us, we’re kind of an old team, so we’re turning the core over to a bunch of the young guys in town here. We want to keep getting them out there, building on what we had. Great goaltending is key for us. We know Matt (Thiessen) will be back, and he’ll be really strong. Bringing together all the other pieces to our game so we can take the next step.”
Rivalries
Having so many communities with teams close to Winkler, Janzen says the rivalries are special, and they don’t take long to get heated up. “It’s always good times,” he says with a smile. “Morden is perennially good, we know those guys really well. From what we’ve heard, we know they will have a very strong team this year, so those are the games you circle when the schedule comes out. We know it’ll be a great test. We always look forward to getting into their rink, and then having them come to us.”
Expectations
Before the 2025-26 season starts, Janzen says there is an established mark for where the team wants to get to. “We’re coming off a first-round playoff loss to Springfield, who took it right to game seven of the finals. The year before, we lost to the eventual champs in the second round. There’s an expectation now is to put together a good playoff run. It would be nice to have home ice, especially if we can get into the new rink, that would be awesome. We expect to put some wins together in the regular season, and hopefully play our best hockey come playoff time.”
Home community advantage
Representing a hockey-crazy community like Winkler means the world to Janzen and the Royals. “We have such a great community, such great fans. We know that if we have success, and we’ve had success in the past, people love to come watch. If it all works out the way we envision, and we’re in a brand new rink come playoffs, there is no doubt in my mind that there will be plenty of people there.”
Having families come out and watch is also very important to Janzen, who says they will always take time to give a kid a high five or fist bump. “It’s so much fun. On the team, we have some young kids that like to be around the rink, they give the knuckles to the guys heading onto the ice, and they hang around the room. It’s lots of fun, and it’s that connection that makes it memorable for everyone.”
Schedule
Sunday, October 26th, Winkler will host Springfield. The puck will drop at 7:30 p.m.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source pembinavalleyonline.com ’
