The Warman Wolverines drop the puck on their inaugural season on Sept. 19.

By Michael Salmon

opening faceoff

Wolverines roster ready to play as Warman welcomes SJHL

Sep 18, 2025 | 10:43 AM

A new era has arrived for the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League as the Warman Wolverines prepare to hit the ice for their inaugural season. The team will make its regular season debut on Friday, September 19 when it hosts the Humboldt Broncos in the first half of a home and home series. The two teams met twice in the pre-season where the Broncos swept the Wolverines 2-0 with victories on September 5 and 6.

Warman enters the regular season after posting a 2-3-1 record in six pre-season games. The Wolverines are fresh off their relocation from Wilcox, Saskatchewan, where they spent 38 seasons as the Notre Dame Hounds, who finished at the bottom of the Nutrien Division with a 12-40-2-2 record in their final season.

Head coach and general manager Brett Pilkington, who spent the last seven seasons with Notre Dame, becomes the first ever bench boss in Wolverines history. The Calgary native is entering his sixth campaign as an SJHL head coach. He’ll be joined on the bench by new assistant coach, Nick Doyle, who played three seasons in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League somewhat fittingly with the Waywayseecappo Wolverines.

Some familiar names from last season’s Hounds roster are back with the team but this time in a new location. They include defencemen Pherson Loehndorf, Wylie Smith and Luke Lawford, and forwards Riley Rich-Holden, Evin Bossel and Hudson Kerr. Defenceman Vincent Palmarin has also made the move to Warman after the Wilcox product spent time with the Hounds as well as the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders and the Gatineau Olympiques of the QMJHL last season.

The Wolverines made some big splashes in the 2025 SJHL draft, selecting forward Rafael Ramazanov with the first overall pick of 2009-born players, and Warman Wildcats forward Camryn Aebig with the first pick of those born in 2010. Other picks included forwards Brady Keith, Luc Smith and Dade Wotherspoon, and defenceman Easton Bley. The team also signed a handful of local prospects including forwards MacLain Ethier and Sawyer Scheidt and defenceman Logan Olsen.

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Most if not all of those youngsters will start the season in AAA, however, while a fresh new group of players joins the SJHL club with the introduction of forwards Owen Parks, Kayden Yeaman, Kane Kennedy, Lucas Frame, Cam Sarna and Dylan Greenwald, defencemen Cooper Stockdale, Michael Tate and Karson Kerbes, rookie forward Ethan Dundas and veteran goaltender Eric Kahl.

The team also saw some departures in the offseason with the likes of Marko Djordjevic, Ripley Garden, Liam Hunks, Spencer Borsos, Anthony Nolan, Nick Beatty, Ryder Gilroy, Adam Pinsent, Maclean Clooney, Neka Jean, DJ Freigang and Damian Metastasio all moving on.

Who To Watch
2005-born forward Kane Kennedy enters the regular season after a four-point game including two goals against the La Ronge Ice Wolves in pre-season play last Saturday. The Airdrie, Alta., native was eighth in SJHL pre-season scoring with four goals and two assists for six points. Hudson Kerr, another 2005-born forward, was the Hounds’ second highest point producer last season with 16 goals and 18 assists in 56 games played. The product of St. Paul, Minn., enters his second SJHL season under Brett Pilkington.

On the blue line, Vincent Palmarin heads into his fourth season in the SJHL after being a key member of the team last season. He was second among Hounds defencemen with five goals and 15 assists in 21 appearances. Palmarin is set to play in his 100th SJHL game in Friday’s season opener.

Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. as the Warman Wolverines kick off their SJHL journey against the Broncos at a sold out Warman Home Centre Communiplex. Every Wolverines game this season will be broadcast live for free on SaskNow.com.