Spiller up to the challenger

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This article was published 03/01/2025 (260 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Blake Spiller doesn’t seem to get tired of his job.

Now in his 19th season with Portage , the 61-year-old Terriers GM and head coach has guided the MJHL franchise to eight Turnbull Cup titles and one national junior A championship.

Portage is currently 22-10-0-0 and third in the MJHL’s East Division — well positioned to make another title run. With the league’s Jan. 10 trade deadline looming, the Terriers are lurking only six points behind the front-running Steinbach Pistons in the overall standings.

Working to improve his team has become more complicated for Spiller than ever.

The NCAA’s recent ruling that paved the way for the eligibility of major-junior players on Aug. 1 and the ever present danger of the BCHL clubs raiding junior A rosters — sometimes even in mid-season — are complications Spiller would prefer to avoid.

“It’s still a little bit early to say but obviously with the NCAA ruling, (player movement) is kind of up in the air still,” said Spiller Friday. “I think if you talk to anybody at all, they’re not really sure how it’s going to change things. The big thing for us is the B.C. league can come in and just take guys whenever, without any compensation.”

Since the NCAA’s announcement on Nov. 7, at least 37 players have opted to leave their BCHL teams for Canadian Hockey League clubs. There has been a trickle-down effect with BCHL raiding junior A franchises affiliated with the Canadian Junior Hockey League to fill their rosters.

As a result, MJHL linups are constantly in danger of turnover.

The Terriers have only one player — 20-year-old defenceman Parker Scherr — still with the team from the 2022-23 season when they hosted the Centennial Cup national junior A championship.

“There just seems to be a little bit less loyalty to organizations and that’s a little troubling to me and maybe that’s just the way the world is,” said Spiller. “At the same time, we recruit guys and sometimes we move them along, too.”

Last month, Steinbach lost veteran 19-year-old defenceman Shane Burns to the BCHL’s Brooks Bandits without receiving anything in return. Conversely, former Pistons forward Ty Paisley returned to his old club after stints in the USHL and BCHL during the last 18 months.

The Terriers have lost only one player — forward Austin Peters — to the BCHL over the past two seasons.

“In the past we’d be able to build for next year based on what you have returning and always knowing that there’s a chance that a guy could go to a higher level,” said Spiller, who became the winningest coach in MJHL history last year and has since upped his career victory total 704.

“But now there’s guys that are moving sideways as opposed to up, and that to me, makes it more difficult. And it might even become more prevalent with with the (NCAA) rule change.”

Entering Friday’s play, the East Division race is extremely tight with Steinbach (.781 winning percentage), Winkler Flyers (.767), Portage (.688), Niverville Nighthawks (.636) and Selkirk Steelers (.629) in the hunt for four playoff positions. One deserving team will miss the post-season.

“If you look at our division, it’s so tight,” said Spiller. “There’s five teams in our division above .600 and normally, if a team’s above .600 they will comfortably be in a playoff position. We will be active.”

In Neepawa, Titans GM and head coach Ken Pearson is likely feeling less pressure to make changes at the deadline.

The Titans, sitting comfortably in third in the West Division with a 18-14-1-1, are 14 points clear of both the Waywayseecappo Wolverines in fourth and the fifth-place Virden Oil Capitals.

“We want to add one more defenceman for sure,” said Pearson, who solidified his forward corps earlier this season by acquiring overager Dawson McCann from Steinbach. “We really like our forward group and our goaltending. If we can just find that right fit for a guy on the back end, I think is kind of what we would be searching for.”

The Dauphin Kings (21-8-1-0) and Northern Manitoba Blizzard (21-13-0-1) are 1-2 in the West Division standings.

OPENING DATE DELAYED: Steinbach’s Southeast Events Centre was supposed to open on Dec. 31 but construction delays have pushed that opening date back until at least March.

The SEC, which will serve as the new home of the MJHL’s Pistons, will have a hockey capacity of about 2,600. The multi-use facility is slated to cost $74.3 million.

With construction underway, the Pistons have used HyLife Centre in La Broquerie as their temporary home since the start of the 2023-24 season.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca