Gorchynski lights up MMJHL

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This article was published 07/03/2025 (198 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dean Gorchynski had no idea he’d just completed a historic season. The 22-year-old forward with the Fort Garry/Fort Rouge Twins was quick to deflect any praise that might come his way.

“I’m proud of the guys and proud of what we did this year,” the 22-year-old told the Free Press on Friday. “I don’t really want to take credit for it,”

Fair enough, but the numbers suggest otherwise, as Gorchynski put up 101 points (33G, 68A) in 45 games to lead his Twins to the No. 1 spot in the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League standings.

Consider this: No player in the league has produced that much offence in a single campaign since 2006-07, when Keith Bially of the Pembina Valley Twisters had 119. And if you go back to the MMJHL’s inception in 1970, only nine names are ahead of Gorchynski’s.

“It’s pretty special,” Gorchynski admitted. “But we’ve got a good group of players. I play with some really good linemates that help me out. They’re awesome.”

The Twins compiled a record of 36-7-2 to finish on top of the 10-team league, just two points ahead of the Charleswood Hawks. Gorchynski will be looking to keep the good times going as the playoffs got underway Friday night, with his team opening up its best-of-seven first-round series against the eighth-place Raiders Junior Hockey Club.

After starring for the Winnipeg Wild U18 AAA team, Gorchynski played parts of four seasons in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (Selkirk Steelers, Winnipeg Freeze, Virden Oil Capitals) before deciding a better work/life balance was required.

He was working as a day trader with his father and didn’t want to spend every single day at the rink. That’s when Twins general manager and head coach Scott Wong came calling with an offer he couldn’t refuse.

“I’ve played with a lot of guys on the Twins before, I went to high school with a lot of them,” said Gorchynski. “We have 10 of us that are graduating players this year, and I played with pretty much every one of them in one way or another on the team. A lot of my good buddies. And a lot better schedule for work.”

One of those pals is linemate Carter Halamandaris, who finished second in league scoring (and on the team, naturally) with 83 points (33G, 50A).

“I’ve known Carter since I was like six or seven. He definitely had me in the goal-scoring category growing up my whole life. This year I finally made a race of it,”said Gorchynski.

One that ended in a dead heat at 33 each.

“Towards the end of the year we were definitely joking about it. He went on a trip and missed two of our games towards the end and he was texting me saying ‘Just get assists, don’t score’. There was some friendly competition there,” said Gorchynski.

He also had the honour of being named team captain prior to the start of this season, which his coach and GM said was a no-brainer.

“He’s a leader on and off the ice,” said Wong, who compared Gorchynski’s style to that of Brady Tkachuk of the Ottawa Senators. “He’s very difficult to knock off the puck, and he sees the ice very well. He’s a pass first kind of guy, but you wouldn’t know it because he was tied for the league lead in goals.

At 6-2 and 204 pounds, Gorchynski also uses his size to his advantage.

“He lit this league right up,” said Wong. “He’s a power forward and he’s just very smart. He sees the ice better than most players I’ve seen over the year.”

Gorchynski isn’t sure where his hockey career might go once this season is over, with Europe being one possibility he plans to explore a bit further. For now, he’s focused on making this an even more memorable season than it already has been.

“I’ve never won a championship in my life,” he said. “I’d really like to get one done this year with all my buddies.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg