By TERRY PUGH
The Warman Wolverines have a new address in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) standings.
After spending their inaugural 2025-26 season trying to claw their way out of the SJHL’s Nutrien Division basement, the Wolverines are sitting pretty right now in the penthouse suite.
With a record of four wins and one loss in five games, the Wolverines emerged from last weekend’s contests leading the 12-team league with eight points as of Monday, September 28. They’ll have to keep their hot streak going, though, if they intend to hold off the teams breathing down their necks. The Weyburn Red Wings with six points, as well as the Yorkton Terriers, Humboldt Broncos and Battlefords Stars with five points each, are all looking to overtake the league-leaders before next weekend.
“We got off to a good start,” said Wolverines head coach Brett Pilkington. “But it’s still early in the season, and the work is just starting. We built a culture here and set a high standard over the summer and now we have to meet that standard each and every day.”
After a dramatic 5-4 overtime win on home ice on September 22 against Yorkton, the Wolverines showed they’re the real deal with two straight road wins, downing the Nipawin Hawks 5-4 on Friday, September 25 and blanking the Battleford Stars 4-0 on Sunday, September 27. The Wolverines spread the scoring around in the Nipawin game, with Peyton Allard, Sawyer Scheidt, Ezekiel Lambert, Owen Parks and Ethan Dundas finding the back of the net. Riley Rich-Holden scored twice in the game against the Stars, with Owen Parks and Trey Markus adding singles. Luke Brunen was solid in net during both games, stopping 43 of 47 shots in Nipawin and all 41 shots he faced in Battleford.
Pilkington said the team isn’t taking anything for granted at this point.
“We want to keep building and playing the right way so we can continue this success,” he said, noting that anytime a team is heading in the right direction, the fans will show up.
“We want that winning tradition,” he said. “We knew coming into this year that we had to put wins on the board early.”
The Wolverines face off against the Melfort Mustangs this weekend in a home-and-home series, with the first game on Friday, October 2 at 7 p.m. in Warman followed by a road game on Saturday, October 3 in Melfort.