Arp To Explore New Territory With Wild

Arp To Explore New Territory With Wild

WENATCHEE, Wash. – Incoming Wenatchee forward Steven Arp is looking forward to exploring some new territory as the 2023-24 season approaches.

This season won’t be the first time he’s gone a fair distance from home – his Parkland Rangers AAA club is nearly two hours from his hometown of Swan River, Manitoba, and he spent the 2021-22 season with the Western Hockey League’s Medicine Hat Tigers in Alberta, eight hours and a full time zone from home. 2023-24 will see him cover all new ground, though, as last year’s Winnipeg ICE become this year’s Wenatchee Wild.

“Wenatchee’s a big town for me,” said Arp of his hometown, which boasts a population of just over 4,000. “Medicine Hat is about the same size (as Wenatchee), so I’m really excited to come out.”

He never failed to impress during his three years for Parkland, notching 41 points in 36 appearances during the 2018-19 season and posting 46 points in 48 games the following year. His leadership was especially valuable during an odd 2020-21 campaign, in which he only appeared in seven games for the Rangers’ under-18 squad, but served as an alternate captain for the team.

Medicine Hat snapped him up in late September of 2021, with expectations of Arp’s big frame in front of the net and confidence with the puck paying dividends for them. He would earn nine points in that first junior season, scoring his first junior goal in only his third game, a 6-2 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders on October 22, 2021. He was dealt to the ICE shortly before the 2022-23 campaign got underway, and his stay in Winnipeg was a brief one, playing four games before joining the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s Swan Valley Stampeders in his hometown.

Arp found a groove this past year, though – he picked up two goals and an assist in only his fifth game with the Stampeders, scoring the game-winner in a 6-3 victory over the Winnipeg Blues. After posting 30 points in 51 Swan Valley games, he says he’s looking forward to getting another shot in the WHL, and already has a few improvements in mind to help him start the season.

“I’m trying to get my weight up a little bit,” said Arp. “I’m going to come into camp at a good weight that I’m proud of, and show the team what I’ve got.”

So far this summer, Arp has been training and staying with friends in Calgary, including the occasional rec-league game. His goal for the 2023-24 season is to finish the climb back to the WHL, and make the move south of the border, as his junior hockey career continues.

(Note: this is the 13th in a series of offseason profiles on players set to join the Wild following the relocation of the Winnipeg ICE. Previous profiles are linked below.)