The CHL Defenceman of the Year Award is given out annually to the top defenceman in the Canadian Hockey League. Bryce Pickford of the Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL) earned the honour after authoring one of the greatest goal-scoring seasons by a defenceman in modern CHL history.<\/p>\n
The Montreal Canadiens prospect finished the 2025-26 season with 83 points, including 45 goals and 38 assists, along with a plus-55 rating in 55 games. His 45 goals were the most by a CHL defenceman in nearly 40 years, dating back to Greg Hawgood\u2019s 48-goal campaign in 1987-88, and the highest single-season total by a CHL blueliner in the 21st century.<\/p>\n
Pickford was the only defenceman to finish among the CHL\u2019s top 10 goal scorers in 2025-26. His 45 goals were tied for second among WHL skaters, while his 19 power-play goals and 11 game-winning goals ranked tied for first in the CHL. The 20-year-old captain from Chauvin, Alta., also helped Medicine Hat claim a second consecutive Central Division title and was named to the WHL Eastern Conference First All-Star Team.<\/p>\n
With the honour, Pickford becomes the second Medicine Hat Tigers player to win CHL Defenceman of the Year, joining Kris Russell, who earned the award in 2006-07.<\/p>\n
Defenceman of the Year Award<\/b><\/a> Winners were recognized at the 2026 CHL Awards<\/a> ceremony, Monday, June 15, in downtown Toronto. The finalists for each CHL award were determined by the winners of the corresponding honours presented by the CHL\u2019s three Member Leagues: the Western Hockey League (WHL), Ontario Hockey League (OHL), and Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL).<\/p>\n Across the 30 finalist spots for this year\u2019s 10 CHL awards, 19 different CHL clubs are represented, including seven from the WHL, six from the OHL, and six from the QMJHL \u2014 reflecting standout 2025-26 seasons from players, coaches, and organizations across the CHL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The CHL Defenceman of the Year Award is given out annually to the top defenceman in the Canadian Hockey League. Bryce Pickford of the Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL) earned the honour after authoring one of the greatest goal-scoring seasons by a defenceman in modern CHL history. The Montreal Canadiens prospect finished the 2025-26 season with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":116,"featured_media":268324,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1110],"tags":[{"term_id":1702,"name":"Bryce Pickford","slug":"bryce-pickford","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1702,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":33,"filter":"raw","term_order":"644"},{"term_id":337,"name":"CHL Awards","slug":"chl-awards","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":362,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":82,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1347"},{"term_id":30,"name":"medicine hat tigers","slug":"medicine-hat-tigers","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":185,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1229,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1770"}],"class_list":["post-268296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-bryce-pickford","tag-chl-awards","tag-medicine-hat-tigers","category-1110","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/06\/15170648\/CHL-Awards-1920_Pickford.png",1920,1080,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/116"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":268316,"date":"2026-06-15T16:16:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T22:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/?p=268316"},"modified":"2026-06-15T16:16:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T22:16:01","slug":"chl-awards-availability-steve-hamilton-everett-silvertips-chl-brian-kilrea-coach-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/video\/chl-awards-availability-steve-hamilton-everett-silvertips-chl-brian-kilrea-coach-of-the-year","title":{"rendered":"CHL Awards Availability | Steve Hamilton, Everett Silvertips \u2013 CHL Brian Kilrea Coach of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":116,"featured_media":268317,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1113],"tags":[{"term_id":337,"name":"CHL Awards","slug":"chl-awards","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":362,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":82,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1347"},{"term_id":36,"name":"everett silvertips","slug":"everett-silvertips","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":180,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1258,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1493"},{"term_id":532,"name":"Steve Hamilton","slug":"steve-hamilton","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":558,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":6,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1992"}],"class_list":["post-268316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-video","tag-chl-awards","tag-everett-silvertips","tag-steve-hamilton","category-1113","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/06\/15151948\/Screenshot-2026-06-15-at-2.47.14-PM-scaled.png",2560,1431,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":{"video_id":"2671626","partner_id":"31014","player_id":"47902","width":"16","height":"9","360p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31014\/sd\/2671626.mp4","240p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31014\/ld\/2671626.mp4","480p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31014\/hsd\/2671626.mp4","1080p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31014\/fhd\/2671626.mp4","hls":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31014\/streaming\/2671626\/2671626.m3u8","webp":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31014\/webp\/2671626.webp"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/116"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":268298,"date":"2026-06-15T15:52:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T21:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/?p=268298"},"modified":"2026-06-15T15:52:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T21:52:13","slug":"silvertips-coach-hamilton-named-winner-of-chls-brian-kilrea-coach-of-the-year-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/article\/silvertips-coach-hamilton-named-winner-of-chls-brian-kilrea-coach-of-the-year-award","title":{"rendered":"Silvertips coach Hamilton named winner of CHL’s Brian Kilrea Coach of the Year Award"},"content":{"rendered":" Named in recognition of former Ottawa 67\u2019s head coach and CHL all-time wins leader Brian Kilrea, the Brian Kilrea Coach of the Year Award is presented annually to the Canadian Hockey League\u2019s top coach.<\/p>\n Steve Hamilton of the Everett Silvertips (WHL) earned the honour after guiding Everett through the best season in franchise history. In just his second season with the Silvertips, Hamilton led the club to a 57-8-2-1 record and 117 points, helping Everett capture a second straight Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy as WHL regular-season champions.<\/p>\n Everett\u2019s 57 wins and 117 points both set franchise records, while the Silvertips\u2019 .860 points percentage ranked seventh all-time in CHL history among teams that played at least 50 games. The club was one of the CHL\u2019s most complete teams, finishing third in the WHL with 304 goals for while allowing just 173 goals against, the second-fewest in the league.<\/p>\n Hamilton\u2019s season continued into a historic postseason run, as Everett went 16-2 through the WHL Playoffs to capture the first Ed Chynoweth Cup title in franchise history. The Silvertips then made their first Memorial Cup appearance, recorded their first Memorial Cup win and shutout, and advanced to their first Memorial Cup Final. Hamilton becomes the first Silvertips coach to capture the CHL Brian Kilrea Coach of the Year Award.<\/p>\n Brian Kilrea Coach of the Year Award<\/b><\/a> Winners were recognized at the 2026 CHL Awards<\/a> ceremony, Monday, June 15, in downtown Toronto. The finalists for each CHL award were determined by the winners of the corresponding honours presented by the CHL\u2019s three Member Leagues: the Western Hockey League (WHL), Ontario Hockey League (OHL), and Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL).<\/p>\n Across the 30 finalist spots for this year\u2019s 10 CHL awards, 19 different CHL clubs are represented, including seven from the WHL, six from the OHL, and six from the QMJHL \u2014 reflecting standout 2025-26 seasons from players, coaches, and organizations across the CHL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Named in recognition of former Ottawa 67\u2019s head coach and CHL all-time wins leader Brian Kilrea, the Brian Kilrea Coach of the Year Award is presented annually to the Canadian Hockey League\u2019s top coach. Steve Hamilton of the Everett Silvertips (WHL) earned the honour after guiding Everett through the best season in franchise history. In…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":116,"featured_media":268323,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1110],"tags":[{"term_id":337,"name":"CHL Awards","slug":"chl-awards","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":362,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":82,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1347"},{"term_id":36,"name":"everett silvertips","slug":"everett-silvertips","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":180,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1258,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1493"},{"term_id":532,"name":"Steve Hamilton","slug":"steve-hamilton","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":558,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":6,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1992"}],"class_list":["post-268298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-chl-awards","tag-everett-silvertips","tag-steve-hamilton","category-1110","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/06\/15155206\/CHL-Awards-1920_Hamilton-1.png",1920,1080,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/116"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":268320,"date":"2026-06-15T15:49:55","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T21:49:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/?p=268320"},"modified":"2026-06-15T15:49:55","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T21:49:55","slug":"2025-26-nhl-draft-highlight-reels-ethan-mackenzie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/video\/2025-26-nhl-draft-highlight-reels-ethan-mackenzie","title":{"rendered":"2025-26 NHL Draft Highlight Reels \u2013 Ethan MacKenzie"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":268321,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1113],"tags":[{"term_id":2019,"name":"Ethan MacKenzie","slug":"ethan-mackenzie","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2019,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":8,"filter":"raw","term_order":"334"},{"term_id":1301,"name":"2026 NHL Draft","slug":"2026-nhl-draft","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1301,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":71,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1012"},{"term_id":22,"name":"edmonton oil kings","slug":"edmonton-oil-kings","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":207,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1254,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1477"}],"class_list":["post-268320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-video","tag-ethan-mackenzie","tag-2026-nhl-draft","tag-edmonton-oil-kings","video-channels-2026-nhl-draft","video-channels-edmonton-oil-kings","category-1113","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/06\/15154945\/HR-1920-33.png",1920,1080,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":{"video_id":"2671862","partner_id":"31014","player_id":"47902","width":"16","height":"9","360p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31014\/sd\/2671862.mp4","240p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31014\/ld\/2671862.mp4","480p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31014\/hsd\/2671862.mp4","1080p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31014\/fhd\/2671862.mp4","hls":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31014\/streaming\/2671862\/2671862.m3u8","webp":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31014\/webp\/2671862.webp"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":268256,"date":"2026-06-15T15:03:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T21:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/?p=268256"},"modified":"2026-06-15T15:16:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T21:16:31","slug":"2026-nhl-draft-profile-markus-ruck-medicine-hat-tigers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/article\/2026-nhl-draft-profile-markus-ruck-medicine-hat-tigers","title":{"rendered":"2026 NHL Draft Profile | Markus Ruck, Medicine Hat Tigers"},"content":{"rendered":" It was one of the most hyped early events on the NHL Draft calendar.<\/p>\n Decked out in the jerseys of their home clubs, dozens of top 2026 Draft-eligibles hit the ice at the Scotiabank Saddledome for Game 1 of the 2025 CHL USA Prospects Challenge on November 25, 2025.<\/p>\n The annual two-game series draws swarms of NHL scouts and fans alike as top players from the WHL, OHL, QMJHL and U.S. NTDP fight to raise their draft stock and play for league pride.<\/p>\n But Markus Ruck found himself sitting in the stands that night.<\/p>\n The Medicine Hat Tigers forward hadn’t been invited to represent the CHL.<\/p>\n His twin brother, Liam, was a last-minute invite to replace another injured player.<\/p>\n Still, there was no way Markus would miss the opportunity to watch his brother and peers.<\/p>\n “I think not making that team… It was good for me,” Markus reflected. “I think up until this point, I didn’t see a lot of adversity. Watching Liam too, it was lots of fun, me and my dad (WHL alumnus Derek Ruck), kind of sitting back and watching some hockey.”<\/p>\n Funnily enough, Markus had scored the overtime winner to down the Calgary Hitmen 3-2 less than 48 hours before Game 1 of the showcase.<\/p>\n Looking back, maybe it was a sign of what was to come.<\/p>\n The Rucks went on to go first and second in the WHL scoring race, with Markus leading the entire CHL with 108 points (21G-87A) in 68 games.<\/p>\n Needless to say, when the 2026 WHL Prospects Challenge rolled around, he got the invite to Team East and promptly teed up Prince Albert’s Daxon Rudolph for the overtime winner.<\/p>\n Markus and Liam- along with Tigers Captain and Canadiens Prospect Bryce Pickford- were all finalists for WHL Player of the Year, while Markus also earned the Bob Clarke Trophy as the league’s top scorer and was nominated for Most Sportsmanlike Player.<\/p>\n “When I see how far they’ve come, because they’ve passed a lot of players on that (draft) list right now, I think it’s just a tribute to them and how hard they work,” Tigers General Manager and Head Coach Willie Desjardins said of the Rucks. “They’re so smart, but it’s their work ethic. They’re in the gym all the time, and they’re always working to get better.”<\/p>\n Scouts and pundits have dubbed Markus the playmaker and Liam the finisher as the twins dazzled the hockey world with their chemistry and sneaky plays.<\/p>\n The other main difference is that the Rucks are mirror twins- Markus is a left-handed centreman, while Liam is a right-shot winger.<\/p>\n Markus, 18 (and slightly older than Liam), added another 13 points (4G-9A) in 15 playoff games to help Medicine Hat reach the Eastern Conference Championship one year after winning it all and advancing to the 2025 Memorial Cup Final.<\/p>\n While he didn’t get the most ice time in his rookie campaign (playing left wing behind 2025 Player of the Year Gavin McKenna will do that), Markus still picked up four playoff points to win the 2025 WHL Championship and feels he was able to soak up the habits of McKenna and then-captain Oasiz Wiesblatt and bring a more rounded game to his draft year while shouldering the load of high expectations.<\/p>\n “It feels great when the pressure’s on you,” Markus added. “That’s what we all play for. We love playing in front of our fans and playing for the Tigers.<\/p>\n Me and Liam, we played well within the structure last year, so this year kind of had to continue that. I think if you want to play at the next level, that’s a big thing, you’ve got to play in all three zones, and I think I’ve been doing better at that.”<\/p>\n Markus is ranked 23rd among all North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting in the agency’s final rankings ahead of the 2026 NHL Draft (Liam is a hair ahead at 20).<\/p>\n The twins are fresh off of attending the annual NHL Combine, where they met with NHL clubs and participated in fitness testing.<\/p>\n They’ve made no secret of their desire to play together at the next level, slim as those chances may be, but they’re making sure to enjoy the experience together.<\/p>\n “That’s what helped us a lot this year,” Liam said. “Yeah, we compete with each other a little bit to kind of improve, but we’re more just happy to see the other one succeed.”<\/p>\n “It’s one of the best years of my life so far,” Markus added.\u00a0 “When I look back at this year, it’s gonna be a lot of good memories on and off the ice.”<\/p>\n They’re ready to make more memories on and off the ice.<\/p>\n The Rucks told the NHL Draft Class podcast that they intend to return to the Gas City for another run in 2026-27.<\/p>\n Round 1 of the 2026 NHL Draft begins on Friday, June 26, at 5:00 p.m. MT, with Rounds 2-7 continuing on Saturday, June 27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It was one of the most hyped early events on the NHL Draft calendar. Decked out in the jerseys of their home clubs, dozens of top 2026 Draft-eligibles hit the ice at the Scotiabank Saddledome for Game 1 of the 2025 CHL USA Prospects Challenge on November 25, 2025. The annual two-game series draws swarms…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":487,"featured_media":268315,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1110],"tags":[{"term_id":1479,"name":"Markus Ruck","slug":"markus-ruck","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1479,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":24,"filter":"raw","term_order":"854"},{"term_id":1301,"name":"2026 NHL Draft","slug":"2026-nhl-draft","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1301,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":71,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1012"},{"term_id":30,"name":"medicine hat tigers","slug":"medicine-hat-tigers","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":185,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1229,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1770"}],"class_list":["post-268256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-markus-ruck","tag-2026-nhl-draft","tag-medicine-hat-tigers","category-1110","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/06\/15150304\/Markus_Profiles-1920.png",1920,1080,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/487"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":268313,"date":"2026-06-15T15:01:50","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T21:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/?p=268313"},"modified":"2026-06-15T15:01:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T21:01:50","slug":"chl-awards-availability-alex-weiermair-portland-winterhawks-chl-scholastic-player-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/video\/chl-awards-availability-alex-weiermair-portland-winterhawks-chl-scholastic-player-of-the-year","title":{"rendered":"CHL Awards Availability | Alex Weiermair, Portland Winterhawks \u2013 CHL Scholastic Player of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":116,"featured_media":268314,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1113],"tags":[{"term_id":1779,"name":"Alex Weiermair","slug":"alex-weiermair","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1779,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":15,"filter":"raw","term_order":"568"},{"term_id":337,"name":"CHL Awards","slug":"chl-awards","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":362,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":82,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1347"},{"term_id":32,"name":"portland winterhawks","slug":"portland-winterhawks","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":181,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1195,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1866"}],"class_list":["post-268313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-video","tag-alex-weiermair","tag-chl-awards","tag-portland-winterhawks","category-1113","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/06\/15150116\/Screenshot-2026-06-15-at-2.50.44-PM-scaled.png",2560,1434,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":{"video_id":"2671675","partner_id":"31014","player_id":"47902","width":"16","height":"9","360p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31014\/sd\/2671675.mp4","240p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31014\/ld\/2671675.mp4","480p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31014\/hsd\/2671675.mp4","1080p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31014\/fhd\/2671675.mp4","hls":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31014\/streaming\/2671675\/2671675.m3u8","webp":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31014\/webp\/2671675.webp"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/116"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":268311,"date":"2026-06-15T14:31:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T20:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/?p=268311"},"modified":"2026-06-15T14:31:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T20:31:54","slug":"chl-awards-availability-markus-ruck-medicine-hat-tigers-chl-top-scorer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/video\/chl-awards-availability-markus-ruck-medicine-hat-tigers-chl-top-scorer","title":{"rendered":"CHL Awards Availability | Markus Ruck, Medicine Hat Tigers \u2013 CHL Top Scorer"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":116,"featured_media":268312,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1113],"tags":[{"term_id":1479,"name":"Markus Ruck","slug":"markus-ruck","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1479,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":24,"filter":"raw","term_order":"854"},{"term_id":337,"name":"CHL Awards","slug":"chl-awards","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":362,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":82,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1347"},{"term_id":30,"name":"medicine hat tigers","slug":"medicine-hat-tigers","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":185,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1229,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1770"}],"class_list":["post-268311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-video","tag-markus-ruck","tag-chl-awards","tag-medicine-hat-tigers","category-1113","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/06\/15143106\/Screenshot-2026-06-15-at-2.30.15-PM-scaled.png",2560,1433,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":{"video_id":"2671611","partner_id":"31014","player_id":"47902","width":"16","height":"9","360p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31014\/sd\/2671611.mp4","240p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31014\/ld\/2671611.mp4","480p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31014\/hsd\/2671611.mp4","1080p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31014\/fhd\/2671611.mp4","hls":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31014\/streaming\/2671611\/2671611.m3u8","webp":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/31014\/webp\/2671611.webp"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/116"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":268297,"date":"2026-06-15T14:27:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T20:27:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/?p=268297"},"modified":"2026-06-15T14:27:04","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T20:27:04","slug":"tigers-forward-markus-ruck-named-chl-top-scorer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/article\/tigers-forward-markus-ruck-named-chl-top-scorer","title":{"rendered":"Tigers forward Markus Ruck named CHL Top Scorer"},"content":{"rendered":" The CHL Top Scorer Award is given out annually to the highest-scoring player in the Canadian Hockey League. It was first awarded in 1994. Markus Ruck of the Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL) captured the honour after leading the WHL and the entire CHL with 108 points during the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n The 18-year-old from Osoyoos, B.C., recorded 21 goals and a CHL-best 87 assists while posting a plus-45 rating in 68 games. His exceptional vision and playmaking ability helped drive a Medicine Hat team that led the WHL in goals, owned the league\u2019s top power play, and finished atop the Central Division.<\/p>\n Ruck\u2019s twin brother, Liam, finished second in both the WHL and CHL scoring races with 104 points, making Markus and Liam the first siblings in CHL history to finish first and second in league scoring in the same season. They also became the first brothers ever to place 1-2 in scoring within a CHL Member League.<\/p>\n The 2026 NHL Draft prospect became the first Medicine Hat skater since Linden Vey in 2010-11 to lead the CHL in scoring and just the second Tigers player to win the CHL Top Scorer Award. Ruck was held off the scoresheet just 12 times all season and recorded at least three points in a game on 11 occasions.<\/p>\n Top Scorer Award<\/b><\/a> Winners were recognized at the 2026 CHL Awards<\/a> ceremony, Monday, June 15, in downtown Toronto. The finalists for each CHL award were determined by the winners of the corresponding honours presented by the CHL\u2019s three Member Leagues: the Western Hockey League (WHL), Ontario Hockey League (OHL), and Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL).<\/p>\n Across the 30 finalist spots for this year\u2019s 10 CHL awards, 19 different CHL clubs are represented, including seven from the WHL, six from the OHL, and six from the QMJHL \u2014 reflecting standout 2025-26 seasons from players, coaches, and organizations across the CHL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The CHL Top Scorer Award is given out annually to the highest-scoring player in the Canadian Hockey League. It was first awarded in 1994. Markus Ruck of the Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL) captured the honour after leading the WHL and the entire CHL with 108 points during the 2025-26 season. The 18-year-old from Osoyoos, B.C.,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":116,"featured_media":268309,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1110],"tags":[{"term_id":1479,"name":"Markus Ruck","slug":"markus-ruck","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1479,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":24,"filter":"raw","term_order":"854"},{"term_id":337,"name":"CHL Awards","slug":"chl-awards","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":362,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":82,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1347"},{"term_id":30,"name":"medicine hat tigers","slug":"medicine-hat-tigers","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":185,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1229,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1770"}],"class_list":["post-268297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-markus-ruck","tag-chl-awards","tag-medicine-hat-tigers","category-1110","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/06\/15142539\/CHL-Awards-1920_Ruck.png",1920,1080,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/116"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":268299,"date":"2026-06-15T14:26:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T20:26:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/?p=268299"},"modified":"2026-06-15T14:26:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T20:26:34","slug":"winterhawks-forward-weiermair-named-chl-scholastic-player-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/whl\/article\/winterhawks-forward-weiermair-named-chl-scholastic-player-of-the-year","title":{"rendered":"Winterhawks forward Weiermair named CHL Scholastic Player of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":" The CHL Scholastic Player of the Year Award is presented annually to a Canadian Hockey League player who is best able to combine success on the ice with success in the classroom.<\/p>\n Alex Weiermair of the Portland Winterhawks (WHL) earned the honour after excelling academically while enjoying a standout overage season on the ice. The 21-year-old from Los Angeles, Calif., maintained a 4.0 GPA across challenging university coursework, including chemistry, business, history, and psychology. His academic background also includes advanced-level calculus and physics, while away from formal coursework, Weiermair speaks German and is teaching himself Italian.<\/p>\n On the ice, the Vegas Golden Knights prospect recorded 93 points, including 37 goals and 56 assists, in 66 regular season games. He led the Winterhawks in scoring and finished fifth overall in the WHL while contributing consistently in all situations.<\/p>\n Despite playing a heavy-minute role, Weiermair recorded just 28 penalty minutes and was also named a finalist for the Brad Hornung Memorial Trophy as the WHL\u2019s Most Sportsmanlike Player. An alternate captain in Portland, Weiermair was recognized throughout the organization for his maturity, humility, integrity, and leadership both on and off the ice.<\/p>\n With the honour, Weiermair becomes the second Portland Winterhawks player to be named CHL Scholastic Player of the Year, joining Dan Hulak, who captured the award following the 2000-01 season.<\/p>\n Winner \u2013\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Alex Weiermair<\/i><\/b><\/a>\u00a0(Portland Winterhawks \/ WHL)<\/i><\/b>
\nWinner \u2013\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Bryce Pickford<\/i><\/b><\/a>\u00a0(Medicine Hat Tigers \/ WHL)<\/i><\/b>
\nNominees<\/i><\/b>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/i>Kashawn Aitcheson<\/i><\/a>\u00a0(Barrie Colts \/ OHL) &\u00a0<\/i>Tommy Bleyl<\/i><\/a>\u00a0(Moncton Wildcats \/ QMJHL)<\/i><\/p>\n
\nWinner \u2013 Steve Hamilton (Everett Silvertips \/ WHL)<\/i><\/b>
\nNominees<\/i><\/b>\u00a0\u2013 Dave Cameron (Ottawa 67\u2019s \/ OHL) & Sylvain Favreau (Drummondville Voltigeurs \/ QMJHL)<\/i><\/p>\n
\nWinner \u2013\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Markus Ruck<\/i><\/b><\/a>\u00a0(Medicine Hat Tigers \/ WHL)<\/i><\/b>
\nNominees<\/i><\/b>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/i>Nikita Klepov<\/i><\/a>\u00a0(Saginaw Spirit \/ OHL) &\u00a0<\/i>Maxim Mass\u00e9<\/i><\/a>\u00a0(Chicoutimi Saguen\u00e9ens \/ QMJHL)<\/i><\/p>\n
\nNominees<\/i><\/b>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/i>Levi Harper<\/i><\/a>\u00a0(Saginaw Spirit \/ OHL) &\u00a0<\/i>Nathan Brisson<\/i><\/a>\u00a0(Val-d\u2019Or Foreurs \/ QMJHL)<\/i><\/p>\n