Make it right. As the Lloydminster Bobcats pondered possible playoff slogans, those words were certainly in the conversation, especially after it was confirmed that their first-round opponent would be the Grande Prairie Storm.
The Storm, of course, swept the junior A Bobcats in the first round of last year’s Alberta Junior Hockey League playoffs.
Although each team has just half-a-dozen players back from those clubs, the sentiment remains the same. This is considered payback time for the Bobcats, or in the more-conservative words of captain Kade Fendelet, time to make it right.
“Absolutely, for myself and the guys that were part of it last year, we’re coming in (mindful of that sweep),” said Fendelet, in his last year of junior hockey. “We don’t want to let them put us through that feeling again. So, we want to stick up for last year, make it right here. And, yeah, for all the new guys, I think they understand what it means for us. Everyone just knows it’s going to be tough, and everyone is super excited for Grande Prairie.”
Just three points separated the playoff combatants in the 2025-26 regular season.
The best-of-seven North Division semifinal between the second-place Storm (38-15-2) and the third-seeded Bobcats (34-14-7) begins with two games in Grande Prairie this Friday and Saturday (March 20 and 21).
The third and fourth games are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday (March 24 and 25) at Lloydminster’s Cenovus Energy Hub, the new arena welcoming junior A playoff action for the first time.
Grande Prairie won the season series 5-1, though three of those victories were in overtime or a shootout. Lloyd takes a measure of confidence from its 1-2-3 showing against the Storm, and the fact that four of the games were one-goal decisions and another was a two-goal verdict. The only wide-margin result was GP’s 5-1 victory in Lloyd with a week left in January.
“All the games were super close,” said Fendelet, while also cautioning not to put much too stock in regular-season matchups. “You just look at last year. We sort of had the edge (5-1) in regular season, and it came to playoffs and that didn’t mean a whole lot. Regular season, those games are important, but definitely a new season starts now.”
It’s as though a new season began in January for Grande Prairie. The Storm regrouped from an ordinary first half of the season and proceeded to post a 21-3-1 record in their final 25 games.
January was also a defining month for the Bobcats. They signalled an all-in approach for a playoff push, with push being the operative word. They beefed up at the trade deadline, adding size and strength with the likes of six-foot-three Landen Ward and six-foot-one Alex Levasseur up front and six-foot-four Oakley McIlwain and six-foot-six Ryder Ellis on defence.
The past two months have been a feeling-out period for a new-look Lloydminster squad that took a hit in February with the unexpected departures of 19-year-old forward Matthew Hikida and 20-year-old goaltender Jaiden Sharma to separate teams in the independent BCHL.
The Bobcats continued to assert themselves, winning more often than not. But they didn’t gain enough to bump Grande Prairie or the pennant-winning Whitecourt Wolverines for one of the top two positions in the North and overall. Lloyd landed six points back of Whitecourt (39-13-3).
Now, with playoffs on the horizon, the Bobcats will see a lot of each other over the next few weeks, at least, with even more meetings, bus rides, team meals, hotel rooms, practices and games.
“Yeah, absolutely,” Fendelet said with a chuckle. “Whether or not we like it, we’re going to be together. We’re all in it, so might as well enjoy it and sort of get on the same page. Since the trade deadline, the boys have been great, but everyone is still just getting comfortable with each other. That takes time on any team, so I think it’s been a couple of months now and everyone is really starting to find their groove together.”
Ending the schedule on a six-game winning streak, the Bobcats further bonded with two road victories on the final weekend of the regular season — 2-1 in a shootout over the Fort McMurray Oil Barons on Saturday and 2-1 over Bonnyville on Friday in the final game of the year for the Pontiacs.
Fort Mac (30-17-8) finished fourth in the North Division, seven points behind Lloyd. The Oil Barons go up against Whitecourt in their first-round series, also a rematch from 2025.
Bonnyville (27-24-4) posted 58 points, but it still left the Lakeland contingent 10 points out of a playoff position in the ultra-competitive North.
Playoff adversaries Lloydminster and Grande Prairie both lost world junior A defencemen at mid-season as the Bobcats’ Esteban Cinq-Mars (Val-d’Or, QMJHL) and the Storm’s Noah Chadi (Red Deer, WHL) earned permanent promotions to major junior teams.
In the final deal announced at the January trade deadline, the Storm acquired a player familiar to multiple Bobcats in former Lloydminster U18 AAA defenceman Reily Pickford of Chauvin, Alta.
Pickford, a 25-point man in his 18-year-old season, came from the Camrose Kodiaks, who in exchange received 19-year-old forward Brandon de Haas. Pickford, whose brother Bryce stars in the Western Hockey League as captain of the Medicine Hat Tigers, played U18 AAA in Lloyd with four current Bobcats — McIlwain, Ward, Brady Gamble and Jaxan Hopko, a finalist for the AJHL’s outstanding-defenceman honours (see Page 19).
That group of Bobcats, along with fourth-year forward Fendelet, gives Lloydminster loads of local content on its roster. Meadow Lake’s Ellis and Cold Lake’s Dylan Deets grew up relatively close to the Border City.
The strong local representation, and a competitive team, combined to make the Bobcats a prime attraction in the inaugural year for the Hub, which regularly attracted crowds of more than 1,100 fans per game.
From the opening-night crowd of 1,827 on Sept. 19, 2025, to the final regular-season turnouts of 1,570 and 1,205 on the March 6-7 weekend, the Hub has been a hubbub of activity on most nights.
Fendelet scored the Bobcats’ final playoff goal in the historic Centennial Civic Centre. His tally with 2:35 left in regulation forced overtime in the March 26, 2025, game that Grande Prairie went on to win 4-3 to complete the first-round sweep.
“Well, yeah, the Civic in playoffs, that was sort of a different place,” Fendelet said about that unique atmosphere.
“I’m super excited for what the Cenovus Hub is going to bring. The fans have always been incredible throughout the whole year, but playoffs we’re hoping that they’re on a whole other level, same as the players.
“With it being my last year, I obviously want to go as far as we can, and just everyone on our team wants to do the best that we can, because we know we’re a good team. So, we want to go out there and show that to everybody.”
This year’s head-to-head battle could be dubbed the Energy Series. The action rotates between the Cenovus Energy Hub in Lloyd and the Bonnetts Energy Centre in Grande Prairie, where the Storm also draw big crowds north of 1,100 fans.
Fendelet is a 40-point man and the most-penalized player (with 104 penalty minutes) on a defensive-minded Bobcats team that doesn’t have a player in the top 20 in AJHL scoring. Lloyd’s top gun offensively is Jadon Iyogun, whose 43 points left him 25th in the league.
Grande Prairie placed two players on the league’s top-20 scoring list — Colin Doherty (14th, 59 points) and Max Leduc (16th, 55 points).
“They’re a deep team, for sure,” Fendelet said of a Storm side backstopped by goaltenders Leland Gill and Hudson Perry. “They’ve got lots of great forwards. They’ve got three or four solid lines there. All their defencemen are really good, and their two goalies are really solid.
“Just working around their depth is going to be the big thing, But, that said, our team is super deep, too, so I don’t think that should be a problem for us.
“We’re going to have to look back on regular season and see what they’re doing, see their tendencies and all that, and just prepare as best as we can. We want to be ready for anything they sort of try to throw at us.”
In a best-case scenario for the Bobcats, they would hope to “make it right” in the opening playoff round. That slogan could even become their theme in the post-season.
“Yeah, that could definitely be one of them,” Fendelet agreed as the regular season ended.
“I’m not sure. We’re probably going to do something. We’re working on slogans right now and stuff like that. As far as the hair goes, I don’t think we’re going to be bleaching it, but we might get something fun going there.”
All the fun, for both teams, begins Friday.
OVERTIME: In a less-heralded transaction last October, Lloydminster traded the CJHL playing rights of 18-year-old forward Rylan Bissett to Grande Prairie in exchange for a player-development fee. Bissett, a native of Chetwynd, B.C., joined the Storm after a BCHL stint. He has scored 13 goals and 25 points in 37 games with GP.
AJHL PLAYOFFS
North Division best-of-seven semifinal
Grande Prairie Storm (38-15-2 record, 78 points, 2nd in North)
versus
Lloydminster Bobcats (34-14-7 record, 75 points, 3rd in North)
SCHEDULE
Venues: Bonnetts Energy Centre, Grande Prairie; Cenovus Energy Hub, Lloydminster.
Game 1 — Friday, March 20, Lloyd at GP, 7 p.m.
Game 2 — Saturday, March 21, Lloyd at GP, 6 p.m.
Game 3 — Tuesday, March 24, GP at Lloyd, 7 p.m.
Game 4 — Wednesday, March 25, GP at Lloyd, 7 p.m.
x-Game 5 — Friday, March 27, Lloyd at GP, 7 p.m.
x-Game 6 — Sunday, March 29, GP at Lloyd, 5 p.m.
x-Game 7 — Tuesday, March 31, Lloyd at GP, 7 p.m.
x — denotes if necessary.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
2025-26 season series
Grande Prairie Storm (5-1) vs. Lloydminster Bobcats (1-2-3)
Nov. 16 (at Lloyd) — Storm 4, Bobcats 3 (shootout).
Dec. 12 (at GP) — Storm 3, Bobcats 2 (overtime).
Dec. 13 (at GP) — Storm 2, Bobcats 0.
Jan. 3 (at Lloyd) — Bobcats 5, Storm 4.
Jan. 23 (at Lloyd) — Storm 5, Bobcats 1.
Feb. 27 (at GP) — Storm 6, Bobcats 5 (overtime).
TOP SCORERS
2025-26 regular season
Grande Prairie Storm
Colin Doherty 53 GP, 25 G, 34 A, 59 points
Max Leduc 52 GP, 20 G, 35 A, 55 points
Braeden Veldhuizen 43 GP, 18 G, 27 A, 45 points
Will Harris 46 GP, 15 G, 21 A, 36 points
Lloydminster Bobcats
Jadon Iyogun 48 GP, 24 G, 19 A, 43 points
Kael Screpnek 50 GP, 14 G, 28 A, 42 points
Raphael Messier 47 GP, 12 G, 29 A, 41 points
Kade Fendelet 47 GP, 17 G, 23 A, 40 points
Jaxan Hopko 54 GP, 12 G, 28 A, 40 points
TOP-SCORING DEFENCEMEN
2025-26 regular season
Grande Prairie Storm
Connor Frost 50 GP, 5 G, 21 A, 26 points
Reily Pickford 46 GP, 6 G, 19 A, 25 points
Lloydminster Bobcats
Jaxan Hopko 54 GP, 12 G, 28 A, 40 points
Dylan Deets 52 GP, 3 G, 11 A, 14 points
50-GAME CLUB
Grande Prairie and Lloydminster players who played 50 or more games during the 55-game regular season:
Grande Prairie Storm (6)
Colin Doherty, 53 games
Chase Christensen, 52 games
Max Leduc, 52 games
Max Fogle, 51 games
Matthew Lysyk, 51 games
Connor Frost, 50 games
Lloydminster Bobcats (6)
Gus El-Tahhan, 55 games
Jaxan Hopko, 54 games
Quinn Smith, 52 games
Luke Dooley, 51 games
Brady Gamble, 51 games
Kael Screpnek, 50 games
OVERAGERS
(20-year-old players)
Grande Prairie Storm (8)
Chase Christensen, F
Colin Doherty, F
Matthew Gillard, D
Leland Gill, G
William Haley, D
Will Harris, F
Ethan Kronewitt, F
Zachary Wilson, F
Lloydminster Bobcats (6)
Gus El-Tahhan, F
Kade Fendelet, F
Jadon Iyogun, F
Ty Matonovich, G
Oakley McIlwain, D
Trent Peterson, G
HONOUR ROLL
Both the Grande Prairie Storm and Lloydminster Bobcats are represented among the finalists for this season’s AJHL awards:
Storm — Chris Schmidt is one of four nominees for coach of the year; Zachary Wilson is among four candidates for most dedicated player.
Bobcats — Jaxan Hopko is one of four finalists for outstanding defenceman.
HEAD COACHES
Both the Grande Prairie Storm and Lloydminster Bobcats’ coaches went all the way to the Centennial Cup last year — Chris Schmidt with AJHL runner-up Grande Prairie and Eric Labrosse (now of Lloyd) with the MJHL champion Northern Manitoba Blizzard.
Storm — Schmidt is a 50-year-old native of Beaverlodge, near Grande Prairie. He has been on the junior A Storm coaching staff for five seasons, including the past two years as head coach. He’s a finalist for AJHL coach of the year.
Bobcats — Labrosse, 45, is from Montreal. He replaced Jeff Woywitka as the Bobcats’ coach last spring, after guiding Northern Manitoba to the MJHL championship as the Blizzard’s coach and general manager.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
At the World Junior A Hockey Challenge in December at Trois-Rivieres, Que., Bobcats’ forward Raphael Messier and coach Eric Labrosse were part of the silver-medal-winning Canada West team, along with two current members of the Storm — defenceman Matthew Lesyk and forward Max Leduc.
Also representing the Bobcats and Storm in that international tournament were three Canada West players who later left their AJHL teams — Grande Prairie defenceman Noah Chadi (Red Deer, WHL) and Lloydminster defenceman Esteban Cinq-Mars (Val-d’Or, QMJHL) and forward Matthew Hikida (Okotoks, BCHL).
BETWEEN THE PIPES
Grande Prairie Storm — Leland Gill posted a 24-win season after joining the Storm from Ontario junior A league’s Burlington Cougars. Hudson Perry, a local goaltender from Sexsmith, Alta., provided solid relief all year. Perry spent last week in the WHL during the Brandon Wheat Kings’ swing through Alberta, but he has since returned to Grande Prairie.
Lloydminster Bobcats — After season-long shuffling in the Bobcats’ net, Lloyd’s main man became Ty Matonovich, who joined the team in November from the SJHL. The 20-year-old Calgarian went on to record some of the AJHL’s best goaltending statistics — a 2.44 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage. Matonovich’s backup, ex-NAHL goalie Trent Peterson, came on board in February after Jaiden Sharma left Lloyd and returned to the BCHL.
LAST SEASON’S PLAYOFFS
Grande Prairie and Lloydminster also faced off in the opening playoff round last year, as the Storm swept the Bobcats, who were playing their final official games at Lloyd’s Centennial Civic Centre.
The Storm also swept the Whitecourt Wolverines in the North final but lost the AJHL championship series 4-0 to the Calgary Canucks, the eventual Centennial Cup national champions. Grande Prairie joined host Calgary as the Alberta representatives in the 10-team Centennial Cup. The Storm posted a 2-2 record in the national championship tournament.
ELSEWHERE IN THIS YEAR’S PLAYOFFS
North Division
Whitecourt Wolverines (39-13-3) vs. Fort McMurray Oil Barons (30-17-8)
South Division
Canmore Eagles (32-19-4) vs. Calgary Canucks (25-25-5)
Drumheller Dragons (28-20-7) vs. Camrose Kodiaks (28-24-3)
Read more: Cousins cross paths in Border City
