It was a case of changing on the fly for Connor Nickle as the 16-year-old forward made his Alberta Junior Hockey League debut Saturday night.
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The junior A Lloydminster Bobcats called up Nickle from the U18 AAA Lloydminster Lancers in time for the short-staffed Bobcats’ 5-4 loss to the host Olds Grizzlys.
Cold Lake’s Nickle hit the road with the Lancers on Saturday, but he didn’t play in their 5-3 loss to the Leduc Oil Kings in Alberta Elite Hockey League play later that day. Instead, about 15 minutes after arriving in Leduc, he hopped on the Bobcats’ bus bound for Olds, the day after Lloyd’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Drayton Valley Thunder in AJHL action Friday night.
“I found out as soon as I got to the rink Saturday,” Nickle said about his junior A promotion. “My coach (Lancers coach Chris King) told me that I would be playing with the Bobcats. I was super happy about it.”
His first AJHL regular-season game lived up to the anticipation for the second-year U18 AAA Lancer.
“It was super exciting,” said Nickle, a Bobcats’ affiliated player. “Blood was rushing through my veins. It was magical.”
Even playing limited minutes, Nickle embraced his role with a Bobcats team that includes fellow Cold Lake native Dylan Deets and one of Nickle’s former U18 AAA teammates, Brady Gamble of Lloydminster.
“Yeah, I just knew I had to go out there and do the best I can, no matter what,” said Nickle, almost six-foot-two and 185 pounds. “That’s all I thought.
“I was (on a line with 17-year-old rookie) Ty Hynes for most of the time. A couple of guys were out of the lineup.”
After attending the Bobcats’ training camp and playing in AJHL pre-season action, Nickle signed as an AP and practised with them a few times this year.
He’s also a prospect of the major junior Spokane Chiefs, the Western Hockey League team that drafted him in 2024.
Nickle said the Chiefs have told him to believe in himself and his abilities, regardless of the level he’s playing at the time.
“Just to stay confident and always be composed, no matter where I play, and just play every game as hard as I can.”
QUICK TURNAROUND
Nickle had played every Lancer game this season, at least until he was called up to the Bobcats on Saturday. He arrived back in Lloyd at 2 a.m. Sunday, slept for a few hours, and got out of bed at 7:30 to ready for the Lancers’ scheduled 11:15 a.m. home game, a 6-5 victory over the first-place Fort Saskatchewan Rangers.
Nickle went on to score his fifth goal — and 14th point — in his 17th game this season, giving him one more point than his full-season total in 38 games last year as a 15-year-old rookie with the U18 AAA Lancers.
“I think it’s been going well, and I feel I’ve been a huge part of this team,” Nickle said after Sunday’s game at the Hub. “We’ve been meshing really well together, compared to last year. I really like it.”
Nickle’s speed and skill have been evident on a progressing Lancers team that might be short on wins but flush with promising young talent.
Back home last summer, Nickle focused on cardio work and plyometrics, and complemented his hockey training with competitive lacrosse, playing with the U17 Lakeland Heat.
One of his Cold Lake contemporaries, Gavin Harrison, is one of the AJHL’s top rookies, as part of a high-scoring line with the Bonnyville Pontiacs. Harrison was called up to the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos last month and dressed for one game.
Nickle also knows hometown Pontiacs like Rylan Emigh and Ryder Naim, a defenceman who played with the Lancers last season.
Emigh, a forward, returned home to Bonnyville this year after playing U18 prep in the CSSHL with Prairie Hockey Academy of Caronport, Sask.
BUNKING WITH THE BOHLKENS
This year, ex-Lancers forward Trey Bohlken, 16, elected to play at Prairie Hockey Academy rather than return to the Lloyd U18 AAA team that named him its unsung hero last season.
As he did during the previous hockey season, Nickle is staying with Bohlken’s family in the Border City, where he’s a Grade 11 student at Lloydminster Comprehensive High School.
“He likes the CSSHL pretty well,” Nickle said of his billet buddy Bohlken. “It seems like he’s having a good season.
“They made the Circle K (tournament in Calgary), so I’m not sure about their schedule for that, but hopefully I’ll get to see him quite a bit over Christmas. He’s been home once or twice, so I’ve seen him then, too.”
Last weekend, Nickle wasn’t the only U18 AAA player skating with the junior A Bobcats. Madden Woo, a 16-year-old defenceman from Leduc’s AEHL team, dressed for Lloydminster for his first two games in the AJHL.
Romanchuk sets Lancers’ tone
Lancers captain Rhett Romanchuk, also a Bobcats’ prospect, congratulated Nickle for earning a promotion to the AJHL.
Read more: Late letdown costs Lancers in OT loss
“I’m really happy for him,” said Romanchuk, a third-year Lancer who hopes to walk down the Hub hallway and join his hometown Bobcats on a full-time basis next season.
For now, the six-foot-four, 190-pound Romanchuk has been practising with the AJHL team at least once a week, after an extended pre-season stay with the Bobcats.
“Pretty good,” he said about his weekly skates with juniors. “I’m still going out there every Tuesday with them. It’s always a good time. They’re always tough on me, which is good. It gives me some experience for next year, hopefully. It’s been a lot of good feedback from everybody.”
With the Lancers, the 17-year-old Romanchuk has been a leader on and off the ice. He’s their top-scoring defenceman, with six goals and 19 points after 18 games.
“It’s been really good,” said the Lloyd Comp senior. “I’ve felt really confident this year. I feel like I’ve been a lot smarter with the puck, making plays in the O-zone, and just not being scared to make any plays, but not taking too high of a risk.”
As the captain, Romanchuk has also been guiding a mostly youthful group through the ups and downs of provincial U18 AAA hockey.
Earlier this season, Romanchuk was called up to the Vermilion Tigers to play one game with the Northeastern Alberta Junior B Hockey League front-runners.
Two other Lancers were involved in a junior B game Sunday night, after playing their U18 AAA contest earlier in the day. Defenceman Denton Setzer, 17, and forward Alec Robinson, 16, suited up with their hometown Wainwright Bisons for their 6-2 loss to the visiting Lloydminster Bandits.
REDDEN JOINS JUNIOR B BANDITS
Sunday’s junior B game also marked the Bandits’ debut of 17-year-old hometown forward
Jake Redden, a former Lancer who began this season with the U18 AAA St. Albert Raiders.
The Bandits (18-4) are keeping pace with Vermilion (18-3) in the fight for first place in the junior B league. Those teams play against each other this Friday night at the Hub.
The Bandits will host the Hockey Alberta provincial junior B championship in April 2026.
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