WSHL Aeros Relocate; The Cold Lake Junior Hockey Carousel Continues

Cold Lake, Alberta has seen quite the revolving door of junior hockey teams in the last three years, and that will continue as we head into the 2021-22 season, and the Western States Hockey League’s return to the junior hockey landscape after going dormant last season.

This season’s chapter begins in Edson, where the Edson Aeros have competed since the WSHL’s expansion into Canada in 2018. The Aeros were informed in July that the Town of Edson would be discontinuing their current lease, and instead were accepting proposals from organizations regarding the use of Repsol Place. The Town of Edson ultimately decided that they would not provide exclusive use of the building to any particular organization, leading to the Aeros organization to look at relocating.

Enter Cold Lake, which will now see its third different WSHL team playing on the ice within the Cold Lake Energy Centre since 2018. The Aeros and WSHL announced in late July that they would be making the move to Cold Lake for the 2021-22 season.

Cold Lake’s first team was part of the inaugural expansion season with the WSHL, as the Cold Lake Wings. Following the 2018-19 season, the organization that helped facilitate the expansion into Canada, the WPHA, broke away from the WSHL, and attempted to keep the Wings in Cold Lake as part of the Greater Metro Hockey League.

In response, the WSHL created a new Cold Lake team, the Cold Lake Hornets, which for a short period of time looked like the city would have two junior teams playing that season. The Wings would ultimately fold before the season began however, leaving the WSHL’s Hornets as the sole team for the 2019-20 season.

As the WSHL ramps back up after a year off, the Hornets are no more, with the Aeros taking their place. As an established franchise moves into Cold Lake, there may be some optimism that the carousel ride may be slowing to an end.