By Derek Holtom
The Waywayseecappo Wolverines were bolstered this season by the return of former players for their final year of junior hockey. That includes defenseman Kurt Rookes, the most offensively dynamic blueliner in the MJHL this season.
A native of Manson, Man., Rookes led all defenseman in scoring heading into the final game before the Christmas break with four goals and 25 assists for 29 points in 31 games.
His level of comfort with the Wolverines is plain for all to see. After a solid rookie season where he put up 16 points and 94 penalty minutes, Rookes spent the past two seasons in the WHL with the Wenatchee Wild and the Swift Current Broncos. But with only one season left, Rookes opted to return to the MJHL.
“I’ve always liked Wayway – they were always good to me when I was 17 years old,” he said. “It’s nice and close to home. My billets live 50 minutes from home, so I can see my family a lot.
“I also get to play with lots of guys I grew up playing with in Yellowhead. Guys like Ben Roulette, Jase Wareham, Max Collyer, lots of guys like that who are here,” he added. “Also, I enjoy playing for Landyn (Cochrane, Wayway’s Head Coach and General Manager). He’s been a really good guy, and someone you want to play for.”
The Wolverines have had an up-and-down season so far, but as they’ve gotten healthier they’ve started to string together more and more victories – a key to them to move out of fourth place and start climbing the West Division standings.
“I think we’ve had a really good start, despite having a lot of injuries,” says Rookes. “We’ve had up to seven guys out of the lineup at once, so that was pretty tough for us. And guys are starting to come back from injuries now, so we should be ramping up from here on out.”
Along with leading the MJHL in scoring for defensemen, Rookes also leads the league in power-play assists with 20. His ability to get his teammates the puck in good spots is a big reason Wayway’s power-play operated at a solid 23.1 per cent rate.
“I give a lot of credit to Landyn, we have a really good power play system going there,” says Rookes. “Also two guys on my side, Sebastien Hicks and Ben Roulette, are pretty lethal themselves. They make my job pretty easy – I just have to give them the puck, and it’s been working out.”
With all that said, Rookes says the goal for the Wolverines is to finish higher in the standings and get their first non-survivor playoff series win – and more.
“We have some key pieces coming back, so it will be good to see what we can do,” he said. “We’re right there with a lot of teams. With us getting guys back, I see no reason we can’t be beating those teams ahead of us.”
Last week
Kings 1, Wolverines 0
The Wolverines managed to give the division-leading Dauphin Kings all they could handle on Saturday night to finish the 2025 portion of their schedule, dropping a heart-breaking 1-0 loss in Dauphin.
The lone goal of the game came with the Wolverines on a power-play in the third period as Dauphin’s Nicholas Zaharias (ninth) scored short-handed 2:34 into the third period. Other than that, Wayway netminder Mariko Bercier was flawless stopping 45 shots.
Dauphin’s Bryson Yaschyshyn earned the shutout with a 23-save effort.
Wolverines vs. Monarchs
Last Friday’s clash between the Wolverines and the last-place Winnipeg Monarchs will have to happen later in the season as the second of back-to-back blizzards wiped out the entire MJHL schedule that night.
Up next
The Wolverines headed into their Christmas break this week and do not play again until Jan. 6, when they again head to Dauphin to face the Kings.
CLAW MARKS – The Wolverines enter 2026 with a record of 12-18-1-1, good for fourth place in the MJHL’s West Division. They hold a 10-point lead on the Swan Valley Stampeders for fourth place, though the Stamps retain four games in hand … Sebastien Hicksleads the Wolverines in scoring with 39 points – 17 goals and 22 assists … Wayway finishes the month of December with a record of 3-3-0.