The Western Hockey League announced on Friday the Winnipeg ICE have been sold and are relocating to Wenatchee in central Washington State, effective immediately.
The league stated that many attempts to build a suitable arena in Winnipeg based on agreed upon timelines have been unsuccessful, and the Board of Governors approved the sale of the franchise to David White of the California-based Shoot the Puck Foundation, and its relocation to Wenatchee to become the WHL's sixth American-based team starting in the 2023-24 season.
The ICE franchise was originally founded in Edmonton in 1996 before relocating to Cranbrook, BC, in 1998 and then to Winnipeg in 2019. The team won three WHL titles and a Memorial Cup as the Kootenay Ice and made it all the way to the Ed Chynoweth Cup Final last season, where they lost to the Seattle Thunderbirds.
The relocation of the ICE to Washington will allow the WHL to balance its Western and Eastern Conferences with 11 teams in each conference this upcoming season. There's no official word on if the Swift Current Broncos will return to the East Division as a result of the relocation after moving to the Central Division in 2019.