CHL TopX Show
by Canadian Hockey League
Each week we check in with some of the biggest names across the Canadian Hockey League.
Podcast episodes
Season 2
RoadToMemorialCup: Riley Heidt, Jorian Donovan and Colby Huggan
Welcome to a Road to Memorial Cup edition of the CHL Top 10. This week I chat with players from three different leagues that earned first round sweeps. Riley Heidt from the Prince George Cougars, Jorian Donovan from the Saginaw Spirit and Colby Huggan from the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. Riley tells us how expectations have changed for the Cougars this playoffs, what it’s like playing against friends in the post-season, what the team has been up to with their time off, signing his ELC with Minnesota, breaking franchise records and what they have to do in round two against Kelowna. Jorian tells me what it was like joining the Spirit at the deadline, what makes their defence corps so special, how he can use his past experience to help the team during this run, how this team compares to his 2022 Bulldogs team that lost in the Memorial Cup final and what they have to do in round two against the Soo. Colby Huggan tells us why the Titan always believed they could win the series, dodging a bullet in game two, how they were able to shut down the Moose’s snipers while capitalizing while shorthanded and what they’re going to have to do in round two against a Drakkar team that finished with 23 more wins and 42 more points.
Dylan Hunter and Cal Rtichie
It’s our final regular season episode of the CHL Top10 Show, and today we have an all OHL episode with assistant coach of the OHL leading London Knights, Dylan Hunter and the leading scorer for the OHL’s Eastern Conference leading Oshawa Generals, Cal Ritchie. Call me superstitious but I wasn’t about to talk to Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Easton Cowan in the midst of a 34 game point streak, so we did the next best thing and spoke with Dylan Hunter. Hunter spent five seasons as a player with the Knights in the early 2000’s winning a Memorial Cup in ’05, after retiring in 2011 he re-joined the Knights as a coach and hasn’t looked back. The Oshawa Generals spent the first 17 games of the regular season without their offensive catalyst Cal Ritchie as he recovered from offseason should surgery. Since rejoining the team in mid-november the Avalanche prospect has been a force, helping turn the Gens into serious contenders in the O.
Justin Gill and Tyson Jugnauth
Today I check in with two teams that have been in the Top10 for 19 of 22 weeks. From the top-ranked Baie-Comeau Drakkar it’s Justin Gill and from the 7th ranked Portland Winterhawks it’s Tyson Jugnauth. Now in his fifth season in the QMJHL, first with the Drakkar, Justin Gill is helping pace the CHL’s top team to a franchise record breaking season. The New York Islanders prospect also sits second in Q scoring. After the Portland Winterhawks acquired his rights from Kamloops it didn’t take long for Tyson Jugnauth to leave Wisconsin and join one of the top teams in the WHL. The Seattle Kraken prospect has had no trouble adjusting to the CHL.
Antonin Verreault and Zac Funk
This week we sit down with the QMJHL’s leading point producer and the CHL’s leading goal scorer. It’s Antonin Verreault from the 10th ranked Rouyn-Noranda Huskies and Zac Funk from the fourth ranked Prince George Cougars. Now in his fourth season in the Q and first with the Huskies. We’re getting an opportunity to see what a healthy Antonin Verreault can do for the first time since his rookie campaign. The former 2nd overall pick in the Q has a 34 point lead over his closest teammate. Zac Funk had never scored a WHL hat-trick before the first game of the season this year. The Cougars’ overager now has 8 hat-tricks on the season to got along with single season franchise records in goals and power play goals.
Zayne Parekh and Conor Geekie
Today we check in with a player that keeps break franchise records and one that’s just getting settled with his new franchise. It’s Saginaw’s Zayne Parekh and Swift Current’s Conor Geekie. It’s hard to believe that Zayne Parekh just turned 18 last week. The right shot defender already holds the Spirit’s single season franchise record for goals and points by a defenceman and is on pace to hit the 100 point mark this season. Conor Geekie was off to an incredible start to the season with the Wenatchee Wild. A post World Juniors trade reunited Geekie with his former assistant coach in Winnipeg, now in Swift Current where he continues to have a career season offensively.