Macdonald Swarm perfect through 23 games in HTJHL
Advertisement
The Macdonald Swarm are on pace for a historic Hanover Tache Junior Hockey League season.
The Swarm, which play out of the Sanford Arena, are a perfect 23-0 on the season so far, including a 3-0 record against the second-place Springfield Xtreme.
They looked dominant against Steinbach in a Jan. 17 game against the Huskies, scoring 12 goals in a blowout victory.
“It’s a big change from previous years, obviously” head coach Darren Wiechern said.
“We have a big squad that has clicked since the start of the season. We knew coming in we’d be one of the better teams. We’ve rounded our game, faced a little bit of adversity, learned how to overcome it, make the right changes when we need to make them and we’ve found success all season.”
This is the first year Macdonald has threatened the top of the standings, with their best ever finish before the 2025/2026 season two years ago when they finished 13-13-1-1 and fourth out of eight teams in the standings.
The Swarm’s advantage on the ice is apparent to anyone who takes in a game. The team boasts big and fast players up and down their line-up.
“It’s fun hockey,” Wiechern, who played games with St Adolphe in the HTJHL, said.
“When the guys are all clicking, they’re playing with confidence, they’re having fun, we start finding our game, pucks find the net and it ends up in a win.”
A potentially perfect record heading into the playoffs is worrying coaching staff, but a game like the one in Steinbach is a good sign. Macdonald entered the second period down 1-0, thanks to an impressive performance from starting Huskies goaltender Aaden Boulay.
The dam would break in the third period, including a spectacular effort in tight from Gavin Rondeau.
“Every game we come in and I worry maybe the adversity is gonna catch up with us, and we’re due for one,” Wiechern said, emphasizing the team needed to continue to play physical, hard hockey.
Coaching staff has mixed feelings on the potential of a perfect season.
“Part of me almost wants to lose one and kind of bring us back down to Earth, so we know when playoffs come around it’s not going to be a piece of cake,” Wiechern said, laughing.
Defenseman Cade McCallum leads the team in points, with an incredible 28 assists and seven goals in 22 games. McCallum has also suited up in the Capital Region Junior Hockey League, the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League and South East Manitoba Hockey League this season.
Forward Austin Spicer has 34 points in 18 games.
The game in Steinbach had to be delayed, as there was a scheduling glitch with the referees. Seldon Penner, Jerry Pitura and Thunder Penner stepped up on short notice to cover, with the trio rushing to the Southeast Event Centre to ensure the game could go on as planned.