Cole Reschny announced he is departing Victoria and the Western Hockey League to play next season in the U.S. collegiate NCAA
What was supposed to be the greatest National Hockey League draft day in Victoria Royals history turned into the most bittersweet.
Royals forward Cole Reschny was selected 18th overall in the first round by the Calgary Flames on Friday night at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. But that was muted to a great extent for the Royals and their fans with Reschny having announced he is departing Victoria and the Western Hockey League to play next season in the U.S. collegiate NCAA with the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks.
“Leaving Victoria was so hard because of all the things they have done for me and how special it’s been there. They have been the two best years of my life so far,” Reschny said in a post-draft news conference. “I can’t thank them enough. But at the end of the day, North Dakota was the right path for me.”
Reschny, a crafty playing-making centre, led the Royals this past season with 26 goals and 66 assists for 92 points in 62 regular-season games and added nine goals and 16 assists for 25 points in 11 playoff games. After the Royals were eliminated in the playoffs, Reschny co-captained Canada to the gold medal in the world under-18 championship in Texas to further burnish his standing among scouts.
“I knew it was a big year for me and I just tried to stay level-headed through it,” said Reschny. “This is so special and a dream come true and something I have worked toward my whole life.”
On his decision to leave Victoria, Reschny said: “It was a long process and something I didn’t take lightly.”
It was made possible by the new NCAA rule passed last year allowing the U.S. collegiate circuit to accept players from the major-junior Canadian Hockey League, of which the WHL is a member.
“I felt going to North Dakota gives me the right time for my mind and my body to develop,” said Reschny, noting the fewer games played in the NCAA compared with the WHL.
“That’s good for me because I’m not the biggest guy. It gives me more time in the gym and more time to work on my body and more time to get the right nutrition and right recovery.
“It just felt like the right place for me. I have to do what’s right for me.”
Reschny is the first Royals player to be selected in the first round of the NHL draft since the franchise moved to the Island in 2011-12, but is not the first out of a Victoria WHL team. Mel Bridgman, of the Victoria Cougars (now Prince George Cougars), went first overall and Rick Lapointe fifth in 1975, Brad Palmer 16th and Barry Pederson 18th in 1980, Grant Fuhr eighth in 1981, Paul Cyr ninth in 1982, Russ Courtnall seventh in 1983 and Joel Savage 13th overall in 1988.
Other players from Island teams recently going in the first round were current Montreal Canadiens forward Alex Newhook, 16th overall in 2019 to the Colorado Avalanche, and Nanaimo’s Alex Wood, 15th overall in 2023 to the Nashville Predators. Newhook and Wood both played for the Victoria Grizzlies of the B.C. Hockey League.
The Royals’ touted defenceman Keaton Verhoeff is ranked in the top five for the 2026 draft but will join Reschny in the NCAA at North Dakota next season.
“I know he [Verhoeff] will be picked very high next year,” said Reschny, who will be Verhoeff’s roommate next season in North Dakota.
“It’s so special to watch and just to continue being by his side. We just wanted to focus on finishing the season strong in Victoria and win a championship there because that was our goal. The rule change came out and we both started looking into it.
“By no means was it a package deal. We’re different people. Just the way it worked out, we’re pretty lucky to have each other. We are going to be living together and it’s going to be a sweet year and I can’t wait to watch him go through this process as he got to watch me.”
In a bit of a stretch, some in the North Dakota media have described Reschny as the 24th first-round NHL draft pick in the school’s history.
But the native of Macklin, Sask., is officially recorded as a draft pick coming out of the Royals. North Dakota, however, will be credited for Verhoeff’s selection next year, even though he began his career with the Royals.
Tri-City Americans defenceman Jackson Smith, selected 14th overall Friday in the first round by Columbus, is also leaving the WHL for Penn State of the NCAA. Smith, Reschny and Verhoeff are among a number of high-profile defectors from the CHL to the NCAA who are dramatically changing the hockey-development model.
The biggest move — and it will be nuclear in hockey development — will be if projected 2026 NHL draft top pick Gavin McKenna of the WHL champion Medicine Hat Tigers, strongly rumoured to be headed to either Michigan State or Penn State of the NCAA, takes the jump, as it appears he will.
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