By Cami Kepke via Western Hockey League

RED DEER, Alta. - Manitoba and British Columbia are kicking off the 2025 WHL Cup in the win column.

The westernmost province dominated in a 6-2 win against Saskatchewan in a penalty-laden tournament opener.

Six-foot-6, 185-pound defenceman Christopher Kokkoris (Edmonton Oil Kings / Langley, B.C.) drew first blood with a long powerplay wrister through traffic.

Noah Fowler (Saskatoon Blades / North Vancouver, B.C.) and 2025 WHL sixth-overall pick Louis Oscar Holowaychuk (Vancouver Giants / Vancouver, B.C.) earned the assists.

Fowler, a 5-foot-11 centreman, lit the lamp himself in the back half of the first period after charging the B.C. net after a dump-in and sweeping a misplayed puck past the Saskatchewan netminder.

Sean Murphy (Spokane Chiefs / North Vancouver, B.C.), who assisted Fowler’s tally, added to B.C.’s lead with a late goal from the blue line for a convincing 3-0 lead after 20 minutes.

It didn’t take long for the group to add to their margin in the second.

Justin Moon (Tri-City Americans / Surrey, B.C.) won a footrace and showed off his hands with a five-hole deke less than two-and-a-half minutes into the period.

Saskatchewan got on the board with a powerplay marker from Mahlon Wiley (Regina Pats / Yorkton, Sask.), and Kohen Ruedig (Portland Winterhawks / Humboldt, Sask.) and Nixxon Arcand-Vandale (Lethbridge Hurricanes / Saskatoon, Sask.) picking up the helpers.

The second-period pendulum continued to swing as Nicholas Voinea (Saskatoon Blades / Langley, B.C.) picked off a puck in the neutral zone and flew in solo for a beautiful blocker-side goal.

Less than 30 seconds later, Saskatchewan took advantage of another powerplay.

After a faceoff win by Dawson Baht (Penticton Vees / Martensville, Sask.), Anderson Reschny (Prince George Cougars / Macklin, Sask.) and Jeff Prpich (Moose Jaw Warriors / Kenaston, Sask.) cycled the puck before firing it in for a successful Camryn Aebig tip.

Holowaychuk capped off the scoring with the lone goal in the third period, a quick snipe in tight to the Saskatchewan net that was assisted by Peter Banicevic (Penticton Vees / Burnaby, B.C.) and 2025 second-overall pick Holden Wouters (Edmonton Oil Kings / Vancouver, B.C.), who finished with two assists on the night.

Jack Utsunomiya (Penticton Vees / Delta, B.C.) turned aside 17 of 19 shots (.894 save percentage) in the victory, while Ben Meyer (Medicine Hat Tigers / Regina, Sask.) stopped 26 of 32 (.812 save percentage).

Fowler was named B.C.’s Player of the Game, while Mahlon Wiley picked up the honour for Saskatchewan.

An evening showdown between Alberta and Manitoba proved to be a much tighter affair.

Cole Landreville (Edmonton Oil Kings / St. Claude, Man.) had the Manitoba faithful on their feet less than 90 seconds into the game after stealing a puck on the half-wall and walking in to roof a backhand goal.

Ten minutes later, Trevor Toyne (Portland Winterhawks) had a good stick to break up an Alberta pass in the neutral zone and spring Landreville for another chance and another goal.

But the home team started to build momentum with an important goal late in the frame.

On the penalty kill, Ahmad Fayad (Brandon Wheat Kings / Edmonton, Alta.) chased down his check to steal the puck and sauce a pass to a wide-open Teagen Bouchard (Kamloops Blazers / Falher, Alta.) for a whippy wrister.

After a scoreless second, Alberta levelled the game when Cohenn Rotar (Swift Current Broncos / Grande Prairie, Alta.) pounced on a loose puck off of an offensive zone faceoff and tucked it in the net.

That set the stage for three-on-three overtime.

Bracken LaRocque (Saskatoon Blades / Grande Prairie, Alta.) kept Alberta in the mix with a breakaway stop on Mateo Ferreira (Kamloops Blazers / Winnipeg, Man.), while Logan German followed it up with an impressive glove-side stop of his own.

In the end, Athens Shingoose (Prince Albert Raiders / Waywayseecappo, Man.) prevailed with a nice dish to Crosby Mateychuk (Vancouver Giants / Dominion City, Man.) for the game-deciding one-timer.

German denied 33 of 35 Alberta shots (.942 save percentage), while LaRocque also stood tall with 28 saves on 31 opportunities (.903 save percentage).

After the handshakes, Alberta’s captain Bouchard and Manitoba’s German were revealed as their team’s respective Players of the Game.

British Columbia (1-0) takes on Manitoba (1-0) at 4:15 p.m. MST on Thursday, October 22, while Saskatchewan (0-1) will hunt for its first victory against Alberta (0-1) in the evening match at 7:00 p.m. MST.