Class of 2022 – Winnipeg ICE
Throughout the month of August, we’re celebrating the class of WHL Graduates from the 2021-22 season. Join us as we go Club by Club in recognizing the achievements of the 20-year-old players from this past season moving on to access their WHL Scholarship or to professional hockey.
We conclude our 22-part series with the Winnipeg ICE and their graduating trio of Cole Muir, Nolan Orzeck and Jakin Smallwood.
Cole Muir
Originally selected by the Regina Pats in the second round of the 2016 WHL Draft, forward Cole Muir recorded exactly 100 points over his 275 regular season appearances with the Pats and ICE.
The product of Vista, Man. debuted as a 15-year-old with the Pats in February of 2017, but would made all but 13 of his appearances with the ICE following a trade to Kootenay early in the 2017-18 campaign.
Muir’s first WHL goal came at Victoria in December of 2017; he finished the season with a pair of tallies, upping that total to 11 in his second full season in the League.
Three times during his WHL career did Muir score exactly 11 goals during a regular season, the second occurrence coming in the first season for the ICE in Muir’s home province of Manitoba.
He scored 11 more goals in 2021-22, setting a career best with 32 points, a total that included a four-point effort in October of 2021 against the Moose Jaw Warriors.
Muir made his WHL Playoffs debut this past spring, scoring twice and totalling seven points over 15 post-season outings.
'Sticking with it:' A crash course brought to you by Cole Muir of the @WHLWpgICE. #WHLPlayoffs | #WPGvsMJ pic.twitter.com/JjofR3TAmj
— The WHL (@TheWHL) May 14, 2022
Nolan Orzeck
Selected by the ICE in the fourth round of the 2016 WHL Draft, defenceman Nolan Orzeck spent his entire WHL career with the Club.
He made his WHL debut October 27, 2017 versus the Seattle Thunderbirds, appearing in eight games, and registering one assist, as a 16-year-old blueliner.
Orzeck scored four times, totalling 12 points in his first full season with the ICE; the Calgarian skated in 54 games, scoring his first WHL goal in his season debut against the Spokane Chiefs.
As the franchise moved to Winnipeg, Orzeck’s role increased. He put up 23 points over his next two seasons with the Club, including the shortened 2020-21 campaign, then chipped into a potent ICE attack with six goals and 43 points as a 20-year-old.
Orzeck led the WHL with a +62 rating this past season, becoming just the second ICE player to win the WHL Plus-Minus Award, and first since James Cherewyk in 2005.
Like Muir, Orzeck made his WHL Playoffs debut this spring, skating in 15 games as Winnipeg reached the Eastern Conference Championship series.
Nolan Orzeck kickstarts the scoring for the @WHLWpgICE with a blue line blast!#WHLPlayoffs | #WPGvsPA pic.twitter.com/bqI2gyt4Ef
— The WHL (@TheWHL) April 24, 2022
Jakin Smallwood
Forward Jakin Smallwood was selected by the Moose Jaw Warriors in the fifth round of the 2016 WHL Draft, but all of his 236 regular season and playoff appearances in the WHL were with the ICE.
Hailing from Leduc, Alta., Smallwood made his WHL debut for Kootenay in Edmonton in December of 2017, but broke in full-time with the ICE during a 2018-19 campaign that saw him score 13 times and total 30 points.
Smallwood’s first WHL goal came as part of a two-point effort October 13, 2018 at Medicine Hat on a night that saw the right-shooting forward collect Second Star honours.
In Winnipeg in 2019-20, Smallwood upped his goals total to 14, but came alive during the shortened 2020-21 season, scoring 13 times for the ICE in 24 games.
He helped the League’s highest-scoring offence with 68 points in his final WHL season of 2021-22, chipping in with a career best 25 goals for a Winnipeg Club that was the lone WHL team to score more than 300 goals during the regular season.
Smallwood concluded his time with the ICE by helping the Club reach the Eastern Conference Championship series, scoring nine points in 13 games.
On March 4th 2022, Jakin Smallwood’s 20th goal of the season with 0.7 seconds remaining in overtime lifted the ICE to a 4-3 victory over the Saskatoon Blades. pic.twitter.com/GbgS7frbhS
— Winnipeg ICE (@WHLWpgICE) July 14, 2022
