PHOTO COURTESY KEITH DWIGGINS PHOTOGRAPHY/PORTLAND WINTERAHWKS
Portland Winterhawks captain Ryan Miller is one of four Medicine Hat products competing in the 2026 Western Hockey League playoffs.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Dawson Seitz started his WHL career on the highest note. He’s looking to wrap his tenure the same way.
The Medicine Hat product captured a WHL Championship as a 16-year-old in 2022 with the Edmonton Oil Kings, an experience he continues to lean on with the Prince George Cougars in his fifth and final WHL season.
“That Edmonton team, the culture was incredible, the group of guys, everybody was amazing,” Seitz said. “There was no cliques or anything in the room, everybody was on the same page. I feel like that’s what we got here. We have a whole team of everybody on the same page and everybody wants to win.”
The 21-year-old forwardplayed one more year in Edmonton before he was traded to the Wenatchee Wild ahead of the 2023-24 season where he played until the deadline this year when he was sent to the Cougars for the playoff push. In 48 games this season between Wenatchee and P.G. he has nine goals and 19 points.
“I’m really appreciative of my time in Wenatchee, it was a really unique experience, I had lots of fun, met lots of people, it was good. Being my last year, I’m really happy to get the playoff experience.”
He’s played 21 postseason games, 15 with Edmonton in 2022 and six in his first season in Wenatchee. The Cougars finished as the No. 3 seed in the Western conference and face the Spokane Chiefs in the first round. Seitz says he’s happy to be back in the playoff dance.
“It’s a whole different atmosphere and I’m familiar with playing Spokane a lot over the past couple years,” Seitz said. “It’s a good place to play and it’ll be a good series, but we’re going to just play our game and be ready to go.
“I just want to play my game, do what I can and really enjoy it. This is the last time I’ll be a part of this group. I’ve really enjoyed these last couple of weeks, had a lot of fun. So you always play better when you’re having fun.”
Seitz is one of four Medicine Hat products suiting up in the WHL Playoffs, joined by fellow overager Medicine Hat Tigers defenceman Josh Van Mulligen, Kamloops Blazers forward Josh Evaschesen and Portland Winterhawks captain Ryan Miller.
This will be the first look at the WHL Playoffs for Evaschesen, who signed with the Blazers ahead of the season after playing in the BCHL last year. He’s enjoyed the opportunity he’s gotten in Kamloops, finding more freedom and ability to play his game.
He played in all but one game for Kamloops, tallying 33 goals and 73 points, exceeding his own expectations.
“I’m super happy, but my expectations were just to come in and play my role,” Evaschesen said. “I didn’t think I’d be getting some chance on power play one.”
The 19-year-old forward went to as many Tigers games as he could when he was young, with his family having season tickets at the Arena and for a few years at Co-op Place before he left for his own career. After years of watching Shaun Clouston on the Tigers bench, he’s built a relationship with the Kamloops general manager and bench boss.
“He’s been great to me, I’m super grateful for him,” Evaschesen said. “For him to give me a chance, he’s been great and he’s an awesome coach. So I’m super appreciative for everything he’s done for me.”
The Blazers face the Memorial Cup host Kelowna Rockets in the first round, heading on the road as the No. 5 seed to take on No. 4 seed Rockets. He says they’ll have to play it simple to ground the Rockets.
“We have a lot of skill guys and we can get away from the game plan a lot, but I think if we stick to the game plan and just be a hard team to play against,” Evaschesen said. “It’s cliche but we have to get pucks deep and recover them. We’re a hard team to beat.”
The Blazers did the East division swing this season, leaving Evaschesen still waiting for an opportunity to play in front of friends and family in Medicine Hat. There’s a long road to get there, but he’s allowed himself to briefly think about what a final against the Tigers would be like.
“I’ve kind of been hoping for that, to play them in the finals and get to go home and play in that arena, that’d be pretty cool,” Evaschesen said.
In Portland, Miller is the leader among active Hatters in postseason games played with 33 (Van Mulligen has 27). The Winterhawks made it to the WHL Finals in his rookie season and they returned to the Western Conference finals last season. He’s looking to build off his experience.
“You go into the playoffs with the same approach every year, we’re looking to win, it doesn’t really change from year to year, my role has changed from year to year,” Miller said.
The Pittsburgh Penguins prospect had a career year, avoiding injury for the first time en route to 30 goals and 75 points in 65 games.
“This year I was just looking to do what I can to help our team win games, that’s what my thought process was going into every game,” Miller said. “Points are nice, but I don’t really take a deep look into that. I look at more of a team record side of things. But obviously it was nice to produce a little bit more this year and help team out that way.”
Miller served as alternate captain last season in Portland and was named the 50th captain in team history in October. He’s gone from being the young guy doing whatever was needed of him to leading the way, being the calm and the storm at times.
“The approach is a little bit different for me because I’m looking to bring that veteran presence and be a voice because I’ve been there before,” miller said. “There’s definitely going to be a lot of momentum swings in playoff series and I’m definitely looking to make more of an impact this series.”
Portland faces the back-to-back regular season champion Everett Silvertips in the first round. They upset Everett in the second round last year and he says they’re hoping to play upset again, facing the Silvertips for a fourth straight playoffs.
“We’ve played them quite a bit, you get to know what they’re like and how they play,” Miller said. “It’s going to be a really good matchup, I’ve got a lot of confidence in our group and it’ll be a great series.”
