In the past, most of the top athletes from Minnesota have gone on to play junior hockey in the USHL. Sometimes these skaters migrated to other leagues, such as the NAHL, or other various divisions in Canada, but most have steered away from the CHL (major junior) since they would lose their college hockey eligibility if they did so. That all changed though when the rule was altered to allow those in the CHL to enter the NCAA starting Aug. 1, 2025. Now, many Minnesotans have excitedly joined the ranks of the Western Hockey League since it won’t hinder their path towards college.

The rule change was big news for Minnesota native Owen Corkish, who had grown up knowing about Canadian major-junior teams since his father, Jeff, is originally from Saskatchewan. Corkish, who is from the Twin Cities suburb of Cottage Grove, had previous experience playing in the NAHL and was drafted by the Madison Capitols of the USHL but he decided to take his talents to the Prince Albert Raiders of the WHL after high school graduation because it seemed like an experience that he simply couldn’t pass up.

“With the rule change, I was looking to play [in the WHL] just because my dad is from Canada and I’m aware of the league and I’ve wanted to play in the league - but without the college rule change, I couldn’t play in the league [because he wanted to stay NCAA eligible],” Corkish told APX reporter Sydney Wolf. “Then eventually the rule passed and that summer Curtis [Hunt, the GM of the Prince Albert Raiders] reached out and shared his thoughts about me as a player and a person and how they wanted me there, and with the CHL being the best junior league in the world right now I really wanted to take that opportunity to jump to the next level and to challenge myself the best that I could.”

After pondering his options, Corkish wound up signing a WHL Scholarship and Development Agreement with the Raiders in September of 2025, just a few days before of the official start of the season.

Prince Albert is located about an hour and 20 minutes northeast of Saskatoon and although the Minnesota native’s father is from Saskatchewan, his family that still lives in the province all live about four or five hours away - so they aren’t quite as far as his family back in Minnesota but they aren’t necessarily super close either. The 19-year-old forward is actually the only Minnesotan on the current roster for the Raiders and one of only two American-born players (Brandon Gorzynski is the other - he’s from Arizona).

The start of Corkish’s time in the WHL was certainly a challenge at first, in a good way, but he adapted fairly quickly and scored his first goal for Prince Albert in his third game with the squad. Now, in mid-January of 2026, the 5-foot-9 forward has 21 points through 38 contests and has six points in his last seven games.

“I just had to adapt and take every day with the same commitment level and the same will to succeed. I think once I had that established I started to find success and started playing big minutes and doing all that stuff,” he said about the difference between playing Minnesota high school hockey and playing in the Western Hockey League. “It’s been such a challenge but it’s so good for me as a person and as a player. Everyone wants to play hockey here and I think that’s the biggest jump from high school to juniors is that you got your guys in high school who just want to play high school, and that’s totally fine, but I think the biggest thing and the biggest jump is how everyone is so committed.”

Prince Albert is red hot right now and is currently a top team in the WHL. The team is third in the Eastern Conference, only three points from first place - with two less games played than the squads sitting above them, and are No. 1 in the East Division by quite a bit.

“We’re going for the Memorial Cup right now, we’re really loaded. We’ve lost five games during the regular season [at the time of his phone call interview with APX] and we’re a very stacked team and are hoping to make a long run at this thing, so it should be fun,” he added.

Although Corkish is now playing major junior, he has always wanted to play college hockey. While some guys have a fast recruiting process and are scouted and scooped up quickly by various teams in the NCAA, the process for the Minnesota native was a bit slower. As an undersized forward, many scouts and coaches wanted to see him prove himself in junior hockey before extending an offer, but Corkish trusted the process and stayed consistent with his game and eventually many teams started to come calling and it all paid off as he announced his commitment to play Division I hockey at the University of St. Thomas on Dec. 22, 2025.

“I’m very honored and excited to announce my commitment to play Division I college hockey, and further my education at the University of St. Thomas. Thank you to my family, friends, coaches, advisor, and everyone who has helped me along the way,” he posted to his social media pages.

“From the start of the recruiting process and even back to my 15/16s year where I was starting to think of playing Division I hockey, I’ve always really dreamt of playing at St. Thomas and now with their new facilities and knowing the coaching staff really well and them going to the NCHC next year - it’s such a dream come true,” he said. “I was fortunate enough to get that call and go on that visit and then was fortunate to get that offer so it was a dream come true.” 

With St. Thomas being a school in the Twin Cities metro area, Corkish is excited to be close to home in the future so his family can come watch his games and so he can stay in contact with some of his friends back home, too. With the Tommies recruiting a lot of Minnesotans to their squad since advancing up to the Division I level a few years ago, the Cottage Grove native is already familiar with quite a few of their other commits as well, which will make the transition a bit easier whenever he ends up joining the UST roster in the future.

“Huge congratulations to Owen Corkish on committing to the University of St. Thomas to play NCAA Division I hockey,” said Hunter Warner, Corkish’s advisor at APX. “He’s a tremendous young man off the ice, and St. Thomas is getting someone who will represent their program with character and work ethic. Congrats, Owen, and the wonderful Corkish family on this achievement, well deserved. Excited for what’s ahead!"

With a dad who is originally from Canada and who has both played and coached hockey himself, it only seemed natural for Owen and his two younger siblings - Addie and Mason - to also get into the sport from a young age. Owen remembers playing hockey on the backyard rink that his dad, Jeff, built and his love of the game eventually progressed on from there.

Corkish eventually made the varsity roster at Park of Cottage Grove as a sophomore in 2022-23. He started to impress very quickly out on the ice and registered a whopping 49 points through 26 games played that year for a Wolfpack squad that went 16-9-1 overall, eventually losing in overtime in the Section 3AA quarterfinal to Eastview.

“I was fortunate enough to be alongside two guys that really helped me with my game and, us three, we ended up playing on the first line together for our sophomore year and we really dominated and that really gave us a lot of confidence going into our junior and senior years,” said Corkish. Park’s top three scorers that season were all sophomores in Corkish, Gavin Moss, and Jackson Rudh - who is now committed to St. Cloud State. Following the end of his sophomore season, Owen’s father, Jeff, actually took over as head coach of the program after the departure of Jay Moser.

The forward was on track to have a big season as a junior in 2023-24 but wound up missing a handful of games due to injury that season as he broke his thumb during practice in the middle of the year. Despite that, he still registered 42 points through 21 games for a Wolfpack squad that went 15-11 overall and eventually lost to Cretin-Derham Hall in the Section 3AA quarterfinal.

Corkish had options after his junior season and likely could’ve played junior hockey instead of going back to Park for his senior year but it was very important to him to finish up his high school career and not rush to the next level too quickly.

“My entire mindset of hockey and that stuff is that it’s no rush. Lots of kids are in a rush to get to juniors and do all this or that but I think it’s really important that you stay home with your buddies and make those memories because it’s not going to be there forever,” he said about his choice to return to Park. “If guys want to rush and get to juniors and get five or six minutes a game, I feel like that’s not fun and it’s also not going to make you better, so I feel like staying your senior year is very important to your game and to you as a person as well.”

To get a little extra experience before the start of the high school season, Corkish joined the Minnesota Mallards of the NAHL for 10 games, where he registered three assists, before joining the Wolfpack in 2024-25. As a senior for Park, the 5-foot-9 forward scored a whopping 62 points through 26 games before the squad lost to Two Rivers in the section quarterfinals that spring. Corkish was also captain of the team that season too, so he was a leader both on and off the ice.

“I felt really good going into my senior year… I felt like my game really matured - my confidence level and my game kind of fell together there,” he said about how he felt about 2024-25 with the Wolfpack.

Looking back on his time at Park, one of Corkish’s favorite memories was beating Cretin-Derham Hall his junior season. Cottage Grove won 3-2 that night and Corkish had assists on all three goals. He said that Park oftentimes felt like an underdog program compared to schools like the nearby White Bear Lake, Stillwater and Cretin-Derham Hall, so it was incredible to get a win over the Raiders that night and to pull off the upset on the road while playing with the guys that he had grown up skating with for so many years.

Now in 2025-26, Corkish is simply focused on staying consistent with Prince Albert and with winning as many games with them as possible. He describes his game as being a skilled, 200-foot forward that can make plays out on the ice. The Minnesota native will turn 19-years-old in June so it is currently up in the air on when he will join the Tommies roster. He is undecided at the moment on what he wants to study in college and is hoping to keep his options open for now.

MORE FROM APX NEWS: