The Western Hockey League strives to promote and foster a welcoming environment in communities close to our 23 teams in Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest. Each club has the creative freedom to allow its players and staff to work with the organizations and groups that they are most passionate about. The end goal is to create and maintain long-lasting relationships and ongoing partnerships within their community.
Through the McSweeney’s WHL Community Collective, we aim to highlight these outstanding initiatives done by each club throughout the season.
The Penticton Vees may be new to the WHL, but the club’s bond with the Okanagan city runs deep- just ask captain Nolan Stevenson.
Stevenson, 21, is in his third year with the team and knows as well as anybody the high expectations fans have for the club- one person even gave him a quick reminder at the start of the season that the city isn’t used to losing.
The Vees have burst out of the gate for one of the most exciting stories of the 2025-26 season.
They currently lead the B.C. Division with a 26-9-4-3 record and are in the midst of an 11-game win streak.
Stevenson is soaking up the on-ice success, but he’s also helping bring a beloved team tradition to the WHL ranks.
In late November, the team visited the Okanagan Similkameen Neurological Society (OSNS) Child & Youth Development Centre for a day of fun and bonding with the kids.
“Some come to the games and, you know, they’ll say how loud it is, or they’ll talk about how their dad was a ref,” Stevenson said. “And then others, they’re a little star-struck, not because they know us, but star-struck because we’re way bigger than them, and they have never seen us. We just kind of assimilate in and hang out with them and do our rounds around the classroom and make them feel a little comfortable. We want to be interactive and hang out with them, and at the same time, hopefully, it’s a good mix up in there.”
This marks the third straight season that the Vees have teamed up with OSNS.
But beyond air hockey, mini sticks, reading and other games, the team has also gotten a deeper understanding of the support children and their families have found at the centre.
OSNS provides assessment, education and programming focused on developmental supportive needs, which covers everything from speech-language pathology and occupational therapy to behavioural support.
It’s a new perspective for many of the young men who may not have seen this scale of support for families with diverse needs.
“I’d never seen something like it before,” Stevenson added. “How much they can help so many different people- kids with learning disabilities or autism or down syndrome, and just how much support and stuff they have to help, not just the kid, but the family, and to teach them to learn and how to learn. It was really cool.
I’m from small-town Saskatchewan. There, it’s not a thing, right? We have maybe a friend or a peer in our class who is autistic. You just don’t see that type of help and that type of support from so many trained professionals and in this incredible centre that can really help them.”
Last Sunday, the Vees’ new friends from OSNS came out to sing the national anthem for a charity game between the WHL squad and the UpperDek Vees, a local adaptive hockey team, with proceeds benefiting OSNS.
The game saw some light-hearted tilts, bigger celebrations, and, ultimately, a shootout win for the UpperDek Vees.
“It’s the Stanley Cup for them, and it’s a lot of fun,” Stevenson said. “There were a few 100 people that came in (to watch)… Every time they score, they get our goal horn and our goal song, and the lights go out.”
Now that’s something worth cheering for.
Penticton will look for a 12th straight win when the Vees host the Spokane Chiefs (22-20-1-0) on Friday, January 23 at 7:00 p.m. PST.
