The Amarillo Wranglers embark on their fourth season in the North American Hockey League.

With a new head coach and a record amount of returners for the 2025-2026 hockey season at the Budweiser Bullpen looks to be moving in the right direction. Michael Hill, former assistant head coach of the Shreveport Mudbugs and a hot commodity in the NAHL coaching ranks, will take over the reigns as head coach for the Wranglers.

Hill‘s arrival to the Amarillo Wranglers has already had a positive impact on the team. As a result of Hill’s hiring, over 12 of last year‘s players have returned. This is the most returners for an Amarillo Wranglers team in its history. Hill’s blue collar approach to the game of hockey with a splash of humor should fit in quite well with the win-hungry, blue collar and physically enthused hockey fans that Amarillo is so famously known for. Hill has a wealth of experience playing and coaching in the NAHL, especially in the south division. He is also known for his historic skirmish that occurred in our barn when he played for Topeka. The Michael Hill hiring should quell the volatility at the head coaching position with the Wranglers.

The schedule

The Wranglers start the season Friday with a weekend series at New Mexico. That is the start of a brutal 11 game road trip. Also sandwiched in this 11 game road trip is the 22nd Annual NAHL Showcase at the Super Rink in Blaine, Minn. The NAHL showcase attracts over 9,000 people in overall attendance, including more than 330 college and junior scouts. The Wranglers will play the former Amarillo team, The Bulls, now called the North Iowa Bulls, on Sept. 26.

The first home game for the Wranglers will be Oct. 24, at the Budweiser Bullpen, as Amarillo takes on the Odessa Jackalopes.

With a healthy amount of returners and the special leadership qualities in a majority of these returners, the Wranglers, under the coaching eye of Michael Hill, have positioned themselves quite nicely going into the year.

Returners 

Led by Jacob Miller, as he begins his third season with the Wranglers, Miller looks to improve on the 17 points he contributed last season. As a natural leader in the locker room and his veteran experience along with his teammates’ respect, these attributes should position Miller for a breakout season.

Kirill Evstigneev begins his second season as a Wrangler, coming off his 15 points last year. Evstigneev spent his off-season honing his skills and hitting the weights. Ty Izadi begins his second season as a Wrangler coming off a summer of camps for this young forward. Look for his scrappy style of play to have a positive impact for the Wranglers this season.

Jake Boulanger begins his second season as a Wrangler and is coming off a very successful camp and should contribute mightily as a leader and as a scoring threat. Daniel Rassega returns for his senior season, looking to improve on his 19 point effort of last season. Rassega’s off-season training and conditioning has positioned him in a way where we should see improved production out of this forward. Also keep a watchful eye on returning forwards Mason Lupo and Noah Ribeiro. 

Not to be out done, the blue liners have a strong contingency of returners led by Hayden Hedquist. This Heron Lake, Minnesota native played 47 games for Amarillo last season and garnered a reputation for physical and aggressive play. Also look for improvement on the blue line from Padric Whited. This Helena, Montana native worked hard in the off-season to improve his offensive style of playing the defenseman position.

The Wranglers had five goalies in camp this season. It’s just this writer’s opinion that three goalies will be the norm for the Wranglers this season. Throughout a very competitive and interesting camp, Charles Antoine Girard picked up where he left off last season: confident, talented, and hungry for dubbs. Look for this returner to improve on his 6-13-2 effort from last season.

Local Player

Amarillo has had a long and credible history of youth hockey in the state of Texas and in this region of the country. Under the direction of the owner of the Wranglers, Austin Sutter, Amarillo’s youth hockey programs are now starting to pay dividends at the highest levels of junior league hockey. Proud Amarillo native Gunnar Vick will make his NAHL hockey debut this season. Vick will make Amarillo hockey history as being the first Yellow City native to lace up the skates for an Amarillo NAHL team. Vick got his start in youth hockey here in Amarillo and moved on to play AAA hockey throughout the country. This outstanding young man was drafted by the Amarillo Wranglers and should be a major contributor at the forward position in his rookie season.

Imports

Under the trained eye and assessment of President of Hockey Operations, Harry Mahood, the import contingency looks as strong as ever. Amarillo has a reputation of exposing great import talent from all over the globe. Lest we not forget the Latvian import tandem of Kristaps Skrastins and Glebs Prohorenkovs who set the NAHL world on its ear when Skrastins started off the season with numerous hats tricks and scoring records.

Both players have moved on to successful careers at the D1 college hockey level. Blue liners Oleski Kuval (Kyiv, Ukraine) and Yuri Karatai (Belarus) have had a strong camp thus far and should see a lot of playing time this season. With the improvement of last year’s import return player Kirill Evstigneev, the reputation of strong imports will continue for this season.

The loss of a special fan

The Amarillo hockey community has lost a very special member. O’dell Genn passed away Aug. 28, 2025. O’dell had a passion for local junior hockey and youth hockey. He cheered the teams, he anchored the 101 Crew, he drove the team bus for many seasons – he was ever present for decades. His signature braided ponytail and amazing spirit will be missed throughout the hockey community. O’dell represented everything that is right with Amarillo hockey and his soul will always be felt at the Budweiser Bullpen. Godspeed O’dell.

Editor’s Note

Please listen for Tommy Tee‘s weekly recap of the Amarillo Wranglers hockey on the “Drive at Five” with Lance Lahnert every Thursday afternoon at 5 p.m. exclusively on 102.9 FM the Panhandle Sports Star.