Rangers’ Pridham announces next step of hockey journey after Memorial Cup
Posted Jun 7, 2026 08:34:52 AM.
Last Updated Jun 8, 2026 12:37:13 PM.
It didn’t take long for the 2026 OHL Overage Player of the Year to announce what would be next for his hockey career after he helped lead the Kitchener Rangers to the Memorial Cup.
Pridham announced on Saturday that he would be heading to the NCAA, to play for the University of Denver Pioneers for the 2026-27 hockey season. The 20-year-old forward won the Ed Chynoweth Trophy as the Memorial Cup tournament’s top scorer en route to Kitchener’s third Memorial Cup in franchise history.
Stouffville’s own, Pridham, has been one of the OHL’s best since coming to the league from the BCHL’s West Kelowna Warriors. The elite forward scored over a point per game in his time with the Rangers, tallying 144 points in 113 games with Kitchener.
The year in the NCAA will serve as a stopgap to Pridham’s likely NHL career, after he had his rights in the league traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning on June 1. Pridham was initially selected 92nd overall in the third round of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft by the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Denver Pioneers are a well-established D1 NCAA program, having been crowned National Champions in two of the past three seasons. They won the Frozen Four Tournament over Boston College in 2024 and over the Wisconsin Badgers in 2026.
Pridham will add even more championship pedigree to the program, and time will tell whether he’ll add even more hardware in the National Hockey League in the future.
Kitchener Rangers:
