Trio of Penticton Vees BCHL champions crack NHL opening night rosters
Published 3:40 pm Thursday, October 1, 2026
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Three defencemen from the Penticton Vees’ BCHL franchise are on NHL rosters as the 2026-27 campaign gets underway.
Vees alumni Mike Reilly (Carolina Hurricanes), Dante Fabbro (Columbus Blue Jackets) and Troy Stecher (Toronto Maple Leafs) are among 22 former BCHLers on NHL clubs.
All three won Fred Page Cup titles with Penticton.
Fabbro, a member of the Vees’ 2015 championship squad, is starting this season with Columbus on the injured reserve.
Reilly and Stecher were teammates on the Vees’ historic 2011-12 club. The team won a record 42 consecutive regular-season games before capturing the Fred Page Cup (BCHL championship), Doyle Cup (Pacific/WJAC regional championship) and RBC Cup (National Junior A Championship).
“I don’t want to pump my own tires, or my team’s tires, but my junior team won 42 games in a row and won the national championship,” Stecher said in a YouTube video posted by the Maple Leafs in February 2026.
Of the three former Vees on current NHL rosters, Fabbro is the lone first-round pick.
Nashville took the Coquitlam, B.C. native 17th overall in 2016 after he posted 67 points in 45 games in his second and final season with the Vees.
Reilly, meanwhile, is coming off a Stanley Cup championship with the Hurricanes. The Illinois product played just one campaign in Penticton, with Stecher suiting up in three (2010 to 2013).