5 Alberta groups be part of BCHL, including to feud with Hockey Canada

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The B.C. Hockey League has discovered firm in its discontent with Hockey Canada.

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The BCHL introduced Saturday in a four-paragraph press launch that 5 groups from the Alberta Junior A Hockey League — the Brooks Bandits, Okotoks Oilers, Sherwood Park Crusaders, Spruce Grove Saints and Blackfalds Bulldogs — are leaving the Hockey Canada system on the finish of this season to hitch the BCHL, a 17-team loop that lower ties with Hockey Canada final summer season to run as an impartial league.

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The BCHL declined additional remark.

The BCHL break up with Hockey Canada as a result of it felt Hockey Canada’s guidelines have been too restrictive and that it favoured the foremost junior leagues just like the WHL. The BCHL even produced a 35-page white paper entitled “Modernizing Junior Hockey in Canada — Supporting Two Junior Growth Paths for Canadian Athletes,” and revealed it on the league web page in September 2022.

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The Bandits are the three-time reigning Centennial Cup nationwide Junior A champions. They have been No. 2 within the Canadian Junior Hockey League rankings, trailing solely the Saskatchewan’s Flin Flon Bombers. Sherwood Park Park (No. 7) and Blackfalds (No 20) are the opposite AJHL groups on the top-20 listing.

Brooks (39-4-0-0) sits atop the 16-team AJHL standings at the moment, 5 factors up on second-place Sherwood Park (36-9-1-0). Okotoks (32-13-1-1) and Blackfalds (30-13-2-1) are third and fourth, Spruce Grove (19-23-2-1) is twelfth.

The BCHL dropped out of CJHL in April 2021, saying on the time that they’d despatched a letter to league board a yr earlier expressing issues and had no obtained suggestions. BCHL groups have received essentially the most Centennial Cups of any league within the nation, with 14. Ontario leagues are subsequent with 11.

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The addition of 5 Alberta groups bumps the BCHL as much as 22 groups, and one supply says that the plan is to realign from the present two divisions to 2 conferences with two divisions apiece.

The 5 Alberta groups can be joined by the Cranbrook Bucks in Inside East. Inside West would characteristic the Penticton Vees, Salmon Arm Silverbacks, Path Smoke Eaters, Vernon Vipers and West Kelowna Warriors.

Coastal West can be made up of the Alberni Valley Bulldogs, Cowichan Valley Capitals, Nanaimo Clippers, Powell River Kings and Victoria Grizzlies. Coastal East can be residence to the Chilliwack Chiefs, Coquitlam Categorical, Langley Rivermen, Merritt Centennials, Prince George Spruce Kings and Surrey Eagles. 

The addition of Alberta groups clearly makes scheduling a problem. Restricted video games between Coastal and Inside groups can be comprehensible. In keeping with Google Maps, Brooks is a 12-hour drive from Surrey. Sherwood Park is 11 hours from Surrey. Cranbrook is seven hours from Sherwood Park.

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WHL groups participate in a single street journey to the one of many two divisions within the opposing convention each season.

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Among the many BCHL’s complaints about Hockey Canada have been its recruiting laws. For instance, they needed to have the ability to recruit 16- and 17-year-old gamers from different provinces, and Hockey Canada balked at that. The BCHL is doing that now, and so they’ve additionally added two European roster spots per staff. 

WHL groups can have 16- and 17-year-olds from different provinces however solely starting from B.C. to Manitoba. Groups may also have two Europeans.

Leaving the Hockey Canada umbrella signifies that the BCHL needed to discover its personal insurance coverage. The league additionally needed to discover its personal steady of referees and linesmen, and the BCHL can’t name up gamers from different leagues to fill out rosters after they’re coping with issues like accidents or suspensions. Hockey Canada has longstanding guidelines towards what it calls “non-sanctioned hockey,” with anybody participating in such competitors suspended from all Hockey Canada actions for the rest of the season. 

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As a result of insurance coverage points, questions have been raised about minor hockey gamers participating in mini-games between durations at BCHL video games or being on the ice and lining up with the house staff for the nationwide anthems.

One participant agent, who requested anonymity, mentioned that the BCHL resolution to depart Hockey Canada wasn’t stopping him from directing gamers to the league. The BCHL has lengthy led Canadian loops in having gamers with NCAA scholarships. In keeping with the BCHL, there’s at the moment 206 within the league. That’s a league file, topping the mark of 190, which was set final yr. Since gamers at the moment are often committing to a number of years prematurely of going to highschool, they will rely towards the BCHL whole for multiple season.

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Provincial governing physique B.C. Hockey has regarded to fill the void created by the BCHL departure from the Hockey Canada umbrella by bumping up the the province’s three Junior B leagues to a Tier II Junior A, with the plan to grant a few of these groups full Junior A standing down the road. They might ultimately be part of up with the CJHL and be eligible for Centennial Cup competitors.

B.C. Hockey CEO Cam Hope was quoted in a press launch on the time of the Junior B announcement as saying that they have been trying to give B.C. gamers “alternatives to compete at a better stage.” The BCHL has taken criticism for less than having a 5 B.C participant minimal on its rosters. Solely one of many present top-10 scorers within the league is a B.C. native.

@SteveEwen

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