Winnipeg Ice shifting to Wenatchee leaves a lot to unpack for WHL and BCHL

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There are nonetheless a great deal of inquiries to be answered after the WHL introduced Friday morning that the Winnipeg Ice been offered to David White and could be relocating to Wenatchee, Wash., for subsequent season.

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White additionally owned the BCHL’s Wenatchee Wild. The BCHL introduced in a press launch Friday morning that the WIld wouldn’t be enjoying in Wenatchee going ahead. 

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“The Wenatchee Wild has been a robust BCHL franchise and we lengthen our greatest needs for his or her continued success sooner or later,” Graham Fraser, the Penticton Vees proprietor who’s chairman of the BCHL board of governors, was quoted as saying within the press launch. “As a league, we’re assessing our subsequent steps, together with reviewing one of the best choices for gamers presently on the Wenatchee Wild’s roster and addressing schedule implications for the 2023-24 season.”

It’s unlikely that two junior groups would work in a metropolis with a inhabitants of 33,000. As properly, the BCHL has cut up from Hockey Canada and is now an impartial league. The WHL isn’t straight beneath Hockey Canada’s umbrella however they do are inclined to observe Hockey Canada mandates, and Hockey Canada has mentioned that anybody concerned with an impartial league can’t be a part of Hockey Canada actions.

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For what it’s value, a press launch on the Wild’s website online included this quote from White: “We’re grateful to the BCHL for welcoming us after they did, and for the nice management beneath Chris Hebb, Steve Cocker and Graham Fraser – we want them one of the best.”

Seattle has been talked about as a doable BCHL growth website, particularly with the league combining with the Seattle Kraken to host their Showcase match the subsequent season. Is Seattle an possibility for the Wild?

Wenatchee was one of many BCHL’s stronger franchises. They completed second in attendance to the Vees within the common season final yr, at 2,672 per recreation.

In the meantime, the WHL Western Convention had already finalized its schedule for subsequent season. The Wenatchee group offers the West one other squad and means a schedule revamp.

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There have been rumours in regards to the WHL probably coming again to Chilliwack and changing the BCHL’s Chilliwack Chiefs however Chiefs proprietor Moray Keith balked at that discuss all through the method.

The Ice have had their monetary struggles since shifting to Winnipeg from Cranbrook.

The WHL press launch learn: “The sale and relocation of the Winnipeg franchise has obtained the approval of the WHL Board of Governors and is efficient instantly. Wenatchee turns into the sixth U.S.-based WHL group and can be part of the WHL’s U.S. Division and Western Convention for the 2023-24 season. The relocation to Wenatchee will permit the WHL to stability its Western and Japanese Conferences with 11 member Golf equipment in every Convention beginning subsequent season. Sadly, a number of makes an attempt by the ICE possession to assemble an area facility of acceptable WHL requirements in Winnipeg, primarily based on the agreed upon timeframes, had been unsuccessful, resulting in the relocation to Wenatchee.”

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