Hockey Canada sends letter to members to elucidate guidelines now that BCHL is by itself

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Hockey Canada is beginning to set boundaries within the cut up from the B.C. Hockey League.

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The game’s governing physique despatched a letter to its members on Thursday, detailing a few of what’s permitted with reference to unsanctioned leagues. That was in response to the BCHL saying that it was breaking away from Hockey Canada on Monday and going impartial starting June 1. 

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The 18-team Junior A loop needs higher autonomy on the subject of issues like participant recruiting. 

Postmedia obtained a replica of the Hockey Canada letter. Amongst what’s acknowledged is that any participant or coach on a non-sanctioned staff after Sept. 30 is ineligible to take part in actions sanctioned by Hockey Canada for the rest of the season pending a listening to from the reinstatement committee, and that’s even when they’re launched by their non-sanctioned staff through the season. That features ineligibility to be thought-about for choice to nationwide groups or to attend different Hockey Canada high-performance actions. 

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That additionally signifies that the BCHL can’t herald gamers from Junior B leagues to fill in for a recreation right here or there attributable to accidents and have the gamers return to their authentic squads afterward like they’ve previously.

As effectively, the letter states that groups beneath Hockey Canada’s jurisdiction are eligible to compete in opposition to sanctioned groups from different nationwide associations which are part of the Worldwide Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). As an example, a non-sanctioned staff just isn’t eligible to compete in opposition to a staff in the US Hockey League, which is sanctioned by USA Hockey.

The Hockey Canada letter used that exact instance.

The USHL and the BCHL are the 2 principal feeder leagues for the NCAA. A showdown between their champions would draw appreciable consideration.

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BCHL commissioner Steven Cocker believes that the non-sanctioned guidelines had been devised particularly for start-up leagues and never one just like the BCHL, which has a historical past that dates again to 1961.

There have been rumours of the BCHL branching off by itself courting again a decade. The preferred one has had them combining with groups from Alberta. It’s unclear how shut that has ever come to fruition.

The BCHL pulled out of the Canadian Junior Hockey League, which was constructed to band collectively the nation’s 10 Junior A loops for Hockey Canada and run occasions just like the Centennial Cup nationwide championship. In April 2021  BCHL CEO Chris Hebb stated that his league has pitched modifications to CJHL a 12 months earlier and obtained no response. The BCHL made public final September a 35-page white paper it had written entitled Modernizing Junior Hockey in Canada and despatched beforehand to Hockey Canada and BC Hockey. They weren’t pleased with the traction they acquired with their considerations then, both.

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Cocker maintains that his league nonetheless needs to make issues work with Hockey Canada and provincial physique BC Hockey, explaining that “we’ll choose up the telephone with anybody who needs to speak to us.”

Touchdown referees and linesmen might show troublesome for the BCHL if Hockey Canada continues to carry agency about not having any crossover with non-sanctioned leagues.

“We wish to do what’s finest for our athletes and our officers,” Cocker stated.

Leaving Hockey Canada additionally signifies that the BCHL is not coated on the insurance coverage plan. The BCHL has been working by itself insurance coverage deal and Cocker says that “It’s equal, if not higher in some areas.”

Hockey Canada’s official assertion Monday in regards to the BCHL information was low key, together with “Hockey Canada will proceed to work with BC Hockey and its practically 94,000 remaining contributors to supply British Columbians with alternatives to securely get pleasure from, develop and compete in Canada’s recreation.” It didn’t spell out specific guidelines like Thursday’s letter.

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BC Hockey CEO Cam Hope stated Monday that creating one other Junior A league beneath the Hockey Canada umbrella to switch the BCHL was “possible,” though he didn’t have a timeline.

The BCHL has lengthy made it clear that it felt recruiting restrictions in Junior A had been too stringent and it needed to have the ability to signal 16- and 17-year-old gamers from different provinces with out their households transferring to B.C. That isn’t permitted beneath Hockey Canada’s guidelines. 

@SteveEwen

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