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BCHL enlists Vancouver Canucks to help with Showcase tournament, Hockey Canada unveils new player development path for Western Canada
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Published Jul 12, 2024 • Last updated 10 hours ago • 5 minute read
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BCHL commissioner Chris Hebb. PNG
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The B.C. Hockey Hockey League and Hockey Canada made substantial announcements a couple of days apart this week — guessing the timing wasn’t coincidental.
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On Friday, the BCHL announced they will be teaming with the Vancouver Canucks to host their annual Showcase tournament in Abbotsford and Chilliwack from Oct. 13-17. The event puts all BCHL teams together — this time in two nearby venues instead of the traditional one — so that it’s easier for pro and NCAA scouts to watch players. Participation in the Showcase from members of the Canucks organization, as well as notable team alumni, is being pledged, although there are no details yet.
That news follows Hockey Canada’s announcement on Wednesday regarding its Western Canadian Development Model pilot project for the 2024-25 season, which has the sport’s provincial governing bodies from the four western provinces, the Junior A circuits from those same regions including B.C.’s Pacific Junior Hockey League (PJHL) and Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL), and the Western Hockey League working in unison.
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As it happens, it’s been just over a year since the BCHL and Hockey Canada officially cut ties and the BCHL opted to go independent.
You could see the split coming. BCHL teams had dropped out of contention for the Centennial Cup Junior A national tournament in April 2021, and BCHL CEO Chris Hebb and others in the league had been public with questions about Hockey Canada policies, most notably about player recruiting.
It’s got messy at times, including Hockey Canada calling out the BCHL for rostering Americans and Europeans players.
Hockey Canada has approved a Western Canadian Development Model pilot project for the 2024-25 season.
The WCDM pilot project aims to strengthen the delivery of sanctioned junior hockey participants across Western Canada.
— The WHL (@TheWHL) July 11, 2024
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The Hockey Canada announcement is encouraging in that it shows dialogue between the various levels of the game. This wouldn’t have happened if the BCHL was still the lone Junior A entity in the province. There wasn’t this kind of cohesion.
For what it’s worth, Hebb has said that he couldn’t get Hockey Canada to engage on possible changes. That was a different leadership group than the one that’s in charge with the national branch now, too.
Regardless of it all, there is more manoeuvring to come from both sides.
B.C. Hockey bumped up the PJHL and KIJHL from Junior B to Junior A Tier II last July to help fill the void created by BCHL going on its own, and B.C. Hockey announced last January that they’d in brought in Blackfin Sports Group — the company led by former Canucks assistant general manager Chris Gear — to evaluate which of those franchises could move up to Junior A Tier I.
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When that eventually is decided, those teams will put B.C. representatives back in contention for the Centennial Cup, and presumably teams with an even better shot of trying to recruit some of the same players that the BCHL is trying to land.
B.C. Hockey also bumped up the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League from Junior B status at the same time as the PJHL and KIJHL, but they opted to pull out of Hockey Canada in April, and they will now be a feeder system for the BCHL.
As well, the BCHL added five teams from the Alberta Junior A loop in January. With the Brooks Bandits, Spruce Grove Saints, Okotoks Oilers, Blackfalds Bulldogs and Sherwood Park Crusaders all in the fold from the get-go now, the BCHL will play an unbalanced schedule this coming campaign. Brooks, for instance, plays just three games in the Lower Mainland, and two of those are at the Showcase.
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Looming over all of this is the fact that the NCAA is discussing making WHLers and players from the country’s other two Major Junior leagues eligible for scholarships. They have been held out so far, with the NCAA considering them professionals because of the minimal expense stipend they receive from their teams. With the new Name Image Likeness rules — former Iowa hoop star Caitlin Clark reportedly was earning $3.1 million in deals with State Farm, Gatorade and others — it feels like the landscape in that regard is changing.
North Dakota’s Grand Forks Herald wrote in May that NCAA hockey coaches “largely oppose,” making that change, but added that “they’re preparing for the possibility.”
There has been no word on when it might happen. It occurs and it changes the Junior A game drastically, since it has been the breeding ground for players wanting to go the NCAA route.
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Wednesday’s news showing Hockey Canada and various groups working together would seem to be a plus if things do need to pivot.
For the time being, though, it’s about the pilot project for that side of this equation. The new set-up features more movement for players between levels. Previously, 15-year-old affiliate players could only play five games with their WHL club until their minor hockey seasons were over. Now they can play 10. WHL teams can now dress two 15 years olds in a game if things like injuries and suspensions might keep them below the traditional 20-player roster. They couldn’t use two in a game before.
That fast tracking of younger players is hopefully something the powers that be are keeping a close watch. As you’d expect with how this has gone, the BCHL has a similar storyline. The league announced in May that it was giving out exceptional status for the first time this coming season, allowing 15-year-old forward Eli McKamey to play full time with the Penticton Vees a year early next season. McKamey, who is from Cowichan Bay, went in the second round of this spring’s WHL Draft to the Victoria Royals, but multiple team sources and player agents alike said that he could have gone No. 2 overall if he hadn’t been adamant about his plans to go the NCAA route.
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sewen@postmedia.com
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Courtesy : https://theprovince.com/sports/hockey/junior-hockey/rivals-hockey-canada-bchl-duelling-announcements