BCHL Leaves Hockey Canada

[ThePenIsMightier]

Meanwhile in Saskatchewan...

[riander5]

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Better coaching and coaches who are better connected to US schools. Also some advantage to scouts being able to see 3-5 different teams easily within a trip to Greater Vancouver.

And if the BCHL (already the most recruited league for NCAA) becomes an even stronger league, you know US scouts will spend even MORE time there. They will pull in the best non CHL players, they will be the best hockey, and if all goes according to plan, sell more tickets as making money is what it is all about in the end.

[sexualbanana]

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Better coaching and coaches who are better connected to US schools. Also some advantage to scouts being able to see 3-5 different teams easily within a trip to Greater Vancouver.

What stopped the AJHL from having that without splitting off? A stop to Calgary-metro gives you similar access to the Canucks, Okotoks, Olds and, for a slightly longer drive, Canmore and Brooks.

[ThePenIsMightier]

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What stopped the AJHL from having that without splitting off? A stop to Calgary-metro gives you similar access to the Canucks, Okotoks, Olds and, for a slightly longer drive, Canmore and Brooks.

I'm only guessing, but I'd venture on Vancouver being a much larger city that's easier to get to that's closer to other hockey markets. And the Calgary Canucks are terrible.

[ExtraSlow]

Well, when you put your kids on the travel team, this is what happens. Better to keep the children on the house league.

[R-Audi]

Im sure there is a lot more to it, but in my mind I cant help but think this is a continuation of the younger private leagues like HSL/PHL/JPHL into the older age categories. Hockey Canada is an old boys club that is outdated in its beliefs and not really open to change or suggestion.

For BCHL I think the big thing it opens up for is recruitment.. always talk of how certain teams skirt the old rules to stay competitive, this should make a better league thats open to more players. Perhaps at the expense of home grown, but if you are good enough you would find a home.

[ExtraSlow]

Anything that pisses off laurents is a win to me, even in childrens sports.

[schurchill39]

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If you want a scholarship to an American school, you can not play for a WHL (OHL, QMJHL) team since they are considered semi-pro leagues.
Most people who want to go to school down in the states will go the Jr A route, BCHL, AJHL etc. Most of the people playing Jr A are in highschool, but they can only have a max six 20 year olds.

Cal Makar is a great example of this. He played for the Brooks Bandits (and dominated the league) so he could go to the University of Massachusets before going to the NHL. Dylan Holloway played for the Okotoks Oilers finishing second in league scoring and went to Wisconsin before being brought to the Oilers organization.

I went to an AJHL game not to long ago and was surprised at how competitive it was having never seen one before. Minus the full cages resulting in lack of fighting you could tell me it was the WHL and I would believe you.

[asp integra]

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Cal Makar is a great example of this. He played for the Brooks Bandits (and dominated the league) so he could go to the University of Massachusets before going to the NHL. Dylan Holloway played for the Okotoks Oilers finishing second in league scoring and went to Wisconsin before being brought to the Oilers organization.

I went to an AJHL game not to long ago and was surprised at how competitive it was having never seen one before. Minus the full cages resulting in lack of fighting you could tell me it was the WHL and I would believe you.

Exactly, Dany Heatley is another example. Played for the Canucks because he wanted to go the US college route.
Junior A and major Jr are pretty close, not a huge visible difference between the two

[sexualbanana]

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Cal Makar is a great example of this. He played for the Brooks Bandits (and dominated the league) so he could go to the University of Massachusets before going to the NHL. Dylan Holloway played for the Okotoks Oilers finishing second in league scoring and went to Wisconsin before being brought to the Oilers organization.

I went to an AJHL game not to long ago and was surprised at how competitive it was having never seen one before. Minus the full cages resulting in lack of fighting you could tell me it was the WHL and I would believe you.

That sort of proves the point (or at least supports my question) of what is the recruitment difference between AJHL and BCHL. Makar and Holloway are two recent examples of the current system being fine for the AJHL, so I don't know what moving to the BCHL does.

Granted, those are just the public reasons. There could very well be other reasons that no one wants to publicly admit to or disclose.

[ThePenIsMightier]

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That sort of proves the point (or at least supports my question) of what is the recruitment difference between AJHL and BCHL. Makar and Holloway are two recent examples of the current system being fine for the AJHL, so I don't know what moving to the BCHL does.

Granted, those are just the public reasons. There could very well be other reasons that no one wants to publicly admit to or disclose.

A BCHL team has either won or been in the finals for like half of the national championship Centennial Cup (formerly RBC Cup) in the past 40 years.
14 ships and 8 finals.
That's unparalleled dominance considering the population of BC compared to Ontario and Quebec and it's spanning decades.

[ThePenIsMightier]

Now the AJHL is punishing the 5 teams that haven't left yet and fucking themselves in the ass with their own shitty dick.
https://globalnews.ca/news/10253330/...se-punishment/

TL;DR
The 5 teams who plan to join BCHL after the end of this season are no longer allowed to play the 11 teams who aren't leaving, but the 5 are allowed to play against each other. Because reasons. For the rest of the season!

LoL!! Well played, geniuses!
What else is Hockey Canada going to tell you to do "for the benefit of the players"?

[Doozer]

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The 5 teams who plan to join BCHL after the end of this season are no longer allowed to play the 11 teams who aren't leaving, but the 5 are allowed to play against each other. Because reasons. For the rest of the season!

Umm, yeah.

I don't know all the reasons and I'm sure they're being a bit dickish on purpose, but there are definitely some underlying concerns that they're leaning on.

There's no way in hell I'd let teams play against me if they were bailing on the league at year end. There's absolutely no discipline options available for the AJHL in this scenario. You get a heated game near the end of the year, and say there's a bench clearing brawl between Brooks and an "non switching" team. Match penalties, suspensions, etc, become irrelevant. There's nothing stopping a kid in the heat of the moment from doing something stupid to another kid because it's not like they have to worry about a suspension in playoffs or next season from the AJHL. I sure as hell wouldn't want my kid if he was staying in the AJHL to be taken out by some clown in his last game because he didn't give a shit.

I don't know exactly the impact but I'd also bet part of the reason is insurance. I'm sure there are injury issues/payouts to be considered in this scenario and I'm sure anyone underwriting the AJHL would have concerns about people involved who could be bailing at year end.

I think it's kinda gross to be defending the AJHL because I agree they're being petty, but this leaked announcement could really have some implications for them and I'm not surprised that they're clamping things down while they figure out the repercussions.

[ThePenIsMightier]

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Umm, yeah.

I don't know all the reasons and I'm sure they're being a bit dickish on purpose, but there are definitely some underlying concerns that they're leaning on.

There's no way in hell I'd let teams play against me if they were bailing on the league at year end. There's absolutely no discipline options available for the AJHL in this scenario. You get a heated game near the end of the year, and say there's a bench clearing brawl between Brooks and an "non switching" team. Match penalties, suspensions, etc, become irrelevant. There's nothing stopping a kid in the heat of the moment from doing something stupid to another kid because it's not like they have to worry about a suspension in playoffs or next season from the AJHL. I sure as hell wouldn't want my kid if he was staying in the AJHL to be taken out by some clown in his last game because he didn't give a shit.

I don't know exactly the impact but I'd also bet part of the reason is insurance. I'm sure there are injury issues/payouts to be considered in this scenario and I'm sure anyone underwriting the AJHL would have concerns about people involved who could be bailing at year end.

I think it's kinda gross to be defending the AJHL because I agree they're being petty, but this leaked announcement could really have some implications for them and I'm not surprised that they're clamping things down while they figure out the repercussions.

The risk of a wing nut maiming another player isn't zero, but it's low. This is elite hockey, not Jungle-B.
Plus, every year that same threat exists from every player who is 20, (and there are lots of them) because they are leaving the league after that.

[Doozer]

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The risk of a wing nut maiming another player isn't zero, but it's low. This is elite hockey, not Jungle-B.
Plus, every year that same threat exists from every player who is 20, (and there are lots of them) because they are leaving the league after that.

Fair points, but a small stick is still better than none. And taking away the small stick is still something.

Although it's a good point about the 20yos. I would imagine that the AJHL under Hockey Canada has agreements with other leagues who deal with Hockey Canada, and suspensions etc might very well carry through anything under the HC umbrella. BCHL stuff wouldn't.

[ThePenIsMightier]

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Fair points, but a small stick is still better than none. And taking away the small stick is still something.

Although it's a good point about the 20yos. I would imagine that the AJHL under Hockey Canada has agreements with other leagues who deal with Hockey Canada, and suspensions etc might very well carry through anything under the HC umbrella. BCHL stuff wouldn't.

I think if you're 20, you are leaving Hockey Canada regardless of where you go (but I'm not sure).
Plus, there's a reasonable number of other aged players any given year who will not return or will be leaving for another jurisdiction like USA or Europe.
At the end of the day, this risk doesn't have much legs and it's fucking these teams out of roughly 11 of their last 16 games for Brooks or 9 of their last 12 games for Okotoks, as examples.
Meanwhile a team like Canmore gets to miss 8 of their last 14 games as corollary punishment when they haven't even done anything.

[jutes]

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Meanwhile in Saskatchewan...SJHL

Never heard of it.

Here in Sask we just go watch the Blades, Pats or Warriors. I guess there are a couple more.

[ThePenIsMightier]

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Never heard of it.

Here in Sask we just go watch the Blades, Pats or Warriors. I guess there are a couple more.

Hmmmm, let's see...
Sheldon & Wade Brookbank, several others and maybe the HUMBOLDT BRONCOS??!

[jutes]

Still doesn’t scream SJHL. Then again I don’t pay any attention to Jnr A hockey.

[ExtraSlow]

Yeah hard to get very excited about high school sports.