ALBERTA – The ongoing saga of five teams leaving the Alberta Junior Hockey League may have hit its high-water mark.
The British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) announced Thursday (Feb. 1) the five Alberta-based teams that were set to leave the AJHL at the end of the season will join its fold immediately.
In a release on its website, the BCHL said the Blackfalds Bulldogs, Brooks Bandits, Okotoks Oilers, Sherwood Park Crusaders and Spruce Grove Saints signed franchise agreements on Wednesday (Jan. 31) and will form their own division within the league.
“We are pleased to officially welcome these five franchises into the fold as members of our league,” said Chris Hebb, CEO of the BCHL in the release.
“All five are strong organizations from great communities and we look forward to the immediate boost they will give our league. We were encouraged by their belief in our model and think that adding these teams will strengthen the development of all our players.”
The teams will compete against one another for the rest of the 2023-24 season and play for an Alberta champion, according to the BCHL. When the BCHL playoffs conclude, the British Columbia champion will meet the top Alberta team for a year-end series.
The five teams will begin playing Friday (Feb. 2) and continue their regular season until April 7. The BCHL stated a playoff format will be announced at a later date. Other information such as the divisional alignment for the 2024-25 season and roster regulations will be made prior to the start of the 2024-25 season, according to the BCHL.
“With the unfortunate situation the Alberta teams have faced in recent weeks with having games cancelled in their previous league, it was imperative to us to get these players back on the ice in meaningful competition,” said BCHL commissioner Steven Cocker in the release. “This five-team schedule and postseason will give these athletes the chance to get in a full set of games for the remainder of the year, which is the most important thing to us.”
The AJHL previously announced Jan. 25 that the five teams set to leave the league for the BCHL for the 2024-25 would not play the teams remaining in the Alberta league.
It meant six of the Canmore Eagles final 13 regular season games would be cancelled. The Eagles will only play two remaining home games the rest of the regular season starting with Feb. 15 against Fort McMurray and then Feb. 19 against Olds.
In a statement Thursday (Feb. 1) from the AJHL, it noted they were “disappointed – but not surprised – that the five defecting clubs now intend to drop out of the AJHL to immediately participate in an unsanctioned exhibition series.”
It claimed the five teams were denying they had agreements with the BCHL and that its investigation is continuing but not yet determined a course of action since the five teams are no longer part of Hockey Canada.
It added there had been interest expressed in potential new teams joining the league, but nothing confirmed.
It was announced Jan. 20 the five teams now part of the BCHL would be leaving the AJHL at the end of the season. Four of the teams are the top in the AJHL. The BCHL is frequently considered the top Junior A development league in Canada.
Dan Mason, a professor with the University of Alberta's Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation, told the Outlook earlier in an interview last week the change is a continued movement of teams at all levels of hockey due to players wanting the best way to move to the next stage in their careers.
“I think that’s what we’re seeing here with the BCHL; breaking away from Hockey Canada is the way they see they can have more ownership and control over the process of players moving to the next level, which in this case is the NCAA.”
Last year, the 18-team BCHL separated from Hockey Canada, meaning it operates outside of its system, and then boasted about sending more players to NCAA Division I teams than the rest of the junior hockey leagues in Canada combined. The BCHL said its alumni made up nearly a quarter of all NCAA Division I college hockey in the 2022-23 season.
Historically, the BCHL is stronger than other junior leagues, and with a better pool of players, it results in more eyes from scouts and greater opportunities to go to the next level of development.
“The teams that are leaving from the AJHL have sort of used that same kind of model in terms of positioning themselves as the ideal place to be scouted or the ideal place to play if you want to get scouted to play in the NCAA,” Mason, whose research focuses on sports leagues and franchises, said to the Outlook.
“I think that's something that fits logically, where you could go and play against other teams that are going to be heavily scouted.
“We're seeing the attraction of players from all over North America to the B.C. hockey league, and I think that's something that they wanted.”
Before the 2023-24 season, the AJHL announced it would be adopting a full interlock schedule, or moving down to one division, which some teams opposed, including the Eagles.
As per Hockey Canada, the AJHL also adopted rule changes recently, such as the mandatory face cage rule for every player by 2025-26.
By becoming a league separate from Hockey Canada, BCHL teams can also recruit the best 16- and 17-year-old players outside of the province, which isn’t allowed under Hockey Canada rules.
