Saturday, January 20, 2024

BCHL Agrees To Terms With Five Alberta-Based Teams:

The BC Hockey League announced this morning five teams from the Alberta Junior Hockey League will be joining the BCHL for the 2024-25 season.

Here is the press release from the BCHL website,

BCHL agrees to terms with five Alberta-based teams | BCHL League Site

Here is the story from globalnews.ca,

5 teams from Alberta Junior Hockey League to join B.C. Hockey League | Globalnews.ca

The Alberta Junior Hockey League has cancelled games regarding the Brooks Bandits, Blackfalds Bulldogs and Spruce Grove Saints.

Here is the press release from the AJHL website,

AJHL STATEMENT | Alberta Junior Hockey League

Here is the press release from the Brooks Bandits website,

AJHL cancels Bandits January 20th and 21st home games | Brooks Bandits

8 comments:

PaulyWog54 said...

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yippeeeeee, FANTASTIC! Guess I'm buying season tickets for next season for sure! Awesome, BCHL, just awesome!

vipersdiehardfan said...

I have heard from a reliable source that starting in 2025 all Major Junior hockey players will be able to go NCAA

BINGO said...

One thing we can count on is change and evolution of ideas and sometimes its for the better and sometimes not so much. Given what we are seeing the vision and what feels right is what I feel is why given to be true why all major junior hockey will be able to go NCAA. Times are a change in. GO,VIPERS,GO.

Bob McInnes said...

Okay, so these 5 teams join the BCHL next season and Brooks is one of them. Recall that just a few days ago the Vernon Vipers traded for the BCHL rights to Johnny Hicks who is currently playing for Brooks of the AJHL. I'm pretty sure that Hicks could just stay with Brooks next season and the Vernon-Merritt trade would be cancelled. But it is an unusual situation.

Bob McInnes said...

It really hit the fan when the AJHL found out about the five teams leaving their league. The league office claimed that they hadn't heard of it until the BCHL media release about the five teams moving to the BCHL. They cancelled the weekend games involving all five of the teams. The coming week should have more news.

Anonymous said...

I do not think ajhl is being honest. The story was broken by Bonnyville Pontiacs staffer Michael Menzies on January 19 on his twitter. It was picked up by multiple media sources prior to bchl making their statement. Is ajhl management saying they pay no attention to media about their league but monitor bchl statements?

Anonymous said...

So is NCAA going to start allowing players who have been paid big dollars to play hockey scholarships. These are the 18 and 19 year olds who have signed NHL contracts, and are returned to their CHL team as they are currently ineligible for the AHL.

vipersdiehardfan said...

So many questions to be answered. Will we see more games next season? How often will fans get to see the Alberta teams play? Will more Alberta teams join? Will we see any new rule changes regarding rosters etc. How will the divisions and playoffs look? With teams joining from Alberta, the league will have to change its name.