The BCHL (British Columbia Hockey League) voted to leave the Canadian Hockey League permanently on May 1st. The vote has been expected since they pulled out of the CHL post-COVID return in 2021-22.
BCHL Steps Out
The BCJHL – rebranded the BCHL in 1995-96 – was a founding member of the Canadian Junior A Hockey League in 1993. They have been extremely successful not only in the CJHL with 14 national championships but in providing NHL draft picks.
There are currently nine CJHL leagues representing Junior A level hockey across Canada with a few US teams included. The BCHL itself is one of the largest leagues and has 18 franchises that it currently oversees.
The BCHL has been trying to convince the other members of the CJHL to change tactics regarding player development. More specifically, the conflicting rules about junior-aged players going the college route.
Currently, if an under-18 age player decides to play in the CHL, they can’t play in college because of the NCAA rules on pro sports. The NCAA views the CHL as a professional level of hockey, so some U-18-age players may decide to go to the CJHL instead.
Should that player decide to stay in Canada but keep eligibility for US college, then they need to stay in their home province. This isn’t the case for CHL players, drawing the BCHL’s ire.
Prior to the requested changes, there had been grumbling in the BCHL about Hockey Canada being biased toward the CHL. The perceived lack of discussion on the BCHL’s concerns over the past few years hasn’t helped.
Hockey Canada’s recent crisis around their players only served to accelerate the split.
Slaps and Bennies
There are going to be issues with their absence. The league will not be able to participate in national championships or the communal, prospect-exhibiting tournaments run by the CJHL or Hockey Canada.
Internationally it will be much the same. Any tournament that is an exhibition of teams representing their nation will, by definition, exclude the winner from the BCHL. The league may get invitations to other tournaments, but it’s hard to see them getting more attention.
Another issue – which the league may see as a positive – is the transfer of players. There is no means of enforcing inter-league transfers outside of Hockey Canada right now. Handshake deals require trust, and that’s going to be in short supply for a while yet.
The flip side of the coin is what the BCHL stands to gain – and who they see as the competition. It’s not teams in the rest of Canada – it’s the ones in the United States.
As mentioned, young players who want to retain college eligibility can’t play in the CHL. As a result, many players across Canada enter the USHL or similar high school leagues. The BCHL wants to recruit and retain some of those players if they can.
Once and Future BCHL
To date, the BCHL has had 176 players selected directly from their teams. That’s nearly twice as many as any other junior league in Canada, though it includes few stars. Current NHL players include Tyson Jost, Dante Fabbro, Alexander Kerfoot, and Alex Newhook.
But they had to be looking at what is likely the next two first-overall NHL picks and dreaming.
Connor Bedard‘s favourite team is the Vancouver Canucks – though that will likely be superseded by whoever drafts him in June. Bedard chose the CHL as his pro route, but no doubt the BCHL wants to be seen as a viable alternative.
Fellow Canucks fan Macklin Celebrini moved to San Jose when his dad was hired by the Golden State Warriors, so his professional route was surely a given. But if Celebrini could think of a home league as an equivalent to the USHL, then perhaps he would have moved back to Vancouver instead of off to Chicago.
Whether this will ever actually be the case is impossible to determine right now. It seems unlikely, but after the week the NHL has just had, shouldn’t we be used to upsets?
*That more famous league made up of the WHL, OHL, and LHJMQ is considered one step “higher” than the CJHL.
Photo: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports
