The sa国际传媒 Hockey League had to stickhandle around a few unexpected pylons thrown on the ice at the last minute but the 2023-24 regular-season schedule was finally released Friday.
Some shifting of games and dates was required by the sudden announcement last week that the Winnipeg Ice of the Western Hockey League are relocating to Wenatchee, Washington, as the Wild. As a result, the Wild franchise that played in the BCHL was extinguished, leaving a week of hectic schedule re-ordering, especially regarding the Interior Conference.
The regular season will open Sept. 22 and run through March 31 with the playoffs starting April 5. Teams will play 54 games each.
The BCHL Showcase is Oct. 22-26 at the Kraken Community Iceplex in Seattle, the NHL club’s practice facility. The annual Showcase, in which the now-17 BCHL teams will play two games each, is a one-stop shopping centre for NHL and NCAA scouts.
The BCHL set a record this past season for the number of players from the league committed to the U.S. collegiate NCAA. The 174 players broke the previous league record of 173 set in the 2019-20 season and matched in 2021-22. Twenty-four BCHL alumni were in the NHL this past season, 41 in the AHL and 62 in the ECHL.
The Victoria Grizzlies open the season in Surrey against the Eagles, the Alberni Valley Bulldogs in Coquitlam against the Express and the Cowichan Valley Capitals in Nanaimo against the Clippers, all on Sept. 22.
The Capitals open in Duncan Sept. 23 against the Clippers. The Bulldogs are on the road for three games before opening at home in Port Alberni on Sept. 30 against the Clippers. The home opener for the Grizzlies at The Q Centre is Oct. 1 against Cowichan Valley following three road games in Surrey, Chilliwack and Powell River.
“It really doesn’t matter to us where we start,” said Grizzlies GM and head coach Rylan Ferster.
“You have to play everybody the same amount, regardless of when it is. The main thing you look out for in a schedule is the volume of games over a certain number of days during some stretches of the season, and we are happy with that aspect.”
The longest homestand at The Q Centre is six games between Feb. 9-25. The two swings through the Interior Conference are Nov. 17-18 in Salmon Arm and Penticton and Jan. 26-27 in Trail and Merritt.
Fans will have to wait awhile to see a rematch of the 2023 BCHL final as the defending league champion Vees aren’t scheduled to play Alberni Valley until March 16 in Penticton. The Vees make only one visit to the Island, Sept. 29 in Nanaimo, and hop across to Powell River the next night. The Grizzlies are in Penticton on Nov. 18 for their lone game against the Vees.
The Coastal Conference teams are scheduled to meet the Interior Conference teams only once each. A caveat, however, is that the match-ups for the BCHL Showcase in Seattle have yet to be announced.
Also to be announced is the BCHL pre-season schedule.
