BC’s provincial health officer has green-lit a BC Hockey League season, with each team playing between 20 to 24 games. Details are expected to be released today.
Sources say there will be a quarantine period followed by testing before games start being played on or about April 1.
There will be five hubs throughout the province. Powell River Kings are expected to play in the Coquitlam hub. The other Island Division teams: Victoria Grizzlies, Nanaimo Clippers, Alberni Valley Bulldogs and Cowichan Valley Capitals, will play in the Island hub, to be located at Weyerhaeuser Arena in Port Alberni.
The other hubs are reported to be in Chilliwack, Penticton and Vernon.
Even a truncated season will at least give graduating 20-year-old players a last hurrah in junior and also feature the 18-year-olds for the 2021 NHL draft and other players looking for US collegiate NCAA athletic scholarships.
The BCHL conducted an extended preseason in which games were played from September through mid-November until stricter provincial health guidelines restricted team-on-team play across all sports.
The BCHL is a prime producer of talent for the US collegiate ranks and in 2019/2020 surpassed its previous best number of players committed to NCAA Division 1 programs with 166, compared with 151 in 2018/2019.
