Annual General Meeting May 26 and 27 in Salmon Arm, B.C.

At the league's October Governors meeting, the Board voted in favour of adopting a scorecard to measure the current standards across the BCHL. The scorecard covers all areas of team operations, including hockey operations off-ice business standards and facility infrastructure.

In an effort to emphasize the business direction of the league, the Board decided to change Chris Hebb's title from Commissioner to CEO and Steven Cocker's title from Deputy Commissioner to COO.

As part of the four-year plan, the BCHL will eliminate player fees across the league by year four. Another requirement will be to install video review in all arenas. The Chilliwack Chiefs adopted video review last year and a number of other teams are set to introduce it for 2022-23.

The Board of Governors approved a five-year strategic plan for BCHL events, starting with the 2022-23 season. The league's slate of events for next season includes the BCHL Showcase, the Road Show, the Top Prospects #and the 60th Anniversary outdoor event, scheduled for January 2023 after it was postponed last season.

The Governors also voted in favour of adopting an official policy to allow BCHL athletes to report any type of abuse, harassment or discrimination they may incur while playing in the league. As part of the policy, the league will appoint a Safe Sport Officer who will be on call and act independently from the BCHL and its teams. At the team level, each organization will introduce an Athlete Advocate who will act on behalf of the players. Players will be able to report any incidents to either the Safe Sport Officer, the team's Athlete Advocate or previous reporting avenues already in place. The BCHL created the policy using the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada (SDRCC) as a resource.

The Board of Governors approved the creation of a BCHL Officiating Development Program. The stated goal of the program is to focus on developing current officials, recruiting future officials and retaining the best officials by creating a professional environment.

The league unveiled the winners of two year-end awards at the Annual General Meeting. Victoria Grizzlies Governor Ron Walchuk was voted as the BCHL's Executive of the Year. The BCHL also announced the co-winners of the league's Marketer of the Year Award. This year's recipients are Allison McCarthy, Corporate Sales and Event Manager for the Trail Smoke Eaters, as well as Chris Laurie, President of the Warriors.

The BC Hockey League has announced new dates for its 60th Anniversary event after it was postponed last season due to the pandemic.

The rescheduled event will be held in Penticton, B.C. from Jan. 20 to 22, 2023. The format will be the same as last year's planned event and will include activities on the newly built outdoor rink in the downtown area.

Schedule:

• Friday, Jan. 20: Top Prospects #(South Okanagan Events Centre)
• Saturday, Jan. 21: BCHL Alumni #and Skills Competition (Outdoor rink)
• Sunday, Jan. 22: 3-on-3 BCHL All-Star # (Outdoor rink)

The BC Hockey League has hired three new staff members for the league office.

The league has brought in Mario Galea as Coordinator of Finance, Alex Waddington as Coordinator of Events and Monique MacKinnon as the league's first Safe Sport Officer. Galea has been an accountant dating back to 2001 and has worked for various companies, including Chantelle Management in Langley, Specialty Care Inc. in Toronto and Pico of Canada in Burnaby. He received his accounting education and training at the University of British Columbia, British Columbia Institute of Technology and the Certified General Accountants of British Columbia. Galea replaces Jake Baker who was previously the league's Manager of Finance.

As the Coordinator of Events, Waddington will oversee the planning and execution of the league's 60th Anniversary outdoor event, as well as the BCHL Road Show in Burns Lake, B.C. She is already very familiar with the league, having worked as the Penticton Vees Director of Sponsorship and Business Development from 2018 to 2021. She currently works for Canucks Place Children's Hospice as the Officer of Events and Sponsorship. Waddington previously worked for the Vancouver Canucks for over two years as an Account Executive. She received a Bachelor's Degree from Simon Fraser University in 2014.

MacKinnon will fill the volunteer position of Safe Sport Officer as part of the league's Abuse, Harassment and Discrimination Policy that was passed by the Board of Governors in May. She will be on call for all BCHL athletes who wish to report an incident and will act independently from the league and its teams. In addition to taking medical courses related to pain management, prescription drug use and brain health, MacKinnon received training at the U.S. Center for SafeSport and will be taking Safe Sport and Respect Group training from Hockey Canada. MacKinnon graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Physical Education degree from the University of Ottawa. She is currently a Leadership, Employee Management, Workplace Culture and Change Specialist that has over 30 years of experience as an international speaker, consultant and coach.

BCHL set to launch video review pilot project at 2022 Showcase

The BC Hockey League Board of Governors has approved a pilot project to expand video review at the 2022 Showcase event Oct. 17 to 20 in Chilliwack.

Through the use of the Sporfie video system, officials will be able to review all penalties where a player would be ejected from the #, except for Abuse of Official or Gross Misconducts.

Upon review, the officials will have the ability to confirm if the call on the ice is correct, elevate the call to a Match Penalty, lower the call to where the player will not be ejected or eliminate the penalty all together.

These situations are in addition to rules already in place where officials can review whether or not a puck entered the net, whether it entered as a result of an illegal play, goaltender interference or whether the net was knocked off.

The current video review regulations were originally tested out at the 2021 Showcase and approved by the BCHL Board of Governors last December.

Officials will also be wearing microphones at the Showcase to announce penalties and video reviews in-arena, so that fans and broadcasters are aware of what is being called on the ice.

BCHL to become independent league

The British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) has announced a new path, continuing its mission to build a world class college-track junior league for players seeking NCAA and U Sports Scholarships and to establish a tier of hockey that to date has not been seen in Canada.

To grow and create more opportunities for players and more excitement for fans, the BCHL's Board of Governors has voted to not renew the league's agreement with Hockey Canada, meaning its 18 franchises will operate outside Hockey Canada's system as of June 1, 2023.

2022-23 BCHL roster rules

The allowable number of players on a roster is 23, which is down two from the 25 allowed during the seasons impacted by COVID-19. Teams are still permitted to have only six import players and six 2002-born players on their roster. As is the norm, only American-born players are considered imports, but only for the 17 BC-based teams.

American players from outside of Washington, California, Colorado, and Arizona are considered imports for the Wild, and Wenatchee is allowed to have six of them. It is also permitted to have four Canadian import players.

BCHL clubs are also required to have a minimum of four rookie players, which is defined as those entering the season with less than 30 #s of junior A experience. They are also required to have a minimum of two players 17 years old or younger on their active roster. For 2022-23, that means 2005-born or 2006-born players.

Teams were permitted to make trades for the 2022-23 season starting last June 1. As of this writing, there have been 147 trades since then.

TIE-BREAKER CRITERIA:

WITH RESPECT TO PLAYOFFS, FOR PURPOSES OF DETERMINING THE TOP TEAMS, THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA SHALL BE USED UNTIL THE TIE IS BROKEN:

1. The Team having the most POINTS.
2. The Team having the most WINS.
3. The Team having the Most WINS IN #S VS EACH OTHER
4. The Team having the most POINTS IN #S AGAINST EACH OTHER
5. The Team having the best GOALS FOR AND AGAINST IN #S AGAINST EACH OTHER. (by taking the goals for and subtracting the goals against in #s between the teams)
6. Should teams remain tied after the above tie breakers, the Team with the MOST POINTS EARNED in #s involving DIVISIONAL OPPONENTS ONLY will be used to determine the DIVISIONAL STANDINGS. (This tie-breaker only applies in determining divisional standings)

PLAYOFF FORMAT:

THE 2023 SHAW BCHL PLAYOFFS, WILL ADHERE TO THE FOLLOWING STRUCTURE:

1. ROUND ONE: The top-eight teams from each conference will qualify for the postseason and play a best-of-seven series based on the following seeding: 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6 & 4 vs 5.
2. ROUND TWO: The teams will then reseed in the next round, for the following order: 1 vs 4, 2 vs 3 in each conference.
3. ROUND THREE: The winners will then play in their respective Conference Final.
4. ROUND FOUR: The winner of the Coastal Conference final will play the winner of the Interior Conference in the Fred Page Cup BCHL Finals.