Dont you just love when things come together as you predicted they would? Silly season has officially begun and it begins in the BCHL.
No, this is not an April fools joke. As we reported back in January, the 2024 off season is slated to be very volitile for teams and leagues across Canada. And now, just the first of many moves and changes has been made official with the Merritt Centennials jumping from the BCHL to the KIJHL.
Most people saw this coming for over a year. Merritt is a small community with a small arena. While always attracting quality players, the completely free to play model cannot work in a 1000 seat arena.
What makes this move more interesting is that the Merritt Centennials have qualified for the BCHL playoffs. An announcement at this time before the playoffs begin has to make people wonder how the BCHL wil react to this change of direction. Coincidentally, the BCHL playoffs begin on April 5th, and the schedule has not been completed on the BCHL website as of April 1, 1:00 am eastern time.
A little payback had to be in order for Hockey Canada, and BC Hockey to make sure that this announcement and approval to join the KIJHL was done while the playoff season was slated to begin.
Now people are asking, whats next?
There is a lot more coming from Canada in short order. Big things are happening for many clubs, and leagues. Looks for interesting developments from the AJHL, OJHL, GOJHL, VIJHL, PIJHL, KIJHL and CCHL as we move further into silly season. This is going to be an off season to remember.
