Ohhhhhhh snap. Thanks to a tipster letting the boss know yesterday, we got us one NAHL team and four Hockey Canada sanctioned CJHL Tier II teams that may just be in a bit of hot water.
Why? Ohhhh, yeah, well that’s a good question.
You see, Hockey Canada and USA Hockey have some pretty strict rules against their sanctioned teams playing games, even exhibition games against non sanctioned teams. So yeah, it looks like, at least according to the WSHL’s Oklahoma City Blazers website that these teams have some exhibition games scheduled against this AAU team!
Here’s the link http://okcblazershockey.com/?p=1226
Just in case the page gets deleted, heres the announcement from the OKC website;
“The Oklahoma City Blazers will waste no time taking on the best of the best in the junior hockey tier 2 landscape. The Blazers will be heading to Canada September 5th and return back home on the 17th after playing 6 games against 5 different opponents.
On September 7th the Blazers will kickoff the 12 day road swing when they play in Weyburn, Saskatchewan vs the Red Wings. The Weyburn Red Wings are members of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL). Next up for the Blazers is a battle with the Kindersley Klippers on September 9th. The Klippers are also a member of the SJHL.
On Friday, September 11th, the Blazers will face of against the Minot Minotarous of the North American Hockey League (NAHL) in Estevan, Saskatchewan. This will be the first meeting of a WSHL and an NAHL team competing on the same level.
On Saturday and Sunday, the Blazers will will take on the hometown Estevan Bruins in a pair of games which are being heavily promoted by the Bruins to the local area.
“Estevan is home for me. I played my entire Junior career with the Bruins and it was a very special time of my life,” said Blazers head coach Tyler Fleck. “I guess it will be a bit of a homecoming for myself and for Marco (Cefalo). We are looking forward to being back there and on the bench.”
Fleck and Cefalo were members of the last Estevan Bruin team to win a Championship in 1998-99. Both Bruins moved to Oklahoma City and were Blazers teammates that won another title together just 2 years later in OKC.
“Estevan is hosting the Western Canadian Tier 2 Championship so they will have an extremely high caliber hockey club. We will have our hands full with all these teams but we are excited for the challenge.”
On September 15th the Blazers will play one more game as they travel out of Saskatchewan into Virden, Manitoba to play the Virden Oil Capitals of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL).
When OKC arrives back home on the 17th they will have played 6 tough games and travelled 3980 miles.
Canadian Tour Schedule
SEPT 7 BLAZERS AT WEYBURN REDWINGS SJHL – Weyburn, Saskatchewan
SEPT 9 BLAZERS AT KINDERSLEY KLIPPERS SJHL – Kindersley, Saskatchewan
SEPT 11 BLAZERS VS MINOT MINOTAROUS NAHL – Estevan, Saskatchewan
SEPT 12 BLAZERS VS ESTEVAN BRUINS SJHL – Estevan, Saskatchewan
SEPT 13 BLAZERS VS ESTEVAN BRUINS SJHL – Estevan, Saskatchewan
SEPT 15 BLAZERS VS VIRDEN OIL CAPITALS MJHL – Virden, Manitoba”
And heres the graphic they used;
And about that comment of the WSHL and NAHL competing on the same level? I didn’t know they legalized recreational marijuana in Oklahoma.
So yeah, needless to say, I don’t expect this to be available to the public for too much longer, and those USA Hockey and Hockey Canada teams…..you boys just might have some explaining to do!
*The Death Pool is a mix of comedy, and satire in connection with recent events. It is not an official report of current events although it may look as though the news is so accurate that it could one day happen or may be happening.
