New BCHL Vision and USHL competition

[hockeyinsiderguy]

I do not know if the BCHL requires a change at headquarters but I would like to see a much more intense marketing campaign to ensure the BCHL can stay as one of the top leagues in North America. I see the USHL as competition even though some people will not agree with me. They seem to create more of an atmosphere within their league by simply using a few simple marketing tools to create that atmosphere.

1. They use the Website to the max and is much more flashy then other leagues. Like it or not the flashy stuff works
2. The USHL draft creates a buzz throughout the entire nation. BCHL does not seem to realize this.
3. The USHL sells their league as a combination of a CHL and tier 2 league in order to attract the best players. It is a complicated issue to fully go through on a blog but should be used by other Canadian leagues.
4. Eventually have a tournament where the USHL is included.

Other thoughts:
5. I personally hope a couple of WHL teams located in B.C. either move to another province or fold. This would beef up the level of the BCHL.
6. Knock down the amount of BCHL teams to 7 in each division
7. If the BCHL and WHL can eliminate a couple teams each then that will help the Minor hockey systems. There are so many players that should be staying home and playing another year with their Midget teams. Once again it would also strengthen the calibre of the league.
8. The Junior B loops should also have a rule on how many midget aged players they can have on the roster. This will strengthen the Midget leagues and once again keep kids in their own family atmosphere.

[deliberatelyobtuse]

I do not disagree with your goal to make midget hockey more relevant. To do so you would have to change the concept of the BC Major Midget League which has been a pet peeve of mine for some time. This is why.

The MML currently cow-tows to the WHL. The WHL did not like the change to the 15 - 17 age group as it left many of its draft picks playing at a level lower than Midget AAA for the year after the draft because they couldn't compete with 17 year olds for a spot.

Alberta coped with the situation by having AAA for the very best midget players available. If a 15 year old could make AAA, and usually two or three could make each team, so be it. The other 15 year olds played in the 15 year old league. The system works well and creates a very competitive AAA league between the prairie champions.

BC, of course, knew better. They would create this MML for the draft picks. Most of the drafted players would play MML even though there were better, older players who were passed over in the selections to make room for the draftees. A couple of years later, BC made it even more blatant by putting a limit of 5 17 year olds on an MML team. It worked beautifully to suit the purposes of the WHL! If you look now at the ages of the MML participants, many teams have few or no 17 year olds.

The result is that the 16 and 17 year olds head out of town to play Junior A or B as soon as they can make a team. Kids are displaced earlier than in the prairie provinces and usually their education is messed up. The other result is that BC MML teams cannot compete with the older AAA teams in other provinces. BC messed it up good.

If you want to now limit the number of 17 year olds that can play Junior A and B, and limit the number of 17 year olds who can play MML, you are really saying to 17 year olds that they have missed the boat. Their hockey careers are over.