BCHL, Coastal Conference, Interior Conference

2021-22 BCHL regular season schedule announced

Written by Brian Wiebe on

 

The BC Hockey League released the complete schedule of games for the 2021-22 regular season on Monday for the league’s 60th year of operation.

The season, with 18 teams playing a total of 972 games, begins on Friday, October 8, and concludes on Sunday, March 20.

Some highlights of the 2021-22 schedule include:

  • The 2021-22 regular season opens with seven games on Oct. 8, highlighted by the Cranbrook Bucks’ first regular season home game at Western Financial Place.
  • That same night, the Prince George Spruce Kings begin defense of their 2019 Fred Page Cup championship with a visit to Merritt. The Spruce Kings’ home opener at Prince George Coliseum is scheduled for Oct. 15 vs. the Centennials. The 2020 and 2021 Fred Page Cup playoffs were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • The reigning Interior Conference playoff champion Vernon Vipers also open their season on Oct. 8 as they visit the Penticton Vees at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
  • The BCHL Showcase runs from Oct. 20 – 24.
  • The BCHL Road Show is Feb. 19 – 20.
  • There are three days this season where all 18 of the BCHL’s teams are in action: Friday, Nov. 5, Saturday, Nov. 6, and Friday, Feb. 4.
  • The 2022 Fred Page Cup Playoffs get underway on March 25.

All 972 games will be broadcast on BCHL TV and pending public health restrictions should be able to host fans.

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The schedule is imbalanced with games more focused on regional match-ups. For example, Alberni Valley has more games against its Vancouver Island regional counterparts in Cowichan Valley, Nanaimo, Powell River, and Victoria than it does against Chilliwack, Coquitlam, Langley, and Surrey, despite being in the same conference.

In the Interior, for example, the Trail Smoke Eaters, Wenatchee Wild and Cranbrook Bucks face each other more often than they do the other five teams in the conference.

BCHL Showcase and BCHL Road Show

There’s no official word on which teams are participating in the BCHL Road Show, but Surrey and Coquitlam are the only two teams without games on the Feb. 19 – 20 weekend on the official schedule released on Monday.

The Eagles and the Express also each only have 50 games on the schedule, which can be accounted for by two games against each other at the Road Show and two other games (likely against different opponents) at the Showcase.

The BCHL Showcase sees each of the league’s 18 teams play a pair of games. If history is any indication, the Showcase games can be either conference or inter-conference games.

The complete 2021-22 BCHL regular season schedule is available here.

Brian's been involved in the BCHL in a variety of capacities for 17 years. From 2002 to 2012, he served in several roles around the Merritt Centennials organization, including as team president, board member, beat writer, colour commentator, webmaster, media and communications coordinator and marketing assistant. He's been writing about the BCHL since 2008 and served as colour commentator on the TSN 1040 broadcasts in 2012-13. BCHLNetwork is one of Brian's many passion projects that he balances around his full-time job as an instructor in the Radio Arts and Entertainment Program at BCIT in Burnaby.