The BCHL continues to carve out its own identity in the Canadian junior hockey landscape, and its latest announcement for the 2025-26 season underscores that direction. On Thursday, the league unveiled its 54-game regular season schedule, a new divisional alignment, and a playoff format designed to stoke rivalries and reduce […]
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How NHL drafted prospects did in the BCHL this season
The BC Hockey League continues to thrive as a prime source of National Hockey League-calibre talent, even as it operates outside the Hockey Canada system. Seven players drafted in the NHL appeared in the league during the 2024-25 season, with five of them on BCHL rosters at the end of […]
The evolution of the BCHL playoff format
The 2025 Fred Page Cup playoffs are well underway. This year, the format had the top eight teams in each conference making the playoffs, but that wasn’t always the case. Over the last six seasons, the BCHL has used three different playoff formats. For the 2020 playoffs, the Victoria Grizzlies […]
Exploring the Blackfalds Bulldogs busy December
December was a busy month for the Blackfalds Bulldogs. By the holiday break, Blackfalds had won two games and conducted a series of trades. In total, Blackfalds made seven trades, welcoming four new players and saying goodbye to five others. Blackfalds also saw head coach Doug Quinn step down from […]
Crunching the numbers on players leaving the BCHL for Major Junior hockey
Junior hockey saw a seismic shift on Nov. 7 when the NCAA announced that effective Aug. 1, 2025, players with Canadian Hockey League experience were now eligible to play Division I college hockey. As of this writing, 37 players have left their BCHL clubs to join a team in either […]
BCHL trade analysis: Kings and Warriors connect on a multi-player deal
On Nov. 24, the Powell River Kings made a trade with the West Kelowna Warriors. In the deal, West K nabbed 2005-born defender Axel Löfgren, while the Kings acquired several assets. In exchange for Löfgren, Powell River received 2005-born defender Landen Hildtich, 2007-born forward Eliot Compton, and future considerations. A week later, […]
History made: The first games between B.C. and Alberta-based BCHL teams
On Sept. 20, the Spruce Grove Saints played their first game against a B.C.-based opponent when they hosted the Penticton Vees at the Grant Fuhr Arena. The next game between an Alberta and a B.C.-based BCHL team was the next night when Penticton visited the Crusaders at Sherwood Park Arena. […]
BCHL power rankings – December 2024
Welcome to another edition of the BCHL power rankings. From this point on the statistics will be consistent. The last rendition I felt gave an unfair advantage to teams that were special teams heavy, as in they were excelling on both the power play and penalty kill (I’m looking at […]
BCHL power rankings – November 2024
Let’s get familiar with the BCHL power rankings. The goal is to understand how teams are performing offensively, defensively, on the power play and penalty kill, and in goal, compared to other teams. For those of you familiar with my Kootenay International Junior Hockey League power rankings from years ago, […]
2024-25 BCHL jersey watch
It’s our favourite time of the year — time for another B.C. Hockey League jersey watch. This season we get to possibly see five new jerseys for the five Alberta-based teams that came into the BCHL midway through last season. We also say goodbye to the Merritt Centennials and […]