The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League held their Annual General Meeting in Nipawin on June 3 and while there was no earth shattering changes to the league they are undergoing some minor ones.
The biggest change coming to the SJHL starting in the upcoming 2017-18 season will be the dissolution of the Western Canada Cup (WCC) and will be replaced with the returning Anavet Cup.
Bill Chow, the SJHL鈥檚 president, noted that there were some financial troubles associated with the WCC, which was a big part of the reason it will not return.
With five WCC鈥檚 in the books, Chow noted only two of the first four were financially successful for the host team, with numbers from the fifth, held in Penticton, B.C. earlier this year not yet available.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not sure why those reasons are there or why they鈥檙e not successful or why it hasn鈥檛 been successful,鈥� he said of its lack of success.
Bringing the Anavet Cup back will alleviate a lot of the financial troubles the WCC caused, with Chow noting there will not be as many travel costs.
As for how much financial success teams will enjoy, Chow says it is up to them and will depend on how they promote it.
鈥淥bviously you don鈥檛 know who鈥檚 going to be hosting it until the Manitoba, Saskatchewan champions are determined but you鈥檙e going to have a definite following to those hometown teams just because of who they are and that鈥檚 who鈥檚 playing.鈥�
The cup will go back to its former format with the provinces alternating home ice advantage.
Since Saskatchewan was the home team for the final cup in 2012, Manitoba will have home ice advantage this coming season.
To help cut down on travel costs, the Cup will be held in a 2-3-2 format, meaning the team with home ice advantage will play at home in games one, two, six, and seven, and on the road in games three, four, and five.
听
Other news
The Royal Bank Cup qualifier is not the only change to the playoffs the SJHL will be implementing this year as they have also elected to shorten the playoffs.
After hosting a survivor series round, which saw the four teams compete in best of five series against one another the SJHL has elected to shorten that series to a best of three.
While they did shorten the survivor series, Chow notes the format itself will stay the same.
The league also announced a minor cosmetic change for the start of the 2018-19 season as teams will begin wearing their dark jerseys at home and their white jerseys on the road.
Chow notes this was something the teams have been looking to do on and off over the last couple of years and said the key was finding the right time to implement it.
鈥淭his time of the year some teams have ordered their new jerseys, whichever ones that they鈥檙e going to be replacing and so we figured that if we鈥檙e going to do this we have to do it two years out and then that way teams can plan and make those plans accordingly.鈥�
The league also worked on the schedule for the upcoming season, which should be released in the coming weeks.
