There may be no joy in Cloverdale Sept. 11.
That’s the day the new PJHL franchise was set to make its home debut at The Barn on the Cloverdale Fairgrounds.
The new Cloverdale hockey club is set to play its season opener away at the Surrey Knights Sept. 4, but even that is now in question. And both Cloverdale and their scheduled games have been removed from the PJHL website.
A source close to the situation said the PJHL may be removing Cloverdale from the league.
“This is a massive fight among owners over this Tier 1 and Tier 2 stuff,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “And they’ve put the kids in the middle.”
This comes on the heels of the failure of the PJHL to move into two leagues—both Junior A Tier 1 and Junior A Tier 2—something that was announced earlier this year.
The vote to approve the change failed at summer league meetings. The news of that vote seems to have been swept under the rug by the PJHL, no announcements, no release, nothing on their website about the failure of such a big vote. (Apparently that vote failed to achieve a league-mandated, two-thirds majority and came out 8-7.)
On one side there are the owners that wanted the Tier 1/ Tier 2 split trying to take out their frustration with the vote on the owners that wanted to prevent the split, the source indicated.
“By the governors threatening to cancel the team, they're trying to get back at certain owners that prevented that split.”
The source confirmed league is now in two divisions. They did not know how that would work over the course of the season.
White Rock Whalers principal owner Chris McNally is speaking for the 7 owners who voted against the tiering split. He confirmed Cloverdale had been scrubbed from the PJHL website, but wouldn’t say anything about what was going on behind the scenes.
McNally noted his sole effort is keeping Cloverdale in the league. He’s optimistic he can work through it with the PJHL.
“My focus is making sure the Cloverdale franchise has a chance to play in our league,” he said. “I need to do everything I can to make that happen and that's really the only story I want to tell.”
He said there are several teams supporting the Cloverdale franchise.
Cloverdale has been operating as a regular team since the franchise was awarded earlier this year in May. The club has put a team and front office together, made trades, and played pre-season games up until Aug. 31, a 2-1 win over the Surrey Knights. And the City of Surrey has spent taxpayer money to upgrade The Barn.
McNally said he hasn’t been given “a satisfactory reason” from the PJHL as to why now Cloverdale may be scrubbed.
“I don’t think there’s a good reason for them to not be playing,” he said. “The leadership of the PJHL has acted to stop the participation of the franchise, is the best I can tell. I can't guarantee anything at this point, because I've had a hard time getting clear answers to the specifics of what's gone on.”
McNally said he going to try to get the answers and work in favour of the Cloverdale players.
“There are several teams in the PJHL that believe this is wrong.”
He added it was owners and league leadership who were leading the charge against Cloverdale.
“It’s adults causing problems for kids.”
McNally acknowledged the PJHL is a league that operates in municipal buildings and has strong community ties and that the league is not just “an owners” league, as not one team owns their own building.
The City of Surrey has put money into The Barn and has plans to build a third, junior ice hockey ready sheet in the new Cloverdale Sport and Ice Complex.
“We have to be connected to our communities for us to be successful as a league, as franchises,” he said. “We should be accountable to our players and our families and our communities.”
The Cloverdale Reporter reached out to Mayor Brenda Locke about what city action, if any, will be taken to recoup costs from the PJHL should Cloverdale not use the upgrades put in at the Cloverdale Arena and paid for by the City of Surrey. This story will be updated when we hear back.
If the franchise is revoked, or if it has been revoked, that means 20-odd kids would be scrambling to find places to play hockey several months too late.
The PJHL and B.C. Hockey announced in March the PJHL would become a two-tier junior hockey league with realignment for 2025-2026 seeing seven teams play in Junior A Tier 1 and the other eight—which later would include Cloverdale—play in Junior A Tier 2.
The Tier 1 teams would have been: Chilliwack Jets, Coastal Tsunami, Delta Ice Hawks, Grandview Steelers, 黑马磁力 Trappers, Richmond Sockeyes, and Ridge Meadows Flames.
The Tier 2 teams would have been: Abbotsford Pilots, Aldergrove Kodiaks, Cloverdale, Mission City Outlaws, North Vancouver Wolf Pack, Port Coquitlam Trailblazers, Port Moody Panthers, Surrey Knights, and White Rock Whalers.
All the teams, save Cloverdale, are listed on the PJHL website as being in two different divisions.
McNally said he believes Cloverdale will play this year.
“I won’t stop fighting for them.”
The Cloverdale Reporter reached out to the PJHL, but did not hear back by publication time.
