It鈥檚 not official just yet, but things are lining up for Chilliwack to get a brand new junior B hockey team.
Clayton Robinson and two partners have the finances and the venue for a squad that would play in the Pacific Junior Hockey League.
The league鈥檚 board of governors voted down the new entry last weekend after disagreeing over the franchise fee.
Robinson was told initially told to offer $400,000 and the league鈥檚 fee is actually $500,000.
But his group has decided to go ahead with the higher price tag, believing the business model will make it a success.
鈥淰erbally, they鈥檝e accepted our proposal and we just have to have one more meeting with the governors,鈥� Robinson said. 鈥淲e鈥檒l meet Monday to go over the business plan, but it shouldn鈥檛 be an issue. For now, I can say the rumours are true and I鈥檓 feeling confident.
鈥淲e feel Chilliwack is a fast growing community that will support us well.鈥�
There have been whispers for a while about a team based out of the new ice sheet at the Sardis Sports Complex.
Robinson wanted a team in Chilliwack two years ago, but he couldn鈥檛 find a suitable venue. Instead, he purchased the Nanaimo Buccaneers of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League from longtime owners Phil and Brenda Levesque.
鈥淚t was great because they kind of mentored me for the first year and I didn鈥檛 have to re-invent the wheel a whole lot,鈥� he noted. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot involved in running a hockey team. Way more than you鈥檇 think. The first year I sat back and ran the business side of things, and in the second year I got involved in hockey ops, taking on the head coach and GM role.鈥�
The 36 year old found it taxing because he didn鈥檛 have much help, and he didn鈥檛 have the same network of contacts in Nanaimo that he鈥檒l have in Chilliwack.
鈥淚 grew up here and know a lot of people and I have a couple great partners who are going to be involved,鈥� he said. 鈥淢y job will mostly be the hockey ops while they take care of the sponsorship and advertising side, but I have a big stake in this so I鈥檒l probably be involved in everything.鈥�
Henry Kingma is one of the partners. He is the owner of Royal Interiors.
Chilliwack born-and-raised Curtis Toop was a partner in Nanaimo and will reprise that role in Chilliwack.
Robinson confirms he will be the head coach and GM with the new team, if it is approved, at least in year one.
He has an extensive background coaching in the Chilliwack Minor Hockey system, including taking CMHA鈥檚 midget Bruins to the provincial championship tournament in 2017, and a huge part of his belief that Chilliwack will support a junior B team comes from his plan to populate the roster with local players.
Robinson plans to start with a core group from his midget teams and build from there.
鈥淭here are a lot of kids playing minor hockey who aren鈥檛 quite good enough to play junior A hockey, but they want to keep playing. So where do they go?鈥� he asked. 鈥淲hy not home? Right now they鈥檙e going to Abbotsford, Mission, Aldergrove, Revelstoke and all over the place. If you count up the Chilliwack kids who are in junior B and not playing here, there鈥檚 got to be at least 30 in all the leagues.鈥�
A look at the Abby Pilots roster Tuesday found nine of the 21 players hailing from Chilliwack, with two more listed as affiliate players at .
鈥淭hey own those players, so it鈥檚 not like we could just go and take them, but I think there鈥檚 at least 10 good players who aren鈥檛 playing hockey right now who played major midget and quit, and they鈥檒l play in Chilliwack if we have a team,鈥� Robinson said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a bunch of kids from Chilliwack Minor Hockey this year who will make the team and we鈥檒l do some out-of-town recruiting as well.
鈥淲e鈥檒l be looking to have maybe seven out-of-town players and the rest will be local. That鈥檚 the model we used in Nanaimo as well where we were a super local team, and it鈥檚 been really successful.鈥�
Robinson鈥檚 business plan will budget for 200-250 fans a game.
He鈥檒l be sharing a market with the BCHL鈥檚 Chilliwack Chiefs, but doesn鈥檛 believe the teams will clash.
鈥淲e have totally different business models and I think we鈥檙e going after a totally different market than they are with a focus on a younger, teenaged crowd,鈥� Robinson said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 part of the reason we wanted to be on the Sardis side of town too, with so many schools on that side and many of our players living there.
鈥淗ockey wise, the players we鈥檙e going after aren鈥檛 the players the Chiefs are going after, but we want to work with them, and other junior teams too if possible. Our main goal will be to move kids on to junior A, and the more we can move on to that next level, the better it looks for our program and the easier it will be to recruit.鈥�
THe PJHL is currently a 12 team league split into two conferences that includes the 黑马磁力 Trappers, Aldergrove Kodiaks, Ridge Meadows Flames, Mission City Outlaws, Abbotsford Pilots, Surrey Knights in the Harold Brittain conference and the North Vancouver Wolf Pack, Richmond Sockeyes, Grandview Steelers, White Rock Whalers, Delta Ice Hawks and Port Moody Panthers in the Tom Shaw conference.
eric.welsh@theprogress.com
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