sigx15
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- Jan 31, 2010
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New West Coast Junior Hockey League with ties to NHL
- Thread starter sigx15
- Start date
Barclay Donaldson
Registered User
A little concerning that there doesn’t seem to be info other than the article in the OP. But if the article is correct, and there’s legit hockey people and NHL connections involved, this is promising.
Another good sign is that they’re going for a 2023-24 launch rather than a junior league popping up months before a new season. Hopefully that means there’s a plan to hire coaches a year in advance to go out and recruit top AAA talent then add some experienced Tier II junior players.
The old WSHL had it right with a showcase tournament in Vegas each season. Easy flights from all over and cheap hotels for scouts and college coaches to visit. The last few WSHL showcases pre-pandemic shutdown were hosted in the Golden Knights practice facility. Hopefully this new league would model a similar Vegas showcase.
The article makes a lot of comparison to USHL and major juniors but I’m not sure there’s many USHL-level facilities in the West that aren’t already used by AHL teams. The West Coast lacks a tier II league so something along the level of the NAHL or NCDC would be a more stable starting point. There’s also been rumors of some of the western USPHL teams wanting to build NCDC structure on top of their current tier III teams.
Bottom line. A lot of questions to figure out.
Another good sign is that they’re going for a 2023-24 launch rather than a junior league popping up months before a new season. Hopefully that means there’s a plan to hire coaches a year in advance to go out and recruit top AAA talent then add some experienced Tier II junior players.
The old WSHL had it right with a showcase tournament in Vegas each season. Easy flights from all over and cheap hotels for scouts and college coaches to visit. The last few WSHL showcases pre-pandemic shutdown were hosted in the Golden Knights practice facility. Hopefully this new league would model a similar Vegas showcase.
The article makes a lot of comparison to USHL and major juniors but I’m not sure there’s many USHL-level facilities in the West that aren’t already used by AHL teams. The West Coast lacks a tier II league so something along the level of the NAHL or NCDC would be a more stable starting point. There’s also been rumors of some of the western USPHL teams wanting to build NCDC structure on top of their current tier III teams.
Bottom line. A lot of questions to figure out.
Barclay Donaldson
Registered User
Exactly. If they are trying to be a USHL-type league, there is a complete lack of facilities available for this. And lack of open markets as well. In how many areas on the West Coast can you draw 1,500-3,000 fans every night to a facility that can hold that many people, if not more? If they were capable of hosting hockey, the NAHL would have been all over them. The NAHL has been trying to expand into the West Coast for years now and every time they saw it is due to the lack of any open markets and arenas.
If it is USPHL organizations trying to do the NCDC "team ownership also owns the arena to make your biggest expense go away" then that makes a lot more sense. However, the NCDC has tried that and it certainly hasn't attracted the high level of hockey the Boston Mafia thought it would have. In fact, there are fewer NCAA D1 commits now than there were with the EJHL despite the EJ having had fewer teams and being pay to play. The USHL is king, the NAHL is not very far behind. Anyone in the hockey community with a brain seeing players who are top 10 league wide in points in the NCDC going upper-middle of the line NCAA D3 tells a kid to go USHL, where more often than not you're already NCAA D1 committed, or NAHL, where the bottom feeding kids are the ones going middle of the line NCAA D3.
Either way, I'm really curious about this announcement tomorrow. And pessimistic about their chances regardless of the which avenue they choose.
PCSPounder
Stadium Groupie
“We’re not here to compete with anyone.”
WHY? That’s exactly what this venture should do.
They better be flashing a lot of cash, because that will be required, depending on how the plan is realized.
I just had this vision of the whole league playing out of one arena, something that a couple of abandoned ballparks out west have tried to do. I feel the blerg with that thought.
WHY? That’s exactly what this venture should do.
They better be flashing a lot of cash, because that will be required, depending on how the plan is realized.
I just had this vision of the whole league playing out of one arena, something that a couple of abandoned ballparks out west have tried to do. I feel the blerg with that thought.
Interesting, I saw some social media news yesterday from some of the West Coast Hockey/NHL writers with some quotes but still vague. No website or social media from the league or that West Coast Sports and Entertainment co. Also the announcement yesterday referenced the NHL teams supporting the league but nothing on those teams’ websites or socials.
Barclay Donaldson
Registered User
Where is that announcement? I am getting flashbacks of the dozens of "announcement tomorrow" broadcasts we have seen in the past.
With all the team ice facilities being built out with some seating now for NHL teams I doubt getting buildings and a couple thousand fans to show up is a problem. Plus its a very large geographical area, could see a two division approach to cut down on travel with a CA/NV side and a UT/CO side. There is a lot of young talent that doesn't pursue juniors around here in Colorado due to the distance and cost that I think they could tap into, just as an example.
JMCx4
Censorship is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
Nothing about the Tuesday "announcement" that I could find on the interwebs. Must be another one of those time zone things, or an oddity of Daylight Savings Time. 
Barclay Donaldson
Registered User
You have no doubts about the ability to get a few thousand fans to show up? There would have been a league by created by some entity somewhere many years ago if there interest was tangible to that extent. All but two of the AHL Pacific teams are in the middle to bottom of the league in attendance. That is a pretty straight forward sell with minor league hockey with local affiliation. Junior hockey is a whole other animal. Countless failed NAHL teams can verify that and plenty of USHL which have their own problems.
Hockey was supposed to fail everywhere in the west. The AHL couldn't justify teams in the west. The ECHL couldn't get out of the west fast enough. These narratives all existed in the past but may not be true any longer. I don't think it really matters anyways how many people show up if its supported by the nearest NHL team. People crave live hockey now in the west and make it a low enough price point and market it as a local community team and I can definitely see good attendance for some of the teams.
Barclay Donaldson
Registered User
Hockey was supposed to fail in the West? I'm pretty sure that is delusional. Hockey was supposed to succeed in the West. California would be a top 5 economy in the world if it was its own country. Hence the Gretzky and the three California teams being so heavily marketed.
The AHL couldn't justify teams in the West? Once again, delusional. They couldn't justify the operational costs and travel increases unless they got an entire division to move, which they ended up doing in 2015. They had tried for a while to do it unsuccessfully because it was only 2-3 teams that wanted to do it.
People crave live hockey now in the West? 3 of the bottom 8 AHL teams in attendance are in California. The ECHL left less than 10 years ago. Not that much has changed.
Same thing as before. If it was that much of a guaranteed thing, there would have been leagues and teams all over it. In a world where the Fed exists, you can't tell me that there is this guaranteed market for live hockey with hockey crazed Californians that no one has ever noticed.
Barclay Donaldson
Registered User
Where there is already a BCHL team? A league that is the second best "non-major junior" junior league in North America?
Yeah, have fun with that...
JMCx4
Censorship is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
Barclay Donaldson
Registered User
Nothing yet. Them stating "we're not here to compete with anybody" in the initial news release is probably a bad sign...
And that stated March 15 announcement never materialized..
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