WSHL 2021-22 (if it lasts)

[mk80]

Well the teams have already started predictably dropping again for what's left of the WSHL. The Utah Altitude one of their hastily cobbled together teams for this season has folded after the first weekend and the players added to another team who had only signed 4 players as of October 25.

Altitude Issue Following Statement

Other rosters around the league don't look to strong either, some with barely enough to play, many having overage guys to fill them out.

Click to read more...

 

[mk80]

Well the US division didn’t make it one week into the season even. For now the teams in Canada will still play
https://twitter.com/wshlhockey/status/1456692832702382084?s=21

 

[JMCx4]

So when do they rebrand to WPHL? Or WCHL?

 

[SemireliableSource]

The entire division? JFC. This league should have just thrown in the towel after the mass exodus for the USPHL.

 

[kij]

I mean had those teams jumped ship any year other than Covid year I feel like the league could have survived. Taking a year off and losing every last surviving US franchise... it's a death knell. A quality league in Canada that allows large amounts of Europeans could be a valuable and entertaining product but Canada doesn't have much of a need to import more hockey players.

 

[mk80]

I mean had those teams jumped ship any year other than Covid year I feel like the league could have survived. Taking a year off and losing every last surviving US franchise... it's a death knell. A quality league in Canada that allows large amounts of Europeans could be a valuable and entertaining product but Canada doesn't have much of a need to import more hockey players.

A couple other advantages in the Canadian division is that other than the new Edmonton team they are towns that leagues like the AJHL, BCHL etc. have stayed away from. Also all of Canadian junior hockey shut down due to covid so it seems like getting rosters assembled was easier for those teams at least.

The USPHL exodus would have mostly likely been a league killer in a normal year, and covid just made things even worse. Obviously the league didn't use their hiatus to actually do much planning.

I'm not sure how long the Canadian teams can and will last on their own. But as I thought going into things they have had the best shot at restarting their play.

The entire division? JFC. This league should have just thrown in the towel after the mass exodus for the USPHL.

I agree. The least they could and should have done, was do things like scouting combines and things like that to help ensure their teams had players and some basic level of stability. But well here they are.

 

[MeHateHe]

As a fan of train-wreck spectacles, I love watching hockey leagues like this from a distance. The league has a website that's an absolute mess; a link to schedule page from the main page leads you to a schedule from 2019. There's a notice about the Utah team folding. The notice about the NW Division seems to have vanished and the list of teams includes the five Canadian teams plus the Vernal Oilers, but there's a link on the main page from the Facebook page of the Bellingham Blazers acting like a character from Monty Python saying "I'm not quite dead!"

Why can't used car salesmen stick to selling used cars?

 

[mk80]

As a fan of train-wreck spectacles, I love watching hockey leagues like this from a distance. The league has a website that's an absolute mess; a link to schedule page from the main page leads you to a schedule from 2019. There's a notice about the Utah team folding. The notice about the NW Division seems to have vanished and the list of teams includes the five Canadian teams plus the Vernal Oilers, but there's a link on the main page from the Facebook page of the Bellingham Blazers acting like a character from Monty Python saying "I'm not quite dead!"

Why can't used car salesmen stick to selling used cars?

Their league website has had issues for years, even when the league was more.... "stable"

 

[PCSPounder]

Press release from Rogue Valley tries to be more “explanatory.”

Royals Announce Dormancy

 

[mk80]

It is the Royals intention to participate in the 2022-2023 season

At this rate I highly doubt there will be a 22-23 season for the WSHL.

As of now the Bellingham Blazers and Vernal Oilers are competing with the Canadian teams.

 

[PCSPounder]

At this rate I highly doubt there will be a 22-23 season for the WSHL.

As of now the Bellingham Blazers and Vernal Oilers are competing with the Canadian teams.

My fervent hope would be that the Royals play in another league. And even that’s loaded with “be careful what you ask for.”

 

[TSK1020]

the facility in Bend would bea natural fit for some sort of jr hocky experience. That is just from a facility standpoint with bleachers installed on end and sides that could seat 1000+ at least id say, albeit being an open-air venue which Im not sure would negate a leagues entrance into the market. The big hiccup id envision is this rink ('The Pavillion") being a community-driven intiative to get the rink in frist place so I doubt it would be willing to service the private enterprise of a team. BUT, apparently the rink is so packed there is "talk" of a new rink which could conceivably cater to this junior hockey option while easing the pressure on the community rink. I think anything less than a rink with a NAHL capacity would be not fulfilling the venue's potential. Ice time is scarce in Bend and for a region with 250k+ population, and great economic indicators, with a winter culture it isnt out fo the question that someone may fill the void, especially with Krak Heads around now. I hope its an old box store personally. Perfect scenario for a place like Bend. Bend is way too outdoorsy to build a standalone rink... at least IMO, would never happen. Recycling old things is the vibe out there otherwise there would be public outcry

 

[mk80]

My fervent hope would be that the Royals play in another league. And even that’s loaded with “be careful what you ask for.”

I do wonder if the Rogue Valley Royals, Blazers, and Oilers would consider joining the rest of the former WSHL teams in the USPHL next season after all this.

Apparently the league is going to have its Vegas Showcase 2021 Showcase - Western States Hockey League

I question how successful it will be with not only how poor the operations of the league are this year, but with the exception of the first day it also overlaps with the NA3HL Showcase in Blaine, MN which is the big draw for the NCAA D3 and ACHA coaches to scout.

 

[PCSPounder]

the facility in Bend would bea natural fit for some sort of jr hocky experience. That is just from a facility standpoint with bleachers installed on end and sides that could seat 1000+ at least id say, albeit being an open-air venue which Im not sure would negate a leagues entrance into the market. The big hiccup id envision is this rink ('The Pavillion") being a community-driven intiative to get the rink in frist place so I doubt it would be willing to service the private enterprise of a team. BUT, apparently the rink is so packed there is "talk" of a new rink which could conceivably cater to this junior hockey option while easing the pressure on the community rink. I think anything less than a rink with a NAHL capacity would be not fulfilling the venue's potential. Ice time is scarce in Bend and for a region with 250k+ population, and great economic indicators, with a winter culture it isnt out fo the question that someone may fill the void, especially with Krak Heads around now. I hope its an old box store personally. Perfect scenario for a place like Bend. Bend is way too outdoorsy to build a standalone rink... at least IMO, would never happen. Recycling old things is the vibe out there otherwise there would be public outcry

NAHL would be great in Bend. But it’s investor(s)/potential ownership that needs to put up or shut up.

 

[MeHateHe]

I do wonder if the Rogue Valley Royals, Blazers, and Oilers would consider joining the rest of the former WSHL teams in the USPHL next season after all this.

Apparently the league is going to have its Vegas Showcase 2021 Showcase - Western States Hockey League

I question how successful it will be with not only how poor the operations of the league are this year, but with the exception of the first day it also overlaps with the NA3HL Showcase in Blaine, MN which is the big draw for the NCAA D3 and ACHA coaches to scout.

Scoresheets posted by the league on their website show some of the teams with 10 or 11 players. Of course, the same scoresheet also lists goals and penalties attributed to player numbers not listed on the scoresheet, so who knows? Would scouts go to watch a showcase with seven teams, when those teams only have a dozen players each?

 

[mk80]

Scoresheets posted by the league on their website show some of the teams with 10 or 11 players. Of course, the same scoresheet also lists goals and penalties attributed to player numbers not listed on the scoresheet, so who knows? Would scouts go to watch a showcase with seven teams, when those teams only have a dozen players each?

I don't think many scouts would make the trip to watch the WSHL showcase this year.

 

[MeHateHe]

The league's Las Vegas showcase wraps up today (Dec. 21). The original schedule published two weeks ago included the five Alberta teams plus the team from Vernal.



12 days later, the revised schedule quietly excluded the Edmonton team.



Not only are the teams having to play more than once a day during this showcase, it looks like the league is using the same five or six on-ice officials for all the games. Having been a referee in a real Junior A league, I can tell you that skating one high-intensity game is enough for one day; two days in a row is very taxing, so doing three games in a day (as has happened during this showcase) is crazy. Then again, the game sheets show some of the teams icing a roster of 12 or 13 skaters.

This is all after Barrhead had to lend players to Hinton so they could actually play a game last week.



I dunno how anyone takes this clown show seriously.

 

[JMCx4]

... I dunno how anyone takes this clown show seriously.

I reckon those paying for the players to participate are taking it seriously ... in a sorta way.

 

[mk80]

The league's Las Vegas showcase wraps up today (Dec. 21). The original schedule published two weeks ago included the five Alberta teams plus the team from Vernal.



12 days later, the revised schedule quietly excluded the Edmonton team.



Not only are the teams having to play more than once a day during this showcase, it looks like the league is using the same five or six on-ice officials for all the games. Having been a referee in a real Junior A league, I can tell you that skating one high-intensity game is enough for one day; two days in a row is very taxing, so doing three games in a day (as has happened during this showcase) is crazy. Then again, the game sheets show some of the teams icing a roster of 12 or 13 skaters.

This is all after Barrhead had to lend players to Hinton so they could actually play a game last week.



I dunno how anyone takes this clown show seriously.

Yet I swear I saw scores posted from the Showcase included Edmonton. Here's the big question, how many scouts actually showed up? In pre-pandemic years, the showcase drew a number of ACHA schools out there. I doubt many, if any, scouts were in attendance this year with the decline in quality of play in the league, and the numerous problems it has right now. Plus it was directly overlapping the days of the NA3HL showcase which having been up there myself I can say was well attended by the ACHA and NCAA D3, plus other junior, coaching staffs

 

[MeHateHe]

Edmonton team they are towns that leagues like the AJHL, BCHL etc. have stayed away from.

Just about this. The team plays in Enoch, an Indigenous community just outside Edmonton. So it’s not really Edmonton, at all.

 

[mk80]

Just about this. The team plays in Enoch, an Indigenous community just outside Edmonton. So it’s not really Edmonton, at all.

I saw they had some players on their roster that were First Nations players. Very cool to see.

Edit: upon clicking the link to their website to go doublecheck myself on those players, it appears the Eagles website is offline as of the time of this post Account Suspended

 

[kij]

I saw they had some players on their roster that were First Nations players. Very cool to see.

Edit: upon clicking the link to their website to go doublecheck myself on those players, it appears the Eagles website is offline as of the time of this post Account Suspended

Eagles land in new Can-Am Junior Hockey League
The website is alive and well look at what we have here. WSHL is dead again?

 

[JMCx4]

I do admire that retina-burning orange gear of the Vegreville Jr. Vipers. Much more jarring than I imagined from their jersey reveal back in the fall.

 

[mk80]

Eagles land in new Can-Am Junior Hockey League
The website is alive and well look at what we have here. WSHL is dead again?

Looks like it. The active teams basically formed a new league and as the last paragraph says who knows what happens with Seattle, and Bellingham.

 

[PCSPounder]

Statement on Bellingham’s Facebook page says they hope to be part of the new league. Shrug.

EDIT- noting that I didn’t see elsewhere on this thread that Bellingham and Seattle announced they went dormant for the season on December 2.

EDIT #2- amused by the Death Pool comment (because how can one not be amused by the dueling website wars) about how the teams forming the new league “scammed” the WSHL. As in “what WSHL?” Even if the information in the report is true, the WSHL is guilty of being unable to be stable.