Friday the 13th, sit out, money, frat houses, scientists oh henry and strike a balance
____________________________________
After a few uncertain months it was decided that the KIJHL and the Ghostriders will play again this season, you won’t get to watch them or anything.... but they will play.The season will start in November on Friday the13th... 2020, what could possibly go wrong...
Anyway, teams can only allow 50 people in the building so with 40 something players along with coaches trainers a few volunteers and referees we hit 50 pretty fast. The players who sit out might really sit out...
The obvious question is Show Me the Money.... with no ticket sales advertising etc the players will have to foot the bill otherwise teams will go bankrupt. Kamloops for one says their player fees will be nearly $10,000
The hope is that by Christmas fans will be allowed back in the rinks.
The other hope is that teams can get billets for the players in this new environment . There was even some social media talk that players could rent houses, but that would be a disaster, like a frat house without all the annoying school work.
This could be the year of the local player... they don’t need a billet, GM’s should be nice to them, actually they should have always been nice to them, this is, after all, Jr B and should feature some locals.
Referee Dr Bonnie Henry has been making the calls on how BC will respond to Covid 19.
As it stands now Fernie, Kimberley, Invermere and Creston will play in one division, or as the scientists call it a cohort. Yeah I know I had to look it up too. Anyway they won’t allow five teams in the cohort so to start the season Golden will play in the Revelstoke division.
So Dr Henry what’s safer, Golden playing in our div I mean cohort or Golden going over the Rogers Pass for half of their games.
On the other end Creston may end up in Nelson’s division for the last half of the season and Golden comes back here or something.
Anyway, Spokane because of borders and 100 Mile and Beaver Valley because of the obvious health issues have opted out for the season. I get it and I am kinda surprised more teams didn’t opt out because of money after hearing all the howling about the crossovers for all those years.
The players on the teams that went dark will get put in a dispersal draft. I personally have some questions about that and think they should be free agents, we are player advocates here. On the other hand KIJHL Commissioner Jeff Dubois is looking out for the league plus the players and was concerned that the best players would all go to the top teams.
It could get complicated with teams charging different fees and players not wanting to move. But the league says they will try and accommodate both sides.
Commissioner Jeff Dubois “We tried to strike a balance that recognizes the player’s rights and still gives every team a chance to compete” Dubois' full KIJHL statement on the upcoming season is HERE
