It is full steam ahead.
That is what Western States Hockey League (WSHL) commissioner Ron White said about Barrhead’s upcoming entry into the league for the upcoming 2019-2020 season.
The league announced its intention to come to Barrhead and Cold Lake in early July.
A week later, on July 9, White made a pitch to Town of Barrhead councillors, describing the league and asking for accommodations regarding practice rates and game ice availability as well as exclusive use of one the facility’s dressing rooms.
Council also agreed to 70/30 revenue-sharing agreement with the league regarding advertisements on arena boards/the ice surface.
An informal public information meeting was held at the Barrhead Agrena on July 10 with only a handful of people in attendance.
Despite the poor attendance at that initial meeting, White said he is excited about the prospects of Barrhead joining the league.
White said he is confident there will be a much better turnout at the league’s next information session on Thursday, Aug. 1 at the Agrena at 7 p.m.
At the meeting, the club will introduce the new team name and logo, as well as its head coach Todd White.
White, who is no relation to the commissioner, served as the head coach of the Western Provinces Hockey Association’s (WPHA) Cold Lake Icedogs.
In addition to meeting the coach and learning more about the league, Ron said he is hoping several residents will sign on as volunteers to serve from everything to ticket takers, ushers, off-ice officials, time-keepers and other off-ice officials and billet families to videographers to stream home-games to the league’s website.
“The thing we want to come away with after the meeting is to have two key people in place that will help coordinate our volunteers, a billet and a game operations coordinators. Those two positions are especially important,” Ron said.
The billet coordinator will work with the coach to pair prospective players with billet families while the game operations coordinator will mostly be responsible for ensuring all the volunteers are in place so the game can take place.
“The scorekeepers, the people that work the penalty box, opening and closing the door, ushers, ticket takers, that sort of thing,” he said.
The WSHL is a Tier II Junior ‘A’ hockey league. It was founded in 1993 in Long Beach, Calif, starting with six teams. Last year, the WSHL boasted a total of 23 teams across five divisions. Barrhead will be part of a Canadian division along with the Hinton Timberwolves, the Edson Aeros and the Meadow Lake Mustangs from western Saskatchewan, all of which are in their second year in the league.
The WSHL differs from conventional junior hockey leagues in that it has loose restrictions regarding the number of import players (ie. non-North American), allowing up to 14 per team.
On July 9, White also noted there would be an opportunity for local players from 18-20 years old to try out for the team.
The WSHL also differs in that it is a tuition-based league. On the Long Beach Bombers, the team which would likely relocate to Barrhead, the fee is $10,000 per year, plus a billeting fee of $600 per month.
The 2019-2020 WSHL season is slated to begin Oct. 4, however, White said Barrhead’s first home game wouldn’t be until mid-October.
While Barrhead would play mostly other teams in the Canadian division, some of the U.S.-based teams might make special trips to Canada to play away games, and vice versa.
As well, the winner of the Canadian division would also take part in the WSHL championship, the Thorne Cup.
