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WSHL commissioner comes to Barrhead to discuss potential franchise

Kevin Berger – Leader Staff While the Town of Barrhead is seemingly on board with welcoming the Western States Hockey League (WSHL) to the community, it remains to be seen whether the residents themselves are supportive of hosting a Junior ‘A’ hockey
Ron White speaking to Council
Commissioner and president Ron White addresses Town of Barrhead councillors during their July 9 meeting, saying in addition to the agrena facilities the local franchise will need the help of local volunteers to get off the ground.

Kevin Berger – Leader Staff

While the Town of Barrhead is seemingly on board with welcoming the Western States Hockey League (WSHL) to the community, it remains to be seen whether the residents themselves are supportive of hosting a Junior ‘A’ hockey franchise in the 2019-2020 season.

On July 9, town councillors received a presentation by WSHL commissioner and president Ron White regarding the proposed franchise, which if all goes well will be starting up in mid-October.

Later, they passed three motions granting the WSHL exclusive use of a dressing room at the Barrhead Agrena, establishing a rental rate of $80 per hour for adult hockey practice prior to 6 p.m. on weekdays and establishing a 70/30 revenue-sharing agreement with the league regarding advertisements on arena boards/the ice surface.

On July 10, White hosted a public meeting within the front lobby of the Barrhead Agrena to answer any questions from residents and to impress the need for volunteers to help run the team. Only six or seven people actually turned out for the session.

WSHL history

At both meetings, White delved into the history of the WSHL, which was founded by Don Thorne in 1993 in Long Beach, Calif.

Initially, the league consisted of only six teams, including several teams in California, one in Las Vegas and one in Flagstaff, Ariz.

White noted it is actually the original Long Beach team that is likely moving to Barrhead, indicating that the team is having to move because of high operating costs in the Long Beach area and the loss of a local ice surface.

“It was known for 24-25 years as the Long Beach Bombers. It will likely become the Barrhead Bombers,” said White.

It should be noted that few, if any, of the team’s current players or coaching staff will be coming to Barrhead — it will really just be the team name and the logo.

White indicated he only came to be aware of Barrhead’s existence after he was contacted by Town of Barrhead CAO Ed LeBlanc, who was inquiring about the WSHL’s association with the Western Provinces Hockey Association.

White said LeBlanc actually came out to meet him at Edmonton before he was due to fly to Las Vegas. Soon, a deal was worked out to potentially bring a WSHL franchise here.

“That’s kind of the start of how we got here,” he said.

Noting that he has served as president and commissioner of the league since 1997, White said the WSHL was affiliated with U.S.A. Hockey until 2010 when it joined the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), the largest independent youth athletic association in the world, White said.

Joining the AAU essentially allowed the Western States Hockey League to become its own governing body, said White, noting they also grew from 10 teams to 26 teams in total.

This allowed the WSHL to allow a greater number of international players into the league, whereas before they were restricted to only two non-U.S. players per squad.

Right away, that number shot up to six, and the WSHL immediately noticed an increase in the skill level within the league.

Now teams can have as many as 14 out-of-country players, which doesn’t include Canadian players on U.S. teams or vice versa. About 30 per cent of the players are from foreign countries.

“That has upped the level of our play so dramatically … over the nine years,” he said.

Last year, the WSHL boasted a total of 23 teams across five divisions, which is being reduced this year to five. That included four new Canadian teams in Edson, Hinton, Cold Lake and Meadow Lake, Sask.

Although two of the Canadian teams struggled to get going due to not completing their ice arrangements until August, White indicated they still pulled in 600 to 700 people per night for their games.

“Attendance is much better up here than down in the States,” he said.

For the most part, the teams in the provincial division will play each other. During the 2018-2019 season, several of the U.S. teams travelled up to Canada to play six games with the local teams over the course of a week, but this year, Edson and Hinton are just having one U.S. team come up to Canada for a weekend before they reciprocate.

Edson did fairly well in its inaugural year, winning the provincial division. That enabled them to travel down to Ogden, Utah and compete  at the WSHL’s annual championship, the Thorne Cup.

How the league works

White noted the WSHL is a “tuition-based” league, meaning that players actually pay to be on a team.

The tuition to be on the Long Beach Bombers is $10,000 per year, plus a billeting fee of $600 per month. This is due to exceptionally high real estate values in the area and the fact that the Bombers are one of the more prestigious franchises in the WSHL.

The tuition paid by players covers most of their insurance and equipment costs, as well as their accommodation and travel expenses. White said they require players to have their own personal protective gear like shin pads and girdles, and they also give players money to purchase their own helmets.

As well, foreign players are required to purchase their own import insurance and their AAU membership, which is under $60.

But why pay to play hockey at all? For one thing, White indicated that opportunities for European hockey players fade as they age up becomes extremely thin as you age up; after high school, you’ll end up playing in adult leagues unless you’re a national-level player.

As well, playing in this league offers opportunities to be scouted by various colleges at the WSHL Shootout, an annual tournament started in 2000.

This annual showcase was first hosted in various rinks before it was moved to Las Vegas permanently, mostly due to the fact that it’s one of the cheapest U.S. cities to fly to, White said.

Last year, scouts for a total of 133 colleges attended the tournament, noted White, adding, “We literally pay … for every college hockey scout that comes to the event.”

Because the event is attended by such a wide variety of colleges, that means scouts are looking for a wide variety of skill levels, so nearly every player gets approached.

“If I’m a third-liner or a fourth-liner, I still have people who want to talk to me,” White said.

For this reason, while the WSHL can have players as young as 15, the league is pre-dominantly made up of 18 to 20-year-olds. You can play with the WSHL provided you don’t turn 21 prior to Dec. 31 in a given season.

White indicated there are still tryouts for each team, and there will be an opportunity for Barrhead hockey players to try out. From the WSHL’s perspective, they would like to have a dozen players.

The season starts in mid-October and consists of 52 games, including four games played at the Shootout.

What’s needed

Regardless of whether or not any Barrhead hockey players are interested, however, much more will be needed from the community to get a team going in mid-October.

White indicated they will need local families to serve as billets for players. In exchange, they receive a small stipend, though the main reason for serving as a billet is the experience.

At the July 9 council meeting, Coun. Leslie Penny asked how they will find billets, noting that Barrhead isn’t a very big place.

“Every community is slightly different. But in your type of community, it’s slightly easier to find billets than (in Long Beach),” White responded.

As well, they will also need volunteers to work the gate at games, to run penalty boxes, to keep score and so forth.

All volunteers/billets have criminal record checks done — anyone with a history of drug use or physical/sexual abuse cannot work with the team.

As well, they must complete a short online program called SafeSport, which was developed by the Olympic committee of U.S.A. Hockey.

“It’s a very professionally-run league. It’s like anything else; there’s always somebody that you have to step on their toes a little bit. But we know what we’re doing, we know how to compete, we put a good product on the ice,” he said.

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