WarriorofTime
Registered User
- Jul 3, 2010
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“Unsanctioned hockey” lol. You’d think players will be competing with battle axes.
I personally know many guys who played there. One player was given an SUV and an apartment for him and his girlfriend. Also thousands a month. Others were making 1000$-1500$ a month.Not saying we didn't get money but thousands per month is definitely a bit of an exaggeration. It was nice to get but it was a lot less than we would've been making had we been working jobs at that point, it felt more like an allowance than a payment.
It sucks seeing the Blizzard decline so much.
Yes, perhaps my "making it up" comment was a bit of overstatement. Maybe better to suggest they are overstating things or claiming an agreement has been reached that has not been reached.I don't think there's any way to look at this story and think the BCHL is "making it up". None of the 5 AJHL teams has rebutted the key proposition - that they intend to play in the BCHL next season.
That being said - the AJHL does come across as being kind of sanctimonious here. Talks about "unsanctioned hockey" (like Hockey Canada has some magic wand to wave over sanctioned games) or the negative impact on players (isn't that being caused by the AJHL suspending games?).
This is one of those stories where neither side comes across very well.
Wut? The AJHL wasn’t ruining these players eligibility before all this BS so how would that change if they continued to let them play as carded players in a HC sanctioned league for the remainder of the season.I thought the AJHL seemed very petty upon initial reaction to the news that they were cancelling games. But if their reasoning is to err on the side of caution so they can ensure they aren't ruining the eligibility of every player in the league, I feel like postponing these games for a later date is absolutely more than reasonable. If these teams had given the league a few days notice, perhaps they would have been able to carry-on without any changes to the schedule.
Only time will tell if this is the actual reason for the cancellation of games, and not out of sheer pettiness. Haven't heard anything on postponements of games scheduled for this weekend that the 5 teams involved in this scenario will be playing in.
I think you have the decades off a bit. There was a fair bit of money flying around in the 90s but that sounds more like the early to mid 2000s Blizzard. The Casino was opened in 2004ish, the Blizzard's peak ended around 2002.I personally know many guys who played there. One player was given an SUV and an apartment for him and his girlfriend. Also thousands a month. Others were making 1000$-1500$ a month.
Maybe at the time you weren’t making that but the top guys were making a lot more than league minimum lol
The last year of their dynasty was in 2003 but they were still top of the league is 204-2005 and paying players a lot then. I just messaged my buddy and he said that he was getting 1000$ a month, $1000 Xmas bonus and custom sticks. And he wasn’t one of their top 5 players at the time.I think you have the decades off a bit. There was a fair bit of money flying around in the 90s but that sounds more like the early to mid 2000s Blizzard. The Casino was opened in 2004ish, the Blizzard's peak ended around 2002.
By 2006 though, they were starting to get pretty run-of-the-mill and by 2014, they weren't as special anymore.
Good Lord. Don't tell that to the moms and dads of players on some MJHL teams who are dutifully making their monthly pay to play etransfers, it could be too much to bear.The last year of their dynasty was in 2003 but they were still top of the league is 204-2005 and paying players a lot then. I just messaged my buddy and he said that he was getting 1000$ a month, $1000 Xmas bonus and custom sticks. And he wasn’t one of their top 5 players at the time.
After that year when they were swept by Portage the money slowed down as a new chief and council came in and stopped the casino money.
Aaron Starr was making bank then!
Reminds me of when the Horse Lake Thunder (a senior hockey team based on a reserve in northern Alberta) started hiring a bunch of ex-NHLers in order to compete for the Allen Cup at around that same time. Theo Fleury was I think the most notorious.The last year of their dynasty was in 2003 but they were still top of the league is 204-2005 and paying players a lot then. I just messaged my buddy and he said that he was getting 1000$ a month, $1000 Xmas bonus and custom sticks. And he wasn’t one of their top 5 players at the time.
After that year when they were swept by Portage the money slowed down as a new chief and council came in and stopped the casino money.
Aaron Starr was making bank then!
Ya….I hate how hockey has got down the crapper as a form of entertainment plus add in all the new things people have that they didn’t in 2004. MJHL players all made money to play. $150 a month covered gas and beer for a while!Good Lord. Don't tell that to the moms and dads of players on some MJHL teams who are dutifully making their monthly pay to play etransfers, it could be too much to bear.
Theo was probably the most drunk in Lloydminster maybe and that’s saying something (but the poor guy was nearing the bottoming out of his personal demons at the time), I think Sasha Lakovic was the most most notorious in my mind on that team. I was at that Allan Cup and it was very good hockey but senior hockey shenanigans were happening.Reminds me of when the Horse Lake Thunder (a senior hockey team based on a reserve in northern Alberta) started hiring a bunch of ex-NHLers in order to compete for the Allen Cup at around that same time. Theo Fleury was I think the most notorious.
Holy shit - that player (who is only 19) had already been suspended for 13 games earlier in the year (which included an extra 3 games for being a repeat offender), and now gives an opposing team's goalie a "severe injury"? That guy should never see the ice again.
Im hearing news out of the AJHL that the 5 teams will be announcing something in the near future and have cancelled the games they are scheduled to play against each other.
I'm speculating that they might not finish the season under the AJHL umbrella.
This league will likely struggle now....Craig Button announced that CHL players will be eligible for NCAA scholarships within the next 18 months.
No top end player at the 2nd Tier Junior A level will get a sniff of a scholarship if the CHL players are all eligible and any of them who wants NCAA will now be trying to get on a CHL team.
2nd tier Junior A in rural areas will be dead. Sad for smaller communities that own teams and support them now.
He's very very much tied in the CHL world. Just google it and you'll see multiple reports that its happening. I don't doubt that Hockey Canada is pushing this as well...it will ruin the new BCHL model pretty quickly. But it will also kill the other leagues across canada in the long run.Big if true.
I quite like Craig Button, but is he really the guy who is going to have insider information on what the NCAA does? CHL players hhave been NCAA ineligible for forever and that would be a massive change for them.
"In July 2021 to the rules that govern collegiate athletics that allow student athletes to earn money from corporate sponsorships and to accept money from supporters."Big if true.
I quite like Craig Button, but is he really the guy who is going to have insider information on what the NCAA does? CHL players hhave been NCAA ineligible for forever and that would be a massive change for them.
Funny you bring up the NCAA...the NCAA is a defacto professional league if you believe that there are 16 players in NIL making more per year than Brock Purdy:Ummmm… has anyone been watching the NCAA lately?
You have big conferences looking to grow their football brand, women’s sports are really growing, but schools outside the big programs are getting DE-funded because media companies don’t want to pay all of them anymore.
So when you characterize college hockey as growing, I question that, more because the core of that operation is under a bigger threat. Worse, if the big schools bolt the NCAA, then what?
On the other hand, with NIL, IF they hold together, does the NCAA still have a legal basis to restrict CHL vets from joining?
Didn’t the BCHL become pay-to-play to some degree?
I feel like this article kind of puts things a bit too harshly for my tastes, especially this part:![]()
Major Junior Players Will Not Get NCAA Opportunities - All Of The Reasons And Facts
The rumor of Major Junior players somehow being made eligible to play NCAA hockey in the future has once again reared its ugly and nonsensical head. While we uthejuniorhockeynews.com
There is a movement among many State and Federally funded universities to eliminate scholarships for non United States citizens now. Why would any State or public university give money to any family that hasnt paid into those taxes? This is a real question for University regents in todays political climate.
This is all just opinion and ZERO is fact or facts provided.![]()
Major Junior Players Will Not Get NCAA Opportunities - All Of The Reasons And Facts
The rumor of Major Junior players somehow being made eligible to play NCAA hockey in the future has once again reared its ugly and nonsensical head. While we uthejuniorhockeynews.com
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So at best the BCHL jumped the gun - the story I'm seeing is that someone on the inside was going to leak it so the league decided to push it out there - and at worst the BCHL is making something up.
No matter what, this is a bad look from a business standpoint to shove your new partners under the bus in this way.