The British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) heads into the 2026-27 season with twenty teams, five of them from Alberta. Back on June 3rd, one of the notes from the 2026 Annual General Meeting Recap was "Governors identified Alberta expansion as a priority" (hello Cold Lake?). This is a league that removed itself from Hockey Canada ahead of the 2023-24 season to remove borders on player availability. It makes no sense to continue using a territorial name like BCHL.

Founded in 1961 as the Okanagan-Mainline Junior Hockey League, the name BCHL did not come about until the 1995-96 season. As previously mentioned, the board of governers voted to leave Hockey Canada in 2023. That same season, news broke that five Alberta teams were leaving the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) to join the BCHL.

The Alberta Five

Since 2018-19 the Brooks Bandits have won their league every season there has been a championship to be won, whether it be the AJHL or the BCHL. The common refrain around the time of the transition was that the Bandits needed a new league and new level (theoritically being able to draw from a bigger talent pool pushes this league closer to tier one than tier two) to dominate.

The Spruce Grove Saints, who won 5 AJHL Championships in 10 years before 2018-19, and the Sherwood Park Crusaders made the jump to the BCHL. Both teams had new arenas on the horizon which was rumoured to be a priority for the league.

The Blackfalds Bulldogs, founded in '21/22, have accomplished more in a handful of years than many Clubs do in a decade. Right away the Bulldogs were bringing fan buses to Sherwood Park (and probably other rinks) while building up their own home game experience. Attending a playoff game in Blackfalds, you (as a fan of the visitor) quickly despise the goal horns post goals, hits, any excuse to use them really but you're not supposed to like the opposing barn.

The Okotoks Oilers missed the BCHL playoffs last season. It is the first time in their 17 year history of seasons that had playoffs, that they failed to qualify. Since 2012-13, six times their playoff hopes ended against the Bandits. The one time they advanced past Brooks to the Finals, Spruce Grove defeated them.

West Coast Hockey League? Pacific Rocky Hockey League?

Would the BCHL changing to their league name to something broader like the West Coast Hockey League or the Pacific Rocky Hockey League help Alberta teams? Would it hurt the BC teams?

In Alberta, each of the member teams have lost fans because their teams featured a distinctly less Albertan roster. A name change will not fix that. But from the point of view of trying to obtain sponsors, or grabbing some attention from people paid to report on hockey, not having BC in the title would absolutely help. Now, do not read that as if sponsorships have dropped off, if you asked the five teams they would say they have not. Read it as the reality of "supporting local" is easier for your Alberta businesses to support an Alberta hockey team when the league does not feature the name of another province.

It is tough to speak on behalf of BC as the point of view here is from Alberta but it is hard to believe a Powell River Kings (good luck Coach Menard, Brec Christenson, Filip Vavro, Micheal Mikan) season ticket holder drops out because of a league rebrand.

It bears repeating, it makes no sense to keep a territorial name like BCHL if you bill yourself as a league that brings in talent from across from the world. Evidence of "the world" is a look at the top ten scoring leaders last season, you have four Canadian provinces, the Ukraine, America, Japan and Sweden represented.

Notes on the author: more than a decade as a volunteer for the Sherwood Park Crusaders, new season ticket holder to the Spruce Grove Saints. Somebody, anybody, beat Brooks!