FLIN FLON REMINDER — Now into his second season on the job, SJHL commissioner Kyle McIntyre is hoping to put the league he’s tasked with running on a path to a bright future.
McIntyre said his first year in the job last season was a positive one, but he hopes to build on what was done in 2022-23.
“I would say that we really have not fully accomplished what we set out to do last year with our hockey operations and our business operations goals. We want to continue on from last year, we want to maintain a lot of the positive momentum from last year and we want to make sure that all 12 of our franchises are fiscally solvent and are putting good products on the ice,” he said.
This year will be almost the same as last season, in terms of play style for the SJHL and for several key league structures. The same 12 teams will take part and each team will still play six games each against division rivals and two out-of-division teams and four against everybody else. The league will still host its annual showcase weekend in Warman, this time with it taking place in November and not October - every team will play twice during that time.
Fans will be able to come to the league’s 12 venues free of COVID-19 restrictions, much like last season, and those fans will still be able to use noisemakers or horns to show encouragement, with McIntyre saying earlier this summer that the league would not make rules against horn use in the league, leaving those to local authorities.
One big change will come with the introduction of mandatory full-face protection, either in the form of cages or full “fishbowl” visors, for all players born in 2005 and later - players born in 2003 and 2004 will still be able to wear a half-visor while playing. That rule came down from Hockey Canada and the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL) - the SJHL and Hockey Saskatchewan were against the rule, but it will come into effect regardless.
Off the ice, the league has introduced an internal waiver system, similar to the one that was in effect within the league for years, which would allow any other SJHL team to bid for the services of a Saskatchewan-born player if a club plans to trade them out of province. The league has also brought in what McIntyre calls an “elements of effective franchise” rubric, to be used by teams and boards to track in what ways they are doing well or needing improvement, such as ticket sales, player outcomes, fundraising, education and other categories.
The league is also rolling out a new universal code of conduct, working along with Hockey Canada and Sport Canada’s newly released codes, seeking to eliminate potential discrimination within the game - what McIntyre calls “all the bad -isms in the game.” That will include player and staff education sessions during this year’s Warman showcase, working alongside Hockey Saskatchewan.
“Whether it’s sexism, homophobia, maltreatment or racism, we’re really going to hold our players, officials, employees and our volunteers to a higher standard, as a league. We’re trying to be role models in that area and we’re trying to align our practices, as a league, with Hockey Canada and Sport Canada’s universal code of conduct,” said the commissioner.
“We’re not only developing hockey players in our league - we’re developing good people. Not every kid that goes through our league is going to play hockey further. I think we have a responsibility to prepare these young me for life - not only to be a good hockey player, but a good person and a good teammate.”
Part of McIntyre’s goals include trying to find new business and development partnerships for the SJHL and seeking more post-junior development chances for the players. The latter part paid off last year, with a total of 74 players receiving offers for play in college or university programs. Twenty-two of those players got scholarship offers from Division I schools - by contrast, just four SJHL players did in 2019-20.
Since taking over the job, McIntyre has been adamant the SJHL can put itself in the upper tier of Canadian junior A hockey leagues. Last year’s champion Battlefords North Stars were ranked as Canada’s top team for months in the CJHL rankings and made it all the way to the Centennial Cup final. With three SJHL teams, including the Bombers, taking part in the tournament in the past three seasons and both tournaments happening either in or near Saskatchewan, McIntyre said the league is trying to cement its place. That comes with hopes of tying both the league and its teams closer to local minor hockey organizations, through player outreach, through mentorship programs or through community involvement.
“I'm proud of our league. I was extremely proud of how our league has been represented the last two years in the Centennial Cups. I do think a lot of people have a high degree of respect for the SJHL. I was really pleased the last couple years, in that I didn't think that our teams really sold the farm to be competitive at the Centennial Cup. When I think about it, for last year, the North Stars had 11 kids from Saskatchewan - they had four from their own local hockey association. Brooks had three kids from Alberta on their team,” he said, then relating that same development strategy to that of the Bombers in recent years.
“When I look at the teams that Mike [Reagan, head coach and general manager] and Cole [McCaig, assistant coach and assistant general manager] put together, they always have kids from northern Manitoba. They have kids from Saskatchewan - yes, a few kids from Quebec, but the nucleus, the core of their team, are from the prairie provinces. That makes me proud, because that's what we're trying to achieve as a league.”
