AJHL announces game cancellations for “five defecting teams” until further notice

The Alberta Junior Hockey League announced on Thursday morning that games scheduled between the “five defecting teams” in the Brooks Bandits, Blackfalds Bulldogs, Spruce Grove Saints, Okotoks Oilers and Sherwood Park Crusaders, against the remaining 11 teams are cancelled, until further notice.

A schedule update was released by the league, providing some clarity as to what their plan is moving forward.

Since the news broke Friday evening, and was confirmed by the BCHL on Saturday afternoon that teams were accepted for the 2024-25 season, there has been a rash of cancellations.

The statement reads that they continue to evaluate the best path forward following this BCHL announcement.

“We are responding by taking steps to protect the competitive integrity of the AJHL and CJHL playoff system to ensure the safety of our players and officials. To this end, until further notice, we have cancelled all upcoming games scheduled to be played between these five defecting teams and the remaining eleven teams at the core of our league,” the statement says on their website.

“Games previously scheduled among these eleven teams will continue as scheduled. Out of respect for the players on the five defecting teams, we will allow scheduled games among these clubs to proceed.

“We are working diligently with our partners — including the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL), Hockey Alberta and Hockey Canada — to find a resolution to this unusual situation created by the five defecting teams and the BCHL and will provide further updates as decisions are made.

“The AJHL’s stated vision is to create an environment that inspires trust and confidence among our organizations, athletes, fans, partners, and stakeholders. We continue to be the premier developmental league in Canada for student-athletes striving to capitalize on their athletic and academic abilities. We are disappointed by the recent announcement, but look forward to providing our fans with more exciting AJHL hockey in the months and years ahead.”

Pontiacs impact

That means for the Bonnyville Pontiacs that three games are for the time being cancelled:

• Friday, Jan. 27 vs Saints
• Friday, Feb. 16 at Bandits
• Saturday, Feb. 24 vs Crusaders

If this is how it works for the remainder of the regular season, there will be a disparity of games played, with the 11 teams having an inconsistent number of remaining contests vs these clubs.

The rest of the schedule will go as originally planned.

What this means for the standings overall, a playoff format, etc, is still unclear.

Bonnyville will have just one game this weekend then, Sunday afternoon at 2:00pm against the Drumheller Dragons.