By Colin Oswin – Merritt Herald with files from Black Press
Jun 27 2007
Merritt Centennials fans will notice a few changes when the 2007/2008 British Columbia Hockey League season kicks off on Sept. 7.
At the BCHL annual general meeting, held from June 8 to 10, the league decided to make the race for playoff berths a little tighter.
After last season when 16 of 17 teams made the playoffs, the league has reverted to the old playoff format, with the top six teams in each conference making the playoffs. The top two teams in each conference will have a first round bye. The third seed will meet the sixth, and the fourth will meet the fifth in round one. From those two five-game series, the winners will move on to play the first and second seeds in best-of-seven game series for the conference semi-finals.
Keegan Goodrich, a director on the Cents board and Centennials play-by-play man, says the time off for the top two teams could help or hinder their playoff chances.
?They?ll have more time to rest and get healthy,? he says. ?On the other hand, they could get rusty.?
The loss of the Williams Lake Timberwolves franchise (who will start up again for the 2008/09 season in Wenatchee, Wash.) left the league with two eight-team conferences, and opened the door for the playoff changes.
The playoffs will begin Feb. 29, 2008, a week earlier than last season.
The regular season schedule will be similar to last season?s single interlocking format. Teams in the Interior will once again play two games versus Coastal opponents (one home-one away) and an unbalanced in-conference schedule. Teams will play six of their conference rivals six times (three home-three away) and the seventh team, designated as their closest geographical opponent, eight times.
Goodrich says the unbalanced schedule makes the season tough for the Centennials, with strong opponents nearby in Salmon Arm and Vernon.
?We felt it was not the best option for us,? he says. ?It?s better on a competitive level to be more equal.?
Another change will be seen in the BCHL?s Fan Zone website. After two years of charging a fee to access the Internet broadcasts, the league will be making the Fan Zone accessible to everyone. The league is changing Internet service providers and also looking at the possibility of providing pay-per-view video broadcasts.
