BCIHL statement on TWU's successful bid to join Canada West conference

On Thursday, May 9th, it was announced that Trinity Western University has been successful in their bid to have their Men’s Hockey program join the Canada West conference and begin play at the USPORTS level for the 2020/21 season.

The Spartans will compete in the B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League for the 2019/20 season. TWU is exploring the possibility of creating a junior varsity team that would continue to play in the BCIHL, but a determination has not been made at this time.

The BCIHL would like to congratulate TWU and recognize the contributions made by Spartans Head Coach Barret Kropf and his staff towards the growth of the league in their time as members.

“We’ll have mixed feelings when we say goodbye to the TWU staff and players after next season, they have been a strong advocate for collegiate hockey in BC since our inception in 2006,” says BCIHL President Chris Munshaw.

“While the potential of losing a team introduces a new challenge, we also see this news a positive sign. TWU’s BCIHL team began as a student-run club, as most teams in our league were at one point, we saw that group achieve university funding and varsity status, and now we see them moving on to a new conference competing at the national level.”

“TWU has demonstrated the growth possibilities for collegiate hockey in BC,” says Munshaw. “We are currently working alongside BC Hockey to expand on our model and survey the opportunities for expanding our league into new markets. With a rapid competitive growth along with increasing institutional support from universities like TWU, we believe that the BCIHL is a great opportunity for junior hockey graduates as well as an opportunity for institutions to really connect with their student body. We have had some inquiries and we’re cautiously optimistic that we can expand on our footprint within BC over the next few years.”

In partnership with BC Hockey, the BCIHL has taken a community-driven approach towards identifying opportunities for expansion.

The VIU Mariners club, who are backed by a local group of builders coming from various levels of junior hockey, entered the BCIHL in 2017 and advanced to the BCIHL finals in only their second year. The SFU club, which is backed by alumni and corporate sponsors, has a roster combining for over 1,500 games of Junior A and over 1,300 games of Junior B experience and has managed strong results against USport and NCAA Division 1 opponents over the years.

While today’s BCIHL offers a highly competitive level of play, teams have developed an academics-first approach by prioritizing academic support for student-athletes, something that has served the league well.