BCIHL adds first U.S. entry with approval of Eastern Washington for 2011/12

The British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League will feature a new team for the 2011/12 season after the Eastern Washington University was granted membership to the BCIHL by the league's governors at its Annual General Meeting on June 4th.

Eastern Washington University is located in Cheney, a town of about 10,000 residents located about 20 miles southwest of Spokane. The Eagles were previously a longtime member of the American Collegiate Hockey Association, where they competed in Division II and finished fourth in the nation in 2011.

"Our membership was very pleased that Eastern Washington expressed an interest in joining the BCIHL and I'm confident that they will quickly become a competitive and valuable member within our league," says BCIHL President Kim Verigin.

Eastern Washington's roster already features a number of players who will be familiar to B.C. hockey fans. Returning leading scorer Ryan Pajimola played in 172 BCHL games with the Surrey Eagles and Cowichan Valley Capitals, while Delta product Taylor McClay spent parts of four seasons with Surrey, Chilliwack and Cowichan Valley.

Goaltenders Jason Greenwell and Cash Ulrich both starred in the KIJHL, and the team's stable of former Spokane Braves includes forwards Shane Horlacher, Bret Kellogg and Cam Sargent as well as defenceman Shane Davis.

Eastern Washington assistant coach Bill Shaw cited a few reasons for the switch, with the primary benefits involving cost savings and a higher calibre of competition.

 "Travel costs were becoming extremely high [in the ACHA]," says Shaw. "Our travel budget this year was higher than our entire budget for next year in the BCIHL."

"I think it's going to be a great opportunity, we are looking forward to playing teams that challenge us more," EWU defenceman Nick Kelly says. "The competition will be consistently much better compared to the teams in the [American College Hockey Association], where we only played a few good teams."

The final hurdle for EWU is for their application to Hockey Canada and USA Hockey to be formally accepted later in June, but that is expected to be just a rubber stamp for the BCIHL's first American entry.

"BC Hockey has been very helpful in navigating us through this process," says Verigin. "Everybody seems to agree that this is a great move for Eastern Washington and a solid step forward for the BCIHL."