I had the nuts and bolts of an article written on the five AJHL teams who intend to play in the BCHL next season, but I’ve decided to put that one on hold in light of the press release that came from my hometown club, the Yorkton Terriers, on Saturday regarding the dire financial situation the team finds itself in as we hit the stretch drive of the 2023-24 season.
The reality is this - the Terriers would need to get hot and then would need help from a couple of teams above them to get into the playoffs. The playoffs is where Junior A teams make their money because tickets don’t come at a discount like they do for season ticket buyers in the regular season and fan attendance tends to also tick up with the importance of each game. So, banking on a playoff round or two to provide relief for their expenses isn’t likely.
This write up isn’t intended to point fingers on how we got here and it’s not really about providing earth shattering advice on how to dig out of the hole but Junior A hockey has undergone major changes over the last fifteen years as far as how the game itself is played and that’s affected (in some markets, greatly affected) overall fan interest. Mix in government decisions that affect everything we do which has resulted in a situation where the cost to run a team has never been higher, the corporate community doesn’t have the disposable income it once did, and so you need individual ticket purchases from your fans, who also have less money, more than ever before.
As far as the Terriers are concerned, you have a team that hasn’t been competitive since being allowed to return to play since Covid and there were two seasons prior to that where people didn’t even have an option to go and so new habits have been formed. Being the biggest city in the SJHL, there are more things to do in Yorkton than there are in other towns so just returning to the rink to watch hockey isn’t as automatic as you’d maybe assume. I also believe the Terriers are no different than pro organizations where once the vaccine pass was implemented, it turned off a certain percentage of people who have made a choice to never darken the doors of the arena ever again unless they receive an apology. Even if you estimate that number is low, say 50 or so people, it’s significant when you take into account the overall drop in attendance.
One hockey observer said to me on Saturday that people need to forget what once was as far as junior hockey and focus on where it’s at today and where it’s going in the future and then decide if that’s something they want to continue to support. The two-fight rule isn’t coming back and the game is not going to be as physical with intense rivalries as we once experienced.
Economically, having the Terriers in Yorkton is somewhere between a $4-million and $5-million benefit a year. Losing them is a lot more complicated than just throwing your hands up and saying ‘oh well, I guess it didn’t work’.
On top of needing money, the organization is also in desperate need of human beings to help revitalize fundraisers. When was the last time we had a Sportsman’s Dinner here? How about a hockey school spearheaded by the head coach and supplemented with instruction from the numerous alumni who are still living here? Cash lotteries, crop fundraisers, comedy nights, poker tournaments, and other social events are all proven methods to raise money that work but they require the sweat equity to plan and get off the ground.
While today it’s the Terriers, I do worry about the financial stability of many SJHL clubs going forward; especially with five AJHL teams set to join the BCHL and play by a different set of rules that gives them an advantage on top of one they already enjoy. So, why try and do what that league is doing when it comes to player development and fan engagement?
For as long as I can remember, all Junior A leagues have been chasing the BCHL to secure more NCAA scholarships. Even though they weren’t coming close to winning that battle, the SJHL was the most successful Junior A league in the country as far as winning or playing in the championship game of the RBC Cup (the national Junior A championship tournament) because we were a bigger league with more physical players and, often, more experienced ones. Therefore, I would give up that losing battle of fighting the BCHL for the limited number of scholarships available. It doesn’t mean you can’t showcase a highly competitive junior A league.
The British Columbia geography and winter climate isn’t something Saskatchewan can compete with. If you are an NCAA scout, you can fly into Vancouver and see Surrey, Chilliwack, Coquitlam, and Langley all within a stone’s throw. Or you can fly to beautiful Kelowna and without much effort, see West Kelowna, Vernon, Penticton, and Salmon Arm. If you fly to Vancouver Island, you get Victoria, Cowichan Valley, Alberni Valley, and Nanaimo.
In Saskatchewan, you fly to Regina and then drive for 60-90 minutes to see the closest team or Saskatoon and face a similar highway trek and that’s assuming you get lucky and the roads are in good winter driving condition.
A few AJHL teams have had similar success as the BCHL with NCAA scholarships and the fact that Cale Makar played for Brooks is a major feather in their hat. But, if you look at the hockey operations of the Bandits, Blackfalds Bulldogs, and other teams looking to make the move to the BCHL, they employ a large staff of people. They are major operations. In the case of Blackfalds, I count 20 in their Business/Hockey Ops/Coaching departments and that is even with their owner holding three positions (owner, president, and coach). Teams in the SJHL simply can’t survive employing that many people.
Fans don’t really care if the players they are watching are going to be NCAAers. They just want their team to entertain them, and that usually means watching a winner. The last time the Terriers were competitive, their entire top line of Chantz Petruic, Jared Legien, and Branden Klatt were players that filtered back from the WHL. The following season, in which the campaign was cut short due to Covid, the Terriers were in a hotly contested playoff series with LaRonge and their top players were Petruic, the Taphorn twins, and Alec Zawatsky. Again, all WHL veterans who came back to the SJHL.
Because once a player plays a single game in the WHL, he becomes ineligible for the NCAA, those who have played in the WHL have become, somewhat, unwanted in the Junior A ranks despite having more than enough ability to help contribute to a winning team. If I was running a Junior A team, I’d be working non stop at my relationship building with the WHL and, especially, the teams in Saskatchewan. If I had a team that can send a couple of players to them, it will be a little easier to get the veterans when they run out of major junior options and my team would also, hopefully, become more attractive to players and their families who want to go the major junior route. If they don’t make it by the time they are 18, you hope that the experience you’ve provided keeps them around at 19 and 20 and those players can help you win or be more successful and if they happen to not play any WHL games, they still have a chance at an NCAA scholarship. So, I’m not saying close the door but just change the focus a bit so that your fans can relate to your on-ice product.
There are organizations, such as Flin Flon mainly because of long time coach Mike Reagan, that have done a bang up job of securing NCAA deals for their players so there is no point in fixing what isn’t broken when it comes to their situation and I think offering the Showcase in Warman as well as the SJHL/MJHL Showcase in late January are entities that are crucial to maintain. I’m not advocating to sever the ties, I’m simply suggesting expanding your horizons a little bit more.
The other thing that I wonder about as far as increasing fans is concerned would be to bring back the import rule and limit the number of non-Saskatchewan kids a team can have. Coaches are always going to roster the team that gives them the best chance to win and they aren’t necessarily thinking about bums in the seats so it’s an uphill battle to convince them to maybe sacrifice a bit of depth by utilizing more local players even though they may not be as good as some other non-local options.
I look at last year’s Yorkton team that wasn’t competitive and missed the playoffs. Only Clay Sleeva (Canora) and Cade Kennedy (Regina, but played AAA for Yorkton) could really be considered ‘local’. Pavel McKenzie (Cumberland House) and Cohner Saleski (Saskatoon) brought the number of Saskatchewan kids on the roster to 4.
New head coach Emery Olauson, who wasn’t hired until the day before training camp began, has done a marvelous job in the small window of time that he’s had to ensure that there is more local content on the team. Jye Zawatsky (Yorkton), Jaxon Sperling (Yorkton), Tylan Henrikson (Foam Lake), Ashtyn Shields (Esterhazy), and Shaden Duliak (Yorkton and since reassigned to AAA) are all considered to be ‘local’ with Cutter Knight (Swift Current) and the injured Tate Schofer (Regina) also representing Saskatchewan. The team is also way better to watch today than they were at the end of last season or even what they were leading up to Christmas. That increases the number of Sask kids to 7, but there needs to be, at least, 7 more of them.
This is where the Terrier organization needs to shoulder a lot of the blame in that players like Grady Hoffman and Matthew Ronn aren’t on the Terriers and playing prominent roles at the top of the lineup. If Olauson can rebuild the relationship with those families, my advice would be to pull out all the stops to get one or both of them in a Terrier sweater for next year and if it means getting hosed on a trade, so be it.
Jeffrey Stewart and Vinay Junek are playing in the Junior A/B leagues in BC but both, surely, wouldn’t be any worse than the current group playing depth roles on the Terriers and they’d probably both be good for 10-20 extra fans a game not to mention the extra sponsor dollars that come from business owners who are connected via family or close friendships. Michael Malinowski has been sharing the number one goalie duties for his team in the KIJHL and maybe he’s happy with the additional playing time, but the Terriers have had goalie issues (Ethan Farrow aside) all year. He couldn’t be a serviceable back-up? 17-year-old Preston Patenaude is playing goal at Edge in Calgary and becomes junior eligible next season. He doesn’t need to be the starter, but I don’t see why he couldn’t get a run as a back-up like Blake Sittler (Dodsland) did earlier this season.
If the Terriers were near the top of the standings with the current roster or a similar formula, you could justify their player decisions but aside from a cinderella playoff run in 2019, the team has been average (at best) since winning it all in 2014. When they have been a bit better, it’s because of their WHL veterans that filtered back and you never heard a complaint from fans that Petruic, Klatt, Legien, Taphorns, and Zawatsky weren’t scholarship eligible.
I believe with Olauson at the helm, the team is on the right path to regaining its status as one of the premier teams in the league. All you have to do is look at Olauson’s track record as a head coach. He’s had winning teams everywhere he’s been and if you look at past rosters, he isn’t afraid to try the local talent. His issue this year has been, strictly, the date he was hired. It also should be noted that he’s the first coach since Ed Zawatsky to set down family roots in the community. His family bought a house and he has kids enrolled in minor hockey. That should count for something too when you are considering throwing your support behind the team. We have a coach who believes in our community, we should reciprocate.
Personally and professionally, I will do what I can to help the Terriers. On top of living and breathing the SJHL since moving to Saskatchewan in 2001, I am a passionate supporter of the city of Yorkton and want to be a part of making it as attractive a place as possible. The Terriers are a big part of that. I would encourage you to do the same, but that doesn’t mean a blank cheque. It means let’s see a plan to dig out of this mess. That includes some long term solutions to prevent this from occurring again for a very long time, and hopefully never.
I hope they make it through this rough patch. As a former player in the SJ, I have fond memories of playing in the league, but I have lost touch with it. I played from 97-99 and we could have as many 20yr olds and no real roster restrictions from what I remember.