It’s “Game on!” for the Cloverdale Jr. Hockey Club and 24 kids who were staring down a season without hockey.
White Rock Whalers principal owner Chris McNally told the Cloverdale Reporter the club was awarded their season after the league and its 15 teams struck a deal Sept. 17. He had been advocating on behalf of Cloverdale since their season was cancelled at the beginning of September.
“It’s official,” McNally said. “They are back on the schedule. It’s quite a positive step for those kids.”
He called new development “unreal” and said there’s no way the team would have been reinstated if the kids hadn’t stuck together.
“They deserve so much credit for keeping the faith and for not giving up on each other or the process,” McNally noted. “They had every reason to lose hope. The fact that they didn’t gave us something to keep fighting for. So the kids and their families deserve so much credit.”
The first regular season game for the Cloverdale Jr. Hockey Club is scheduled for The Barn (Cloverdale Arena) at 7 p.m. Sept. 18 vs. Mission City Outlaws.
The new Cloverdale franchise previously had its operations suspended by the Pacific Junior Hockey League (PJHL). The leagues issued a 4-sentence statement Sept. 9 about the end of operations. “Regrettably, the Cloverdale Hockey Club has not been able to satisfy necessary league bylaws in order to operate as a member club in good standing, and as a result is not eligible to participate in PJHL-sanctioned activities,” the statement read.
Later, Black Press Media’s Ben Lypka broke the story of a big court fight going on between 7 teams vs. the league’s other 8 teams and the league office.
However, McNally said this resolution centred around all 15 teams working together to find a solution that benefited the kids. The matter was not resolved in court.
“Essentially, the league got together with the teams and worked through a bunch of things, but in the end, it was determined that we could find a way to have the team play,” he explained. “We agreed to set (the court case) aside so we could get into proper negotiations.”
McNally said, ultimately, the decision came down to what was best for the kids and the league.
“It was only ever about these kids—getting these kids their chance to play,” he added.
McNally noted a lot of credit goes to the community of Cloverdale for supporting the team even when they hadn’t played a regular-season game. He said the outpouring gave the players strength, it gave the Cloverdale front office strength, and it gave the people fighting to keep Cloverdale in the league strength.
“If folks hadn’t started petitioning, if folks hadn’t started raising awareness, if folks didn’t care, then I don’t think we’re here today,” he explained. “If people had just sort of ignored it, because it didn’t matter to them, because it didn’t affect them, this wouldn’t have happened.”
He said the publicity that was raised was also integral to getting the kid back on the ice.
“It raised an awareness about the responsibility we have as a league to find a way to get it right,” McNally explained. “Had we not had the community support, I don’t know that the players would have felt they had hope. People were behind them. And had they not had that, then it really would have been hard for them to not go and sign with other teams or quit hockey or be frustrated with it and just not stick together.”
McNally said that while hockey is a business, and he gets that, sometimes it’s beneficial to look at things from a 30,000-foot view.
“I think hockey teams are community assets. And we need to remember who we are here to serve. I think a lot of people got that part right in the end.”