The PJHL has concluded its Annual General Meeting and Preseason meeting in preparation for the 2022-23 season. Some excellent new initiatives have been established as well as reorganizing the season schedule and playoff structure. More details are as follows.
2022-23 Season Dates and Schedule Format
The puck will drop for the 2022-23 season on September 11th. The league has increased its schedule to consist of 48 games. Teams will play a fully balanced regular season schedule playing each team in the league 4 times total. The league will maintain its structure for playoff purposes in 2 conferences which are structured as follows:
Harold Britain Conference – Mission, Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Aldergrove, Ridge Meadows, Surrey and the defending champion Langley Trappers
Tom Shaw Conference – Grandview, Port Moody, North Vancouver, White Rock, Richmond, and Delta
The regular season will conclude on February 12th, 2023 with the playoffs beginning on February 13th and the projected start of the Stonehouse Cup Finals scheduled to begin March 20th. The winner of the Stonehouse cup will move on to the Cyclone Taylor Cup which is to be hosted by the Revelstoke Grizzlies of the KIJHL.
PJHL Teams will participate again in the annual Winter Classic which will be hosted by the Richmond Sockeyes at Minoru Arena December 29th– January 1st, 2023.
Playoff Format
The PJHL Board of Governors have approved the expansion of the leagues playoff format. This years playoffs will see an additional team from each conference with the opportunity to play in the post season. Teams placing in the top 3 of each conference will be seeded 1-3 in their conference playoffs with teams finishing in 4th and 5th place participating in a “Survivor Series” to earn a spot to be seeded in 4th place in their respective conferences. Each Survivor series will be played in a best of 3 format with all other series featuring a best of 7 format. Teams will be re-seeded within their conference after each round with the conference champions meeting in the Stonehouse cup final.
Other Highlights
The PJHL will once again partner with HeadCheck Health to assist teams in concussion management and player safety. In Hockey Operations the league will continue its partnership with InStat allowing players to access their suite of player development and coaching tools for the season. The league has additional new partnerships which will involve expanded league events and player safety initiatives which will be announced shortly.
“Overall I feel these were very successful meetings. We have only been able to get together in person as a group a couple of times throughout the last 2 years and these were the longest most in-depth discussions we have had in a while. The league is set up to not only take some great steps forward but we have some very exciting initiatives that we will be announcing in the near future” says league Commissioner Trevor Alto.
The 2022-23 Season will be led by Commissioner Trevor Alto and Executive Vice President Len McNeely. The league Steering Committee will consist of Chairman Doug Paterson (Richmond Sockeyes), Rick Harkins (Aldergrove Kodiaks), and Aldo Bruno (Grandview Steelers).
