The BC Hockey League has announced the schedule for the 2022-23 regular season.
The league’s 61st season will begin on Friday, Sep. 23, and finish on Sunday, Mar. 26, and will once again consist of 54 games for each team.
Key dates:
Sep. 23 – opening night
Feb. 18 and 19 – BCHL Road Show event (Prince George vs. Salmon Arm)
Mar. 17 – Fred Page Cup Final rematch (Nanaimo @ Penticton)
Mar. 26 – regular season ends
Mar. 31 – BCHL Playoffs begin
The schedule currently does not include dates for the BCHL Showcase, where each team plays two regular-season games. A full Showcase schedule will be announced at a later date.
This year’s schedule includes 83 per cent prime-night games on Fridays and Saturdays. This includes a handful of buildings that restrict Friday and Saturday game nights.
Before the pandemic, the league hovered around 65 per cent over five years.
There are also 3.41 days for every one regular-season game due to the extended season length. Pre-COVID, the league was at 2.95 days for every one regular-season game over five years.
This allows for more practices, gym time, and recovery time for BCHL athletes, bringing the schedule closer to a college hockey format.
An exhibition schedule will be announced at a later date.
The Smoke Eaters begin a three game in four night stretch as they host the West Kelowna Warriors for the first time since the 2019/2020 season as they look to hand them their first loss.
Season Series
Oct. 13 West Kelowna at Trail 7:00 pm PDT Nov. 26 West Kelowna at Trail 7:00 pm PST Jan. 29 Trail at West Kelowna 7:00 pm PST Feb. 20 Trail at West Kelowna 6:00 pm PST Mar. 4 West Kelowna at Trail 7:00 pm PST
The Smoke Eaters are coming off a strong home opener performance that saw them get back at the Bucks with a 3-1 win.
While they started from behind after the Bucks took the lead just two minutes in, it was the Smoke Eaters who controlled the play for much of the remaining 55 minutes. The team stayed disciplined and earned multiple powerplay opportunities that proved to be the difference, going 2/6 on the night. That and the play of Evan Fradette helped propel the Smokies to a 3-1 win where they locked it down in the third.
Tonight they go up against an unfamiliar opponent for many of these players in the West Kelowna Warriors, however there is one familiar face amongst the Warriors on Chase Dafoe, who the Smoke Eaters will be watching closely and making sure he doesn’t steal the show in his Cominco return.
The Smoke Eaters have a long running record against the Warriors as well, dating back to October 20th, 2018, the last time the Smoke Eaters lost on home ice to the Warriors, something they’ll look to continue tonight.
The Warriors make their first trip to the Kootenay’s since February of 2020, as they begin a three game stretch as well that will take them to Cranbrook this weekend for a double header against the Bucks.
With just one game played the Warriors handed the Prince George Spruce Kings their first loss on Saturday night. The Spruce Kings took an early lead but the Warriors pushed back with four unanswered en-route to a 5-3 win.
Newcomers Tyler Rubin, Chase Dafoe and Nick Roukounakis led the way offensively, which is a positive sign for Simon Ferguson and the rest of his coaching staff.
The Warriors finished 8-10-1-1 in the North Okanagan pod last year, as they finished with 18 points, the same amount to the Smoke Eaters who went 9-11-0.
Warriors leading scorers:
Trudeau (2-0-2) Rubin (1-1-2) Bar Lev Wise (0-2-2) Dafoe (1-0-1) Roukounakis (1-0-1)
Tickets are still available for tonight’s game either online or at the door. If you can’t make it to tonight’s game, you can watch on Shaw TV, HockeyTV or listen free on the Smoke Eaters mixlr feed starting at 6:45pm with Ben Phillips.
