SANDRA M STANWAY
Brooks Bulletin
The board of governors of the British Columbia Hockey league (BCHL), of which the Brooks Bandits are a member, met on May 29 and 30 in Richmond, B.C. for the league’s 2025 AGM.
Trail Smoke Eaters owner and chairman of the board Rich Murphy was voted by his peers as the Executive of the Year.
Some of the items discussed were the league’s new Academic Readiness program designed to prepare student athletes for the classroom.
The program will focus on team and league mandates, academic partnerships and as a producer of Canadian collegiate athletes.
The board of governors discussed plans to continue to grow the league through expansion throughout Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest.
There is no expansion franchise that is imminent, however the board would like to add franchises in the near future and plan to implement a long-term growth strategy.
The board passed two separate five-year strategic plans.
The first is a five-year communications plan that will see the BCHL focus on investing in and modernizing communications while also leaning on more of an analytics-based approach when it comes to decision making.
The second plan is for officiating and the department of player safety, analyzing current strengths and opportunities and setting measurable goals for the future growth of both programs.
The league expanded in 2024 with the addition of five teams from the Alberta Junior Hockey League.