06/07 underway Friday! goodbye Chilliwack, working without a colour guy, Smeltzer back to Dogs, Coach Whistle 9:30am on 93.3 The Peak FM Friday.

Longest title ever? haha




Hello and thanks for stopping by! It's the eve of the 06/07 BCHL kick off, time to get away from the beach and into the rink. Ahhh, gotta love hockey season! Bigger attacking/defending zones, smaller neutral zones, a NHL-style rule emphasis, and some new teams in new places and some old teams in new places that are old. Did that make sense? The Langley Hornets are no more, reborn as the Westside Warriors. The Chilliwack Chiefs are no more, replaced by the WHL's Bruins. Bruins coach is former Dogs bench boss Jim Hiller, Bruins athletic therapist/equipment manager is former Dogs trainer Matty Auerbach. So theres a little Bulldog flavour in the Wack now. The Chiefs live on as they move to Langley to play out of the Hornets old rink retaining the Chiefs name. Gone are the days of two conferences and three divisions. Gone are the days of ANY teams not making the playoffs. The Island division is gonzo, with the coast and island merge to form....the coast conference. All BCHL teams make the playoffs this year, could be the year of the upset for sure.

Want to take a moment to say goodbye to any Chilliwack BCHL fans reading this that are leaving their BCHL roots behind to follow the WHL's Bruins. Some good fans in the 'Wack for sure, too bad to lose them and too bad for the BCHL to be out of that city. Some good history there for sure. Krisfromthewack- I know you are a true hockey fan and I know you'll still try to follow the BCHL. I must say this though- the BCHL is losing one of it's very best music men. The Dub and the Bruins are getting a good one.

"3cp15" posted a comment to my Tuesday September 5th post and asked this question

"What do you expect going into this year without a color man? Is there pros and cons?

Great question. I can't go too far around town and around the rink without the topic coming up. Here's my take on it all- It will be a challenge for sure, working without Ace. Ace did SO MUCH work putting together stats, keeping together stats, thinking up trivia questions, and so much more. Setting up the pressbox, working on setting up interviews and finding guests, and waking me up when it was time to catch the bus or get breakfast or the pregame meal, lol. It was great to have Ace, and great to have a color man period, to bounce a question off of or to provide a differing opinion or prospective.

In the end, I'm looking forward to the challenge. It will be more work for me in many areas, on and off the air. Statistical compilation, (although Ace is still assiting me in arming me with so much of this hard-earned information, thanks Ace) booth setup, interviews, and on and on. More often than not over my career I have had a color guy. So I'm used to it. A couple times last year I was without Ace and in the past I worked alone sometimes. Believe it or not some WHL/OHL ECHL AHL UHL CHL you name it broadcasters are just a play-by-play guy. So, who knows if in the future I will have to work alone at some point of my career.

It was a great run having Ace, in the end I wish him the best with his coaching venture and I look foward to the challenge and the experience. Thanks again for the question on this topic "3cp15"

Moving along....Got word today from the Bulldogs that d-man Isaac Smeltzer will be returning to the club after trying out in the QMJHL. Issac joined the Bulldogs midseason last year after playing parts of the previous seasons with the WHL's Regina Pats and Tri-City Americans, if I remember correctly. Good to hear Isaac is coming back, he'll be a valuable part of this years Bulldog team.

While some BCHL clubs get their seasons going tomorrow, The Dogs don't take to the ice until Saturday night in Powell River. Tomorrow morning (Friday) I will be joined by Bulldogs coach Dave Whistle on the morning show for our first in studio interview. I'm looking foward to talking some hockey and doing a little preview on the season and getting to know Dave better. 9:30 Friday morning on 93.3 The Peak FM.

Saturday is the first regular season game and first broadcast of the new season. Our pregame show gets underway at 7:15, the play-by-play is 7:30. Saturday nights second intermission feature guest is Cowichan Valley Capitals Coach/GM Scott Robinson, talking about the "new" BCHL, the happenings in Caps land, and thoughts on the Dogs/Caps home and home next weekend. Send an email to the PRESS BOX, I would love to hear from you.

GET SIGNED UP to the BCHL fanzone CLICK HERE to catch the internet broadcasts of all Bulldog games and all BCHL games. The best part of it- archiving. Catch what you missed at a later time. Great to hear the league is offering this service this regular season after doing it in the playoffs last year. I'll give a little pat on the back to us here at CJAV as our Bulldogs broadcasts of 04-05 were archived and were a huge hit.

Man, everytime I try to post shorter, there happens to be 8 things on the go.......

Thanks for dropping by the blog. Looking forward to your comments and seeing you at the rink!

Hammer