The BCHL’s exhibition season starts on Sunday, Sep. 19 with a game between the Alberni Valley Bulldogs and the Victoria Grizzlies at the Q Centre in Victoria.
In total, the league will play 47 games over a two-week stretch, all of which can be streamed live on BCHL TV.
The league will also test out several pilot projects during the exhibition season, which were put forth by the league’s Competition Committee and unanimously approved at a recent BCHL Board of Governors meeting.
Video Review
During select games in the exhibition season, the BCHL will test a video review system. This will be a precursor to having video review setup for goals and major penalties at the BCHL Showcase event in October. The video review will be conducted through the Sporfie app and game officials will review on an iPad in the scorekeeper’s box.
Sporfie conducts all video review situations for the American Hockey League.
Coach’s Challenge
During select games in the exhibition season, the Department of Player Safety will conduct a pilot on the efficiency of a coach’s challenge. These instances will also be conducted through the Sporfie app and will be reviewed by game officials on an iPad.
Coaches in these games will have one challenge during the game on the following plays that led to a goal:
- Offside
- Goalie Interference
- Puck out of play
- Hand pass
- Pucks illegally high-sticked
For the sake of the pilot, teams will not be penalized if the challenge is denied.
Faceoff Procedure
For all exhibition games, centremen will be given a warning on their first faceoff offence infraction, not an automatic ejection. Second offence is a minor penalty.
