Three junior hockey leagues are taking the B.C. Amateur Hockey Association to court to overturn a decision making full face shield helmets mandatory in the 2018-19 hockey season.
The Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League Society, the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League and the Pacific Junior Hockey League Society filed a petition in BC Supreme Court on August 9. The leagues claim the B.C. Amateur Hockey Association’s internal affairs have been “oppressive” by requiring them to implement mandatory full face shield protection next season. According to the petition, full face shields have been mandatory in minor hockey in the past while only half shield face protection was required in junior leagues.
“There has been some discussion in the past of implementing full face shield protection for junior hockey,” the petition states. “There was not unanimous acceptance of that concept by the teams in the petitioner leagues.”
The leagues claim that the hockey association circulated a memo in December 2017 outlining the plan to require full face shields in Junior B matches, and teams “reacted immediately and negatively to the direction from BC Hockey.”
“Forty of the forty-one teams in the three leagues were of the view that the actions taken by BC Hockey with respect to implementation of mandatory full face shields only for Junior B was discriminatory, would affect their recruiting and ultimately affect their business,” the leagues claim. “The was no consultation from BC Hockey with the petitioner league teams before issuing the mandate and no explanation provided for specifically why mandatory full face shields would not be implemented in the other junior leagues.”
The leagues claim the “vast majority of players” prefer half shields and will opt to play elsewhere in Western Canada or in the northwestern U.S. where full face shields aren’t required.
“The recruiting problem affects the quality of the product and that is reflected in revenues,” the petition states. “Teams in the league operate on a tight budget with stiff competition for revenue in markets with Junior A teams.”
However, the leagues aren’t opposed to the requirement “provided that it applies to all levels of junior hockey in British Columbia.”
The leagues claim they will “suffer irreparable harm ... if forced to follow the directive from BC Hockey.”
The 2018-19 season is set to begin on September 4. The petition’s factual basis has not been tested in court and the B.C. Amateur Hockey Association had not filed a response by press time.
