Well, it looks like the WCSHL may be about to receive two additional teams as Hockey Newfoundland and Labrador has been asked for a ruling as to whether these teams will be allowed to play in the Western league.

There’s no secret that the players in the West are compensated for their play, some of them quite lucratively.  Now the players in the AESHL want in on the action and want to come to the west, not only for the money but  because the west is the league where all the action is.

Teams from the west have constantly gone looking for high calibre players, offering them positions on their rosters, paid for their travel, compensated them for their time and up untiil now, many of the eastern players stayed in the AESHL.  Things are changing and this change can probably be attributed to the success of the Clarenville Caribous in the WCSHL.  In fact, it is the Caribous entry into the west league that has probably made it possible for other teams to make the leap.

If the Cee Bees and Blades come into the Western league, it allows for two divisions, one that would probably include the Caribous, Cee Bees and Blades.  The other would include the Cataracts, Wings and Royals.  The bulk of the games would be played in your own division with some limted East vs West games througout the season.  It also allows for the league to address what many fans seen as an injustice from last season’s Herder Championship where all the games were played in Mile One.

Newfoundland Hockey Talk has learned that should the Cee Bees and Blades come into the WCSHL, it will probably mean that the Herder Championship will be the league championship, with Corner Brook’s Pepsi Centre the west coast location for games and the Mile One Stadium the east coast location for the games.  Playoffs would see an east and west championship, with the winners of each division playing for the Herder.

Sounds reasonable.

However, there appears to be some fight left in the AESHL executive.  This league isn’t going away just yet and they are lobbying HNL to block the move of the Blades and the Cee Bees.

Interesting times are about to happen in provincial senior hockey.