Caribous Gone From WCSHL?

The Telegram has run a column by Robin Short indicating that the Clarenville Caribous may be gone from the West Coast Senior Hockey League because of their decision to play their Herder Memorial games at the Mile One Stadium.

In the column, Short indicates that the people who run the WCSHL are not happy with Clarenville.  He goes on to indicate that the three other teams in the league are not totally torn up about Caribous being in the league because of the travel costs associated with driving to Clarenville.

The article quotes league president Gary Gale as saying “As a president, I’ve had to deal with typical things that come up … controversies and the like.  But the biggest thing I’ve had to deal with lately was why didn’t the west coast get any Herder games. And that was coming from fans and sponsors and the volunteers who are involved with hockey around here.  And there’s a case to be made (for the complainants), to be quite honest.  It is a west coast team. If you want to play in our league, you should play your Herder games here.”

The Caribous have not issued a formal response to this but on the Newfoundland Hockey Talk Discussion forum, Todd Brett, a member of the Clarenville Caribous executive who goes by the name “Caribous insider” has stated:

Its just Robin Short stirring the pot. If you want more info then ask Robin to quote the comments hes got from the teams. Ask him whos hes been talking too from the Cats, Wings and Royals and what exactly they had to say. You notice hes hasn’t given any direct comments from anyone who has said they want the Caribous out!! The whole thing is a joke! Not gona happen!

Now you have your offical response from the Caribous.

While the other teams have not commented officially on these recent developments, there is no denying that fans and sponsors are expressing their concerns.  Would the league actually stoop to kicking the Caribous out of the league?

It is quite possible, but given that the state of teams such as the Corner Brook Royals, ejecting the Bous may result in a total collapse of the league.

Watch for this story to develop more as the West Coast Senior Hockey League’s annual general meeting comes about.  Newfoundland Hockey Talk is guessing that there will be changes brought in to the league’s by-laws that will require West Coast teams to play their games at the Pepsi Centre in Corner Brook.

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