A message from our commissioner Kyle McIntyre:
Welcome to the 2024-2025 SJHL season! I hope everyone had an enjoyable summer. Our new season opened on September 20th. Our teams will battle until the middle of March for league supremacy, and we will continue to work on our Stay Here Play Here campaign.
Who will be this year’s Canterra Seeds Cup Champion? At the end of last May, the SJHL’s Melfort Mustangs found their way into the CJHL Centennial Cup final against the Collingwood Blues of the OJHL. The Mustangs, who battled through injury and adversity all season long, were right there until the final buzzer at the national championship. The Mustangs were outstanding ambassadors for our league and the Melfort community.
This season, we are embarking on a couple of new projects.
For the first time in over 30 years, the western branches (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba), along with the western Junior A leagues: AJHL, SJHL, MJHL, KIJHL, and PJHL and the WHL, have formed a strategic alliance. This new Western Canadian Development Model will see the leagues, the branches, and the WHL work together collaboratively to improve player development.
The SJHL, MJHL, and AJHL will play under new rules. These rules were adapted from the WHL, and players 18 years and older will return to the half-visors for play. Our officials, many of whom work in the WHL, will officiate with greater consistency, having to be familiar with only one set of rules for Junior hockey.
Secondly, the SJHL is also making some changes to its Showcase. Gone is the SJHL Showcase, where all our teams played one another. The Western All-Star Prospect Camp will feature the top Junior A players in western Canada vying for positions on the Canadian World Junior A roster. This camp will take place November 4th to 6th in Warman, Saskatchewan.
Last season, the league and our teams had great success on and off the ice; well over 260,000 fans attended either a regular-season or SJHL playoff game.
The SJHL will be Western Canada’s premier Junior “A” hockey league known for its exceptional player development and commitment to its players, people, and the communities we serve.
Last season, the SJHL Board of Governors and I set several goals for our league and our twelve franchises:
- Improving the league’s promotion through the social channels/website, etc., has gone from arguably one of the worst in the CJHL to the best in one year.
- We are innovating how the game is officiated to bring a faster and more skilled style of play to the league.
- Developing a strategic plan that is doable and trackable
- Raising more player and team awareness through Social Media, Relationships with fans, coaches, boards, and communities, and
This past season, we had over 72 players who transitioned to post-secondary schooling and student-athletes’ lives. I hope the SJHL continues to provide an opportunity to assist all our players in making successful transitions to post-secondary hockey opportunities, including at the USport, ACAC, and various NCAA levels. I also hope that whatever path our players choose, all make successful transitions from hockey to the world of work and life.
I am optimistic that our league and the franchise in your community will continue to impact our players and your community positively through outreach and positive player ambassadorship.
Again, this season, with the enthusiasm of Jamie Neugebauer, Clark Munroe and IKS Media, all social media platforms will be coordinated and activated, and the SJHL brand and our players will be prominent both inside and outside the province. HockeyTV will also be better leveraged to promote the league, our players, and our brand. We hope you continue supporting our players, community franchises, and the SJHL.
In closing, I want to thank all the SJHL sponsors, both new and old, for their continuing interest in and support for SJHL Hockey. I look forward to continuing to work with our teams and Hockey Saskatchewan on the Stay Here Play Here campaign, which aims to put more Saskatchewan kids in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. I look forward to another year of fast-paced, skilled, and entertaining SJHL Hockey season. I will see you at the rink!
Kyle McIntyre
Commissioner, Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League
