While the Alberni Valley Bulldogs and Port Alberni Bombers will have a new owner for the 2024-25 season, nothing much is expected to change on the hockey front.
Bulldogs' head coach and general manager Joe Martin says the on-ice operations won't be changing, as the hockey operations staff — including trainer Scott Crema and assistant coach Ryan Rehill — has not changed.
"To the fans, to the players, there won't be much of a difference," said Martin.
The BC Hockey League's Bulldogs announced earlier this month that Olithan Sports & Entertainment Limited had finalized a majority share purchase of both the Bulldogs and the VIJHL's Bombers from Keycorp Sports & Entertainment. Olithan is owned by Vancouver businessman Garry Wong, who Martin says has a passion for hockey. Wong's son, Jonathan, has spent the past two seasons playing with the Merritt Centennials in the BCHL.
"[Garry Wong] has been great," said Martin. "I've had a lot of conversations with him, because this has been a long time coming."
While Olithan Sports & Entertainment replaces Keycorp as the majority owner of the Bulldogs, the minority owners of the Bombers and Bulldogs — Stefanie Weber, Dennis See, Luke Betts and Ron Coutre — remain in ownership positions with both clubs. Wong plans to continue his business in Vancouver while working with the Bombers and Bulldogs.
Olithan also finalized a 10-year extension of their contract with the City of Port Alberni, keeping the Bulldogs and Bombers in the city for another decade.
The sale of the team led to former Bulldogs' president David Michaud stepping down from his role. Michaud is now the president of the rival Victoria Grizzlies. Although Martin says he is grateful for Michaud's leadership over the past few seasons, he is looking forward to the new rivalry.
"I think there will be some extra motivation there to beat them," Martin laughed.
With the recent announcement that the VIJHL has left BC Hockey and become an independent league, Martin says the Bulldogs and the Bombers will now be able to work more closely together.
"The plan is to have a better relationship with the Bombers and work together more," he said.
Last week, the BCHL released its regular-season schedule for the 2024-25 campaign. With the integration of five Alberta teams into this year’s schedule, 21 teams will play 54 games each for a total of 567 league games in the regular season.
The BCHL will continue with its existing playoff structure with the first seed in each conference playing the eighth seed in the first round, the second playing the seventh seed and so on. Five teams will not make the playoffs – two from the Coastal Conference and three from the Interior Conference.
“2024-25 is set to be a monumental season for the BCHL, in more ways than one,” said league commissioner Steven Cocker. “The full integration of our five new members, soon-to-be-announced event alliances and an elite group of incoming athletes are going to set the stage for an incredible year.”
The Alberni Valley Bulldogs will open the season at home with a game against the Nanaimo Clippers on Friday, Sept. 20. They will also host the Salmon Arm Silverbacks for a game on Saturday, Sept. 21 before hitting the road on Sept. 27.