BIENFAIT - The most decorated franchise in the history of the Big Six Hockey League won't ice a team in the 2024-25 season.
The Bienfait Coalers, who have won 15 championships in the league's 65-year history, have announced they will be taking a leave of absence this season, leaving the league with eight teams. It's believed to be the first time since the late 1980s, when the Estevan Bears were part of the league, that Bienfait hasn't had a team.
Tim Miller, who stepped in as coach last season, said the leave of absence is due to a lack of players. They had 14 or 15 players for this season, including two goalies, but with a handful of players on shift work, it would have been tough to ice a team some nights.
"I didn't want to risk going to the [fall] meeting, and then doing a schedule and then we have to back out. So, we will take the year of absence and start pounding the pavement once the hockey season ends to see if we can't have a team next year," said Miller.
He pointed out some teams are paying players, but the Coalers do not.
"We have guys holding out, waiting for a paycheque, basically," said Miller. "They're holding out to the highest bidder, and so you have guys worried about the name on the back and not the jersey [logo] on the front. There's guys jumping from team to team on a yearly basis. And it's not just our league, either. It's other leagues too."
Miller noted the Big Six has now lost three teams in the past two seasons, and there are a couple other teams who are struggling. The Coalers are also competing with teams in Estevan for sponsorship dollars, and the Bienfait squad doesn't want to be hurting minor hockey teams' revenues.
"The Coalers always prided themselves that they're one of the teams that didn't pay players," Miller said.
The league's rule on import and elite players also hurts the Coalers. Teams can carry up to four such players, and there is no longer an exception for home-grown or locally-based imports. Those over the age of 35, and those who played under 65 games of hockey at junior A or higher, are exempt from the rule.
Several players left over from the Coalers' run when they won five straight league championships from 2011-2015 retired at the same time, he said.
"We're finding it a hard time to get that younger group to come in, so hopefully we can change that in the offseason."
The club had some younger players who were ready to play this season, but they need more of them. The club has built up its executive and it held fundraisers to build up its fiscal strength. He hopes the club can be resurrected for the 2025-26 season, but it will require a lot of work.
Miller predicted the Coalers' absence will have an impact on the rink as well. The kitchen won't be open during the games, and it leaves the community without an event during the winter months.
The remaining teams are the Carnduff Red Devils, Carlyle Cougars, Kipling-Windthorst Oil Kings, Midale Mustangs, Moosomin Rangers, Oxbow Huskies, Redvers Rockets and Wawota Flyers. The Rangers are the defending league champions.
League president Craig Barber is disappointed the Coalers won't be back.
"There should still be a team there. They're close enough to Estevan and should be competitive, but they didn't have enough guys," said Barber.
The league will open the 2024-25 season with the Red Devils visiting the Mustangs on Oct. 25. The rest of the teams will start the following weekend.
Other than Bienfait taking a leave of absence, Barber said there weren't a lot of big issues brought forward at the fall scheduling meeting in late September. He noted the Round Lake Bears, who play out of the Ochapowace Nation, approached the league to see if they could join, but Barber said the meeting was to hammer out a schedule, and they had already decided on a format.
It's also a long way to Round Lake, he said. Barber estimates it would be a two-hour, 45-minute drive from Midale.
Teams will play a 16-game schedule this season, with two games against each of the other seven teams, and an extra game against two other teams determined randomly.
All eight teams in the league will make the playoffs. All playoff series are to be best-of-five contests, and there will be three weeks to play each series.
"For guys who are in provincials, it gives them a lot more window of opportunity [to play the games]. Now with a best of three in provincials, you got a weekend to go somewhere, you're not going to have to sneak a whole bunch of games in during a short time."
Barber is looking forward to watching some really good hockey this season, and he believes there are several teams in the league capable of winning the championship.
