SJHL set for puckdrop on new season, pushing emphasis on local
It’s a new year, and a new hope for optimism for the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s (SJHL) 12 clubs.
The puck is set to drop Friday night on the SJHL season, with 10 teams in action across the province.
For this season though, the second full year for commissioner Kyle McIntyre, it’s all about local, and all about keeping local talents within the province.
“The success to a franchise above fan engagement and community engagement is you have to have some local products on your team. And I think some of our teams have really taken some strong efforts to do that and certainly connection with minor hockey, a connection with sponsors, but more importantly, a connection with the community always puts bums in the seats,” he told CTV News Friday morning.
McIntyre said at the league’s last AGM, a big emphasis was given to coaches and clubs to look for homegrown — with a new Saskatchewan waiver wire now implemented to prevent players from making an out-of-province jump, when teams within our borders could use the extra help.
A new franchise template was also given to clubs to ensure that all clubs and management are on the same playing field, with that added emphasis on growing franchises locally.
The league’s initial set of games on Friday are as follows:
- Melville vs. Estevan, 7 p.m.
- Flin Flon vs. Nipawin, 7 p.m.
- Yorkton vs. Weyburn, 7 p.m.
- Kindersley vs. North Battleford, 7:30 p.m.
- La Ronge vs. Melfort, 7:30 p.m.
For Saturday, a group of home and homes, but also the beginning of the year for Nipawin and Humboldt:
- Melfort vs. Flin Flon, 7:30 p.m.
- Notre Dame vs. Humboldt, 7 p.m.
- Estevan vs. Melville, 7 p.m.
- Weyburn vs. Yorkton, 7 p.m.
- North Battleford vs. Kindersley, 7:30 p.m.
- Nipawin vs. La Ronge, 7:30 p.m.
The SJHL’s 12 teams will play 56 games each, including the SJHL Showcase in Warman from Nov. 13 to 16.
The season ends on March 16, with the Canterra Seeds Cup Playoffs beginning shortly thereafter.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories

TREND LINE Liberals and NDP tied in ballot support, Conservatives 19 points ahead: Nanos
The governing minority Liberals' decline in the polls has now placed them in a tie for support with their confidence-and-supply partners the NDP, while the Conservatives are now 19 points ahead, according Nanos' latest ballot tracking.
BREAKING Claims of toxic workplace at CSIS absolutely 'devastating': PM says
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says allegations of a toxic workplace culture, involving harassment and sexual assault at Canada's spy agency are 'devastating' and 'absolutely unacceptable.'
Sask. premier says province will stop collecting carbon levy on electric heat
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says the province intends to stop collecting the carbon levy on electric heat.
Filmmakers in Bruce Peninsula 'accidentally' discover 128-year-old shipwreck
Yvonne Drebert and Zach Melnick were looking for invasive mussels when they found something no has laid on eyes for 128 years.
Alternative healer faces manslaughter charge over woman's death at a U.K. slapping therapy workshop
An alternative healer who advocates a technique known as 'slapping therapy' was charged Thursday over the death of a woman at one of his workshops in England seven years ago.
A holiday meal in Canada will be an 'expensive proposition': food lab
Celebrating with your family this December could come with increased expenses as data shows many traditional holiday foods are going up in price.
Watch this: Kayaker drops 20 metres from Arctic Circle waterfall
Heart-racing video shows 32-year-old Spanish kayaker Aniol Serrasolses paddling through rapids and ice tunnels before plunging 20 metres down an icy waterfall off Svalbard, Norway.
A 'predator' at CSIS: B.C. officers allege rape, harassment and a toxic workplace culture
Four officers with the B.C. CSIS physical surveillance unit who say it was a toxic workplace where bullying, harassment and worse went unchecked, and where young female officers were victimized.
opinion Don Martin: With Trudeau resignation fever rising, a Conservative nightmare appears
With speculation rising that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will follow his father's footsteps in the snow to a pre-election resignation, political columnist Don Martin focuses on one Liberal cabinet minister who's emerging as leadership material -- and who stands out as a fresh-faced contrast to the often 'angry and abrasive' leader of the Conservatives.