New to the VIJHL for the 2017/18 season, a VIJHL TV time-out.

For many Island fans, it was at the Cyclone Taylor Cup in Creston that they first witnessed this strange break midway through each period.

At the first stoppage in action, not involving a penalty or icing, after the 10 minute mark of the period, the officials will call a one minute time-out. This break won’t impact the traditional 30 second time-out each team is guaranteed.

According to VIJHL President, Barb Byrne, “This is a great idea that can assist the teams and the officials. It’s a great strategy for assisting Officials in bringing teams under control and allowing coaching staff to better communicate with their players.” This isn’t the first time the league president has witnessed these time-outs, “after seeing this in play at the last Cyclone Taylor Cup and working with it during my WHL time, I believe this will be a great addition to our games.”

Wes Roed, the Campbell River Storm Governor, saw the usefulness of the time-outs when his club was at the Cyclone, “having witnessed the effective use of 1 minute time-outs at the CTC, I thought it worthy to bring this idea to the Board of Governors for consideration.”

Wes sees the key advantage of the new time-out is in player development, “from a coaching perspective, what coach wouldn’t want to have 3 extra time-outs per game to keep the boys on track.”

The Board of Governors liked what they heard. According to Wes, “much to my delight, the board passed this proposal to be implemented this season.”

Josh Lockhart, whose ‘Nitros Night in Kimberley’ blog is a mainstay of the KIJHL Dynamiters’ website, says the timeouts have benefits, “it gives the players, fans and webcasts a breather and allows the webcast crew and arena announcer to share sponsored commercials.”

Game 1 of the VIJHL regular season kicks off on September 1 in Campbell River when the Storm host the Oceanside Generals.

*Article from the VIJHL Website

The Oceanside Generals are very excited to announce that Jesse Hammill has accepted the job of Head Coach. Jesse will take over the Bench and will still maintain his current role as General Manager.

“Our Team is lucky to have a Coach with Jesse’s experience” states team president Gerry Bickerton. “Jesse will be able to use his new role as GM/Head Coach to really build the type of team that we want the Generals to be.”

Jesse has been involved with Hockey since a very young age and played at all levels of Minor and Junior before pursuing a professional career in Europe where he both Coached and Managed.

Jesse has three young sons and we expect to see them in the rink helping the Generals on Game Days. We are happy to have all of them on board.

The Oceanside Generals are pleased to announce that they have retained our Assistant Coaches from Last Season. Chris Lennox and Scott Bickerton will be back for the 2017/2018 Season to work with new Head Coach Jesse Hammill. “Chris and Scott are both looking forward to helping to take the Generals to the next level this coming season” states Team President Gerry Bickerton. “Both men share our Club’s goal of getting our players to the next level of Junior and Collegiate Hockey and are completely committed to supporting our many community events in the Oceanside area”. #gogens #whateverittakes

The Oceanside Generals Junior Hockey Club is pleased to annouce that we have Appointed Gerry Bickerton as our new Team President.

Gerry has been involved with the Generals for the past couple of seasons as an Assistant Coach and this past season as Head Coach.

Gerry checks a lot of boxes for what we want in a leader for the Generals. He is an established Professional in the Personal Finance and Insurance Industry and he has spent many years involved in hockey. Gerry is a devoted family man and this move also helps him strike a perfect balance for his business and family life.

Gerry’s goal is to help the Generals continue to develop local players to the next level of Junior and Collegiate Hockey while assuring they become the future leaders in our community.