BHC Announces Plans for 2023-24 Season and Beyond
Dear Boulder Hockey Club Members,
A few weeks ago, I reached out to all of you to let you know we were aware of potential changes coming to the CCYHL. Today, on behalf of myself and Executive Director Neil Runbeck, I wanted to share our exciting plans for BHC’s future.
BHC has always been a place of inclusion, which will be more prevalent than ever as we continue to grow youth hockey in the state of Colorado. We take pride in being the only club in Colorado that can offer an option for every player regardless of age, gender, or skill level. With that being said, we are excited to discuss the pathways for our BHC players going forward.
First, what is staying the same are our Lady RoughRiders programs and BHC Recreational Hockey, where teams can expect to play in the same leagues with the same competition as they do now.
The second pathway is BHC Competitive Hockey for our A and B division teams. We believe in playing hockey locally and keeping costs, especially travel-related expenses, as minimal as possible. We will continue to play in the CCYHL and this model will be very similar to our current program with games against teams from the Colorado Springs Tigers, DU Jr. Pioneers, Foothills Flyers, Krivo, and Lafayette Locomotive. Additionally, we have had discussions with and will be adding opportunities to play other teams throughout Colorado, such as the Aspen Leafs, Glenwood Springs Grizzlies, Grand Junction River Hawks, Pikes Peak Catamounts, Pueblo Bulls, Steamboat Stampede, Summit Youth Hockey, Telluride Lizard Heads, Vail Mountaineers, West Elk Wolverines, and Woodland Park Panthers through showcase weekends both home and away.
The final pathway is BHC’s High Performance Athlete model. This model is designed to develop the best 10U, 12U, and 14U talent (AA players) in Boulder and the surrounding communities as we prepare those players for Tier 1/AAA hockey with the Rocky Mountain RoughRiders or high school hockey with Monarch High School. Our 14AA Team, as a Tier II Nationally Bound team, will participate within the state under CAHA as they do today. Our 10U and 12U AA level teams, as a developmental program, will play locally as well as in 4-5 travel weekends for high-end competition. They will continue to participate in the International Silver Sticks Tournament and, for 12AA, the Avalanche International Qualifier Tournament for a chance to represent the Avalanche at the Quebec International Pee-Wee Tournament.
At BHC, we put our players and families first. It is incredibly important to us that every player at every age and skill level is provided with the tools that give them the best opportunity to succeed and build their love for hockey. I want to stress that regardless of what path a player takes, they will have full access to the resources that make BHC a great place to develop and grow their skills as a person and hockey player. These resources include professional coaches that have won multiple state and national championships at various levels, a modern training facility in the Blue Sport Stable, Impact Sports Performance, where our athletes train off-ice with professional fitness instructors, and more.
Soon, we will share details about a town hall that will take place both in person and online, where we will provide all BHC members an opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the upcoming changes and our vision for BHC and CCYHL moving forward.
Chris Lockrem, Hockey Director