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WHL expansion to bring Penticton into the League next season: Radio NL sources

Jon Keen & Paul James
Feb 14, 2025 | 7:32 AM


WHL expansion to bring Penticton into the League next season: Radio NL sources

A significant shift in the make-up of junior hockey in British Columbia appears to emerging.

Sources have told Radio NL that the Western Hockey League is close to finalizing a new contract to absorb the Penticton Vees into the WHL next season.

Insiders suggest that while it’s not quite set in stone, the two sides are reportedly close to finalizing a financial agreement which would allow the Vees’ ownership and management group into the league.

Sources say that deal is somewhere north of $15 million.

Penticton has been a perennial powerhouse in the BC Hockey League for the better part of a decade as part of the Junior “A” program, and was said to be instrumental in pressing the BCHL Board of Governors to make the switch way from Hockey Canada.

That move two seasons ago was meant to try to separate the BC Hockey League from the CJHL, and that league’s limitations on importing players from different jurisdictions.

However, with the changes the NCAA brought in last year, players with WHL experience can now make the transition to US college hockey — shaving off the one advantage the Junior “A” league had over the CHL.

The addition of Penticton into the fold would bring the number of teams in the WHL’s Western Conference up to 12, with six teams in British Columbia and six playing out of the United States.

Once finalized, the Penticton shift to the WHL would also call into question the long-term viability of the renegade BC Hockey League, as well as the status of Junior “A” hockey in the interim.

The Canadian Junior Hockey League has been working with the three different Junior “B” leagues  — including the KIJHL — on establishing its own Junior “A” league.

Those decisions — according to insiders — have been put on hold for the time being as the unravelling of the BC Hockey League now seems possible.

Beyond Penticton, the Western Hockey League has also reportedly been in discussions with the BCHL’s ownership group in Chilliwack about a possible defection to the WHL, with suggestions that could take place for the start of the 2026/27 season.

More to come…