On Saturday night, Simon Fraser University hockey was supposed to host expansion team Vancouver Island University in their home opener. In front of an excited home crowd, however, the game had to be cancelled by the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League (BCIHL). Their reasoning: a scheduling conflict with referees.

The BCIHL is a highly competitive hockey league that has always provided qualified referees and officiating. This is certainly a disappointment in for the Simon Fraser team and fans, but it is important to note that it is an anomaly.

SFU hockey director of hockey operations Chris Munshaw had this to say to The Peak after the game was cancelled:

“Referees are assigned by BC Hockey, which is the BC branch of Hockey Canada and governs our league. There was a scheduling mix-up within BC hockey and they didn’t have qualified referees assigned to our games tonight. We identified the problem an hour before the game, we contacted our back-up referees and weren’t able to have anybody here in time for our 7 o’clock puck drop. We decided to postpone the game because we can’t have a game without qualified referees, bottom line. We’ll host the game on a different day, but we’ll have to get a follow-up with BC Hockey and figure out how this game was missed on their referee assignment schedule.”

As for when the game will be rescheduled, Munshaw had this to say:

“We’re not sure yet. We will make an announcement online on our website and on social media. It depends on ice availability and what fits in our league travel schedule with the other teams. It will be rescheduled, we’re just not sure when yet.”

The SFU team made a nice gesture after the game was cancelled by going on the ice and performing their warm up routines for the fans in attendance. After that, they scrimmaged with some of the younger hockey fans in attendance, still playing more than an hour after the game was meant to start.

Although this was not an ideal scenario, one thing is for sure: there is still a lot of exciting hockey to be played. Simon Fraser will host the University of Victoria Vikes next Saturday, October 21 in home opener number two. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.