By: Kaja Antic, Sports Writer
Entering the 2023–24 season, SFU hockey announced the introduction of a separate non-conference roster in addition to their roster that plays in the BC Intercollegiate Hockey League (BCIHL).
The non-conference roster competes in exhibition games against teams in various collegiate leagues in Canada and the US beyond the BCHIL, including UBC (USports), and the University of Michigan (NCAA). The BCIHL roster plays against the other four BCIHL teams in 20 regular season games, along with pre-season and playoff action within the province.
This separate team comes after years of one SFU roster playing both the BCIHL regular season, as well as exhibition games against other collegiate league teams. Prior to the beginning of the 2022–23 BCIHL season, the Red Leafs travelled to Alaska on September 24, 2022, and earned the program’s first win against an NCAA team, defeating the University of Alaska, Anchorage 1–0, with a late goal in the third period.
“The biggest difference is the competition level,” the team’s coach, Mark Coletta, said in an interview. “It’s a different animal.”
The exhibition series for SFU hockey’s newest team began on September 8, with a 5–3 loss against UBC. Coletta’s group earned their first win in this new era, 5–1, on September 22 against Briercrest College, before defeating them again, 3–2, the next day.
“We’re always trying to elevate and give our student-athletes the best opportunity and best competition,” Coletta remarked about creating the two-roster system. “Instead of doing two or three exhibition games, why not do close to 20 and elevate the talent pool?” Coletta suggests giving players tougher competition for more games will push them to find a new standard to play to.
The BCIHL team system remains the same, playing games against the UVIC Vikes, the VIU Mariners, the Okanagan Lakers, and the Logan Lake Miners. Coletta touched on the importance of keeping the BCIHL team along with the program’s new addition. “We didn’t want to give players a non-option. We felt that there are some players that are at the BCIHL level, and taking a team away would give them no place to play.”
SFU hockey differs from a lot of the other sports teams at SFU, as it’s completely separate from the overall athletics program that has the NCAA affiliation. The program is privately funded and supported by donors and alumni. The two teams now run parallel, with two separate rosters and two separate coaching staff, funded by the independent SFU hockey support system.
“It just seemed like it was the right thing to do,” Coletta explained. “The talent pool here is definitely there for us to compete. It’s just a matter of growing and building that and getting to where we want to be.”
The Red Leafs non-conference team faced off against one of NCAA’s most formidable forces, the University of Michigan Wolverines. Current Vancouver Canucks captain Quinn Hughes played for the team prior to arriving in Vancouver, and the current Wolverines roster boasts many potential NHL draftees. The Red Leafs fell to the Wolverines 8–1, with Coletta speaking of the victors. “All their sports are top notch [ . . . ] When you’re at that level, everything becomes a mini-pro kind of atmosphere.
“There’s a definite jump in the standard of play and everything they do on and off the ice.”
So what’s coming in the future for the program? “We’re just trying to push the envelope and give our student-athletes a competitive playground to play at. And who knows where it can go.”
Coletta added that he wasn’t “sure if teams in a conference or teams already in a league would jump out and do what [SFU’s] doing this year with this hybrid kind of schedule.” However, “just knowing that [SFU] can attract talent and quality people into the administration and hockey program is a pretty unique kind of thing.”
