After a massive expansion in 2017 when the QVJHL added 4 new teams: Bredenbury, Cupar, Wolseley & Yellowgrass, the 2018/2019 season will see two new teams join the league. These two teams will be located in Emerald Park & Southey.
Emerald Park will be a brand new team to the league as they have never had a franchise in the QVJHL before. No team name has been chosen so keep your eyes pealed on social media for a new team page to pop up. Speculations for the new Emerald Park team name are : Emerald Park Prairie Storm, Emerald Park Elks, Emerald Park Pirates, Emerald Park Penguins, Emerald Park Predators & Emerald Park Polar Bears. Give us your opinion below in the comments.
The Southey Marlins will be returning to Junior C hockey in Saskatchewan after a 4 year hiatus. The last time Southey had a team was in 2014 when they were apart of the QVJHL and prior to 2014 the Regina Jr C Hockey League where they were crowned Provincial Junior C champions 4 times (2002, 2007, 2011 & 2012) and were finalist twice at the Western Canadian Championships (Brewers Cup) in 2006 & 2012.
With the addition of two more franchises the league will most likely play 24 games this season if they are to stay with the current one division regular season format. Playoffs being made up of the top 8 teams and would be determined by the overall regular season league standings.
Another option the league could explore is a three division regular season format where each team plays each team in their division 4 times and would play a home and home series with each team in the other 2 division for a total of 20 regular season games. Playoffs would be made up of the top 8 teams and would be determined by the overall regular season league standings. Each division would look as follows:
South Division would include: White Butte, Wolseley & Yellowgrass
North Division would include: Bredenbuy, Cupar & Southey
West Division would include: Emerald Park, Lumsden & Regina
If the QVJHL was to switch to a two division regular season format where each team would play each other 3 times in each division for a total of 24 games. Playoffs being made up of the top 4 teams from each division. Each division would look as follows:
West Division would include: Emerald Park, Lumsden, Regina & Yellowgrass
East Division would include: Bredenbury, Cupar, Southey, White Butte & Wolseley
Of course all of these ideas are just speculations and the final decision will be made by the QVJHL at their fall meeting at noon on September 30th in Indian Head, Saskatchewan. The QVJHL regular season kicks off in late October.
