Not many coaches in Saskatchewan have the same familiarity with the BCHL as Jason Tatarnic, who was a head coach and GM there with the Chilliwack Chiefs before coming to Estevan to take over that position with the Bruins. He's also got a keen understanding of Junior A hockey in Canada, having been a head at that level for over a dozen seasons. 

With that in mind, a recent news release from the CJHL about the BCHL's departure didn't exactly catch Tatarnic off guard. After all, there were rumblings about a desire to leave the CJHL during his time coaching in the league. 

"You could see they always wanted to kind of break away and be their own," he said. "They consider themselves the premier league in the country, and I think they want to be their own entity, so I'm not surprised."

The BCHL have not released an official statement on why they are choosing to leave, but rumors on the subject are rampant. The wildest of these is that the BCHL intends to become a northern division of the USHL.

"I don't see the BCHL becoming any part of the USHL or the USHL wanting any part of them becoming a member of the USHL," said Tatarnic. "The USHL in the last two years has had over 100 NHL draft picks. The BCHL might've had five or ten."

Despite this, the BCHL does pride itself on being Canada's premier Junior A league, with 92 college commitments currently listed on their site, though some of these do commit to colleges before arriving in the league. As for what they get from the separation, that remains to be seen. 

"Every league is always looking in their best interests," Tatarnic said. "As a group, we've got to work together on making the CJHL a strong league and a league that works for everyone. I think they put some proposals together there and they were turned down. I believe they were looking at 16 and 17-year-olds be able to transfer out of province and obviously the CJHL members weren't in favor of that. Even Hockey Canada isn't in favor of that."

Tatarnic added he's not yet sure what this will mean for the Centennial Cup, but he believes that, regardless of whether the BCHL will be eligible to compete in it, the governing body will want to keep the tournament in Estevan next season.