– WHA gearing up for 9-team second season –

(OSOYOOS TIMES — August 29, 2007) –

By Lawrence McMahenrnOsoyoos Times

The World Hockey Association (WHA) has cleared the way for its Osoyoos Spurs to play their second season in the town's Sun Bowl Arena starting in late September.
The WHA held a three-day players' try-out camp at the Arena this past Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and league owner Ricky Smith told the Osoyoos Times he has made the payments required by Town Council in order to let his team play in town.
The league has also appointed a new coach for the Osoyoos Spurs “ Ron Chernoff, from the Lower Mainland “ and he attended the local try-outs along with New Westminster Whalers coach Gary Unger, new Oliver Jets team coach Ken Law, WHA president Smith, and others.
Smith said on Sunday he has paid the Town of Osoyoos $10,000 in advance for ice time at the Sun Bowl Arena for Spurs games and practices for the 2007-08 season. And he said he has paid the two outstanding local invoices that Council insisted he pay before the WHA would be allowed to play in Osoyoos.
Mayor John Slater confirms that Smith has paid the invoices “ $2,400 to Susan Garcia for Spurs coach accommodations last year and about $600 to the Okanagan Sun for advertising “ and he says the WHA has now met the terms Town Council set for it to grant Smith a new one-year contract to play in the Arena for 2007-08.
Everything seems to be in order, and we have been working on the contract wording today, Slater told the Osoyoos Times Monday.
We want to have junior hockey in Osoyoos this year; it's for the kids, the fans and the whole community, the mayor said.
Town chief administrative officer Helen Koning notes, The Town has extended an opportunity to Mr. Smith at the 11th hour.rnSmith said the Town set the bar high here for us to return and we responded.rnHe said he's excited at the prospect of a second season for the Spurs.
He added Osoyoos is a key location for the WHA. We started the league here last July 1st, 2006 with a visit by Bobby Hull. We want to be here.rnSmith said he believes the fans enjoyed the first WHA season here. And he said the 2007-08 season should be even better, with play between the Osoyoos Spurs and the new Jets team from Oliver.
He said there will be an emphasis on having the Spurs players be active in the community, helping out in a variety of ways with local groups “ such as helping with children's programs at the Sonora Centre.
We want our kids to be good on the ice and off the ice, Smith said.
Smith had asked the Town of Osoyoos for a six-year contract this year, similar to the onernagreed to by the WHA and the Town before the 2006-07 season. But the Town had terminated that agreement early in 2007 because the WHA was behind in its payments for ice time and advertising revenue, and owed the Town just over $12,000. Although the league paid that debt, Town Council said it required that the WHA pay all its local debts, pay $10,000 to the Town in advance for ice time for the 2007-08 season, and the Town would grant just a one-year contract for the WHA to play in the Sun Bowl Arena.
Smith told Council he knows some people are looking for a bid for a Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) franchise in Osoyoos for next year (2008-09), and he feels if the WHA performs well in Osoyoos this year, it should have the right to continue to play here.
The WHA head says his league will have nine teams for this 2007-08 season. There were six teams in the league's inaugural season last year.
Five of last year's teams will be back “ the Osoyoos Spurs, Lumby Fighting Saints, Armstrong Sharks, New Westminster Whalers, and Squamish Cougars.
The Bellingham Bulls team in Washington state has been dropped and two new teams have been added from that state “ the Tacoma Crusaders and the Fort Vancouver Pioneers. The latter team has switched from the Northern Pacific Hockey League (NORPAC), where it was league champion. Pioneers owner Joe Loftgren and the team's coach last year accepted voluntary lifetime bans from participating in any USA Hockey-sanctioned team, after an investigation into charges that they paid Pioneers players, contravening NORPAC and USA Hockey rules.
The WHA has also added an Oliver team, to be called the Jets. Ken Law, an assistant coach with the Penticton Vees last year, has been named Jets coach.
And the league has added a team in Barrhead, Alta., a town of about 4,200 people just northwest of Edmonton. It will be called the River Kings.
WHA announcements this summer suggested an attempt was being made to launch an Eastern Division of the league. Two Quebec teams and one from New York State indicated interest, but there weren't enough teams for a division.
Nevertheless, Smith said the New York State team “ the Black Knights “ will come to B.C. and Washington for a Showcase Classic series of exhibition games against the WHA teams from Nov. 20-25.
The new coach for the Osoyoos Spurs says he has been coaching hockey for 27 years and loving every minute of it.
Ron Chernoff grew up in New Westminster. He was drafted by the New Westminster Bruins as a Bantam player, but was traded to the Regina Pats and played two years for the Pats' Midget AAA team. He then played junior hockey in B.C., but retired when he developed a bad shoulder.
He began his coaching career in Sherwood Park, Alta. His team won the Alberta championships twice and in 1981-82 he won the Coach of the Year award.
Chernoff says he is a demanding coach, but his main goal is to help his players have fun as they play and improve their hockey skills.
A series of WHA player try-out camps is underway. To date they have been held in Fort Vancouver, Langley and Osoyoos. Another will be held in the Lower Mainland in early September and a final camp is set for the Oliver Arena on Sept. 16-18.
Selection of players for the nine WHA teams will be finalized by late September.
Smith said a season game schedule will be released within a few days. The league had already announced that the first game for the Oliver Jets will be held in the Oliver Arena at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 29 “ but the visiting team was not identified.