June 14, 2018 8:45 pm

WHL: Hamilton re-elected as chairman of board of governors

By Doyle Potenteau Online journalist Global News

Kelowna Rockets

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Bruce Hamilton, president and general manager of the Kelowna Rockets, was re-elected as chairman of the WHL’s board of governors on Thursday.
The announcement came following the league’s 2018 annual general meeting in Vancouver. Hamilton has been chairman of the board for 16 seasons over two spans, from 1998 to 2004, and 2008 to today. His latest confirmation will see him continue as chairman for the next two years.

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Also at the AGM, the league confirmed there will be four bids for the 2020 Memorial Cup: Kelowna, Victoria, Kamloops and Lethbridge.
Kamloops and Kelowna had already announced their intentions to bid for the tournament. The league said the AGM marked the first time that Lethbridge and Victoria officially announced their intentions.
All four cities have hosted major tournaments and world-class events, ranging from the Memorial Cup (Kamloops in 1995 and Kelowna in 2004), the women’s world curling championship (Lethbridge) and the Canadian Figure Skating Championships (Victoria).
In other notes, the league said there will be new supplemental discipline regulations and that it is raising its standard on illegal checks to the head. Also, Kevin Acheson has been appointed the WHL’s director of player safety and that former NHL referee Tom Kowal has been appointed as the league’s officiating development coach.
Lastly, Bobby Brett of the Spokane Chiefs and Brent Sutter of the Red Deer Rebels were elected to the executive committee of the board of governors. They join Ron Toigo of the Vancouver Giants and Gord Broda of the Prince Albert Raiders on the executive committee.
A native of Vernon, Kowal began his officiating career in the WHL in 1988 before spending 20 seasons as a referee in the NHL. Kowal retired as an NHL referee at the end of the 2017-18 season.

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