The Bulldogs will be shorthanded behind the bench to kick off the 23-24 season as the club announced on Tuesday morning that head coach & general manager Joe Martin has been suspended by the BCHL league office for 2 games.
The incident stems back to the summer, when the BCHL league office determined that Martin made contact with forward Hayden Stavroff prior to the Salmon Arm Silverbacks. BCHL policies dictate that teams are to notify players of a trade before receiving contact from the team acquiring the player.
Stavroff was acquired from the Silverbacks as a future consideration, along with defenceman Owen Desilets from the Silverbacks in the December 13th trade that saw the Boilard brothers head to Salmon Arm.
“While we don’t agree with the way this situation was handled we accepted Joe’s penalty and moved on this summer.” said Bulldogs president David Michaud. “Joe has an outstanding track record as a coach and an advocate for the BCHL, including serving on the competition committee. It’s unfortunate that the league felt the situation was punishable by suspension.”
In Martin’s absence assistant coach Ryan Rehill will assume the head coaching duties for the two games.
The Bulldogs open defence of their Coastal Conference title on Friday night in Coquitlam before travelling to Langley on Saturday. Martin will return behind the bench on the 29th when the Bulldogs travel to Cowichan. The Bulldogs home opener is the next night on September 30th when they host the Nanaimo Clippers.
