Hockey Returns To Bellingham

When last season was set to officially “drop the puck” with the Bellingham Blazers hockey team who play out of the Whatcom Sports and Recreation Centre it was a last minute decision to put the team “on ice” for the season.

Sad but it wasn’t the first nor will it be the last team to have their season cut short for whatever reason which I heard a “lack of players” but it happened forcing various players to revisit their hockey season.

Clearly it wasn’t the best timing by whoever “made the call” but the games went on leaving the rink available for other events.

Frustrating for me – yes mainly due to the fact that it put the hockey season on hold for my Nephew Eric Ruud who had coached the Blazers for the past few seasons.

Given the growth of various leagues in the area I’m hearing that the Bellingham rink is open to joining the JPHL which adds teams to their league.

In conversation with some earlier in the day they offered the following advice to the teams traveling south mentioning “Make sure that everyone has all the proper paper work when they are crossing the border so as to avoid any issues with the US Customs.”

Regardless of what you might think; it’s good advice for everyone considering that we are still hearing there are issues at the border heading into the States.

Regardless if the new league takes to the ice one has to ask where they will be getting their players from as it’s a “pay per player” league which in the hockey world isn’t  cheap.

World from my sources tell me that the Bellingham Hockey Club is preparing to dress a 17U expansion team joining the Junior Prospects Hockey League (JPHL) for the 2026–27 season.

The Bellingham Breakers will be the first U.S.-based squad and 14th team total in the 17U division, and will play its games at the Bellingham Sportsplex.

The new club will take over for the Bellingham Blazers, which suspended operations before the 2025–26 season because of a lack of players joining the team and the expansion of the United States Premier Hockey League. 

Vic Pereira who was born in Abbotsford and played in the BCHL in Nanaimo, Cowichan and Surrey under Mark Holick will be the 18U Head Coach for the Bellingham Jr. Blazers.

Pereira mentioned “Hockey has always been part of Bellingham’s identity, so bringing high-level hockey back to the community is something we’re incredibly proud of.” 

He continued “This isn’t just about filling that gap; it’s about building something sustainable and development-focused.”

 “This is an exciting and very intentional step for our league,” Nault said in a news release. “Bellingham HC represents the first phase of our U.S. expansion.”

I’m hearing that the team will start up in late August with exhibition games beginning in September. 

There is no question that growing the hockey program in the Bellingham area needed to happen but it’s only sad that the team last season had to fold leaving a void for not just the players, but also the community.