The 1978 Alberta/British Columbia Junior A Championship was a playoff series to determine the Pacific seed to the 1978 Abbott Cup.
History[]
Late in the 1977-78 season, the Alberta Amateur Hockey Association retaliated against the AJHL for refusing to enforce the AAHA's ruling that season that all officials must where helmets on the ice. The AJHL, by the ruling, was not granted the right to send an Alberta champion into the 1978 Centennial Cup playdowns. Despite an appeal to the AAHA and the Province's Minister of Sport, the ban was upheld. The Calgary Canucks won the championship, but were not satisfied with sitting back and watching the rest of the country play down. The Canucks appealed to both the BCJHL and SJHL for help in the matter and initially the British Columbia Amateur Hockey Association and the BCJHL agreed to allow the BCJHL and 1978 Mowat Cup champion, Merritt Centennials, to play the suspended Canucks in the usual interprovincial series. The weekend of the first game, the BCAHA withdrew their support without explanation but Merritt went and played anyways. This would lead to further problems at the 1978 Abbott Cup.
At the 1978 Abbott Cup, the BCAHA would suspend the Centennials before Game 1 for violating the BCAHA's ruling on playing against the suspended Calgary Canucks. Merritt quickly got a 7-day court injunction from a BC court and played the series anyways.
Teams[]
- Calgary Canucks (1977-78 AJHL Season Champions)
- Merritt Centennials (1978 Mowat Cup Champions)
1978 A/BC Championship[]
| Alta/BC | ||||||||
| AJHL | Calgary Canucks | 2 | ||||||
| BCJHL | Merritt Centennials | 4 | ||||||
Results[]
- Game 1: 04/09/1978 - Merritt 6 @ Calgary 4
- Game 2: 04/10/1978 - Merritt 4 @ Calgary 5
- Game 3: 04/11/1978 - Merritt 3 @ Calgary 6
- Game 4: 04/14/1978 - Calgary 0 @ Merritt 12
- Game 5: 04/15/1978 - Calgary 1 @ Merritt 8
- Game 6: 04/16/1978 - Calgary 0 @ Merritt 6
- Merritt Centennials move on to the 1978 Abbott Cup.
