The Western Hockey League issued an extremely brief statement Tuesday afternoon confirming what is already accepted as fact in Chilliwack.
"WHL Commissioner Ron Robison issued the following statement regarding the Chilliwack Bruins franchise," a news release said. "The Western Hockey League (WHL) announced today that it has granted conditional approval to a request from the ownership of the Chilliwack Bruins for the sale of their WHL franchise. Until such time all of the conditions related to the sale have been satisfied the WHL is not in a position to make any further statement on this transaction."
This is the first on-the-record public confirmation that the team has been sold, and will only add fuel to the speculation fire.