BRITISH COLUMBIA HOCKEY LEAGUE

The 'British Columbia Hockey League' is a tier II Junior "A" ice hockey league under Hockey Canada, a subsection of the Canadian Junior A Hockey League. Founded in Vernon in 1961, the BCJHL now includes 17 teams. These teams play in two conferences, known as the Coastal and the Interior. The winner of the BCHL playoffs (BCHL Fred Page Cup) continues on to play in the Doyle Cup in a best-of-7 series against the champion of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. The winner of the Doyle Cup will compete in the Junior "A" National Championship for the Royal Bank Cup.
:''For the next round of the playoffs, please go to the 'Doyle Cup'.''
:''For the National Championship, please go to the 'Royal Bank Cup 2007'.''

Contents

History

Teams

2006-07 BCHL Fred Page Cup Playoffs

BCHL Fred Page Cup Champions

Former Member Teams

External links

History

In 1961, the heads of four junior "B" hockey teams in the Okanagan region of British Columbia got together and formed the first ever Junior "A" league in British Columbia's history. 'The Okanagan-Mainline Junior "A" Hockey League', the precursor to the BCHL, was comprised originally of the Kamloops Jr. Rockets, the Kelowna Buckaroos, the Penticton Jr. Vees, and the Vernon Jr. Canadians.
In 1967, the league expanded out of the Okanagan region, bringing in the New Westminster Royals and the Victoria Cougars. With the expansion, the league decided that since it had stretched out of the Okanagan region, that it need a new name - The 'British Columbia Junior Hockey League'. A year later, the Vancouver Centennials joined the league as well. In the 1970's, the Victoria Cougars jumped to the Western Hockey League and the New Westminster team was forced to fold due to the invasion of the Estevan Bruins into their arena, this version of the Bruins is not the current team in the BCHL. In 1972, the Bellingham Blazers and the Nanaimo Clippers expanded the league to 8 teams.
On a side note, in the early 1970's the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association separated the two tiers of Junior "A" hockey. The BCJHL, being a Tier II league, was disallowed from competing for the Memorial Cup. Therefor, the variety of Tier II Junior "A" leagues across Canada agreed to compete for a new trophy called the Centennial Cup. The 70's also saw the rise of a rival league for the BCJHL. The Pacific Coast Junior Hockey League, which briefly existed in the 1960's, was resurrected by Fred Page, the man that the Eastern Champion Junior "A" Fred Page Cup and the BCHL Championship trophy are named for. The Richmond Sockeyes were the PCJHL's most dominant team, which even defeated Nanaimo in the BC Championship, the Mowat Cup, to move on to what was the precursor to the Doyle Cup. In 1979, the PCJHL and the BCJHL merged. The 77-78 season proved to be a strange one. The BCJHL sent their regular season champion, the Merritt Centennials off to play in the interprovincial playdowns as league champions without playing a single playoff game. The BCJHL continued their league playoffs without them, crowning Nanaimo as the playoff champion after Penticton refused to finish the playoff finals due to a series of brawls in the third game of the series. Merritt played off against the Prince Albert Raiders of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League in the Abbott Cup (the Western Canada Championship) and lost in 5 games (best-of-7). The Raiders lost the Centennial Cup finals to the Guelph Platers of the Ontario Hockey Association.
In 1986, Penticton won the BCJHL's first ever National Championship defeating the Metro Valley Junior Hockey League's Cole Harbour Colts by a score of 7-4 to win the Centennial Cup. A year later, the BCJHL's Richmond Sockeyes won the league's second national title as well.
The most notable star to come from the BCHL is Olympian and National Hockey League hall of famer Brett Hull who played for Penticton. Hull holds the BCHL record for most goals in a season (105), which he set in 1983-84, a record that still stands today. Other NHLers who once played in the BCHL include Chuck Kobasew of the Calgary Flames who played for the since-rename Penticton Panthers, Scott Gomez of the New Jersey Devils, who played for South Surrey, and Paul Kariya of the Nashville Predators who played for Penticton.

Teams

'Interior Conference'
'Team'	'Centre'	'2006-07 Record'	'Finish'
'Merritt Centennials'	Merritt	25-27-1-7	6
'Penticton Vees'	Penticton	41-14-2-3	1
'Prince George Spruce Kings'	Prince George	34-19-2-5	5
'Quesnel Millionaires'	Quesnel	8-47-0-5	9
'Salmon Arm Silverbacks'	Salmon Arm	36-21-0-3	4
'Trail Smoke Eaters'	Trail	35-19-0-6	3
'Vernon Vipers'	Vernon	37-19-1-3	2
'Westside Warriors'	Westbank	23-25-3-9	7
'Coastal Conference'
'Team'	'Centre'	'2006-07 Record'	'Finish'
'Alberni Valley Bulldogs'	Port Alberni	21-32-1-6	7
'Burnaby Express'	Burnaby	34-25-0-1	4
'Cowichan Valley Capitals'	Duncan	36-16-2-6	3
'Langley Chiefs'	Langley	29-27-1-3	5
'Nanaimo Clippers'	Nanaimo	41-12-2-5	1
'Powell River Kings'	Powell River	25-27-3-5	6
'Surrey Eagles'	Surrey	17-39-1-3	8
'Victoria Grizzlies'	Victoria	39-17-3-1	2

2006-07 BCHL Fred Page Cup Playoffs

BCHL Fred Page Cup Champions

★ 1962 Kamloops Rockets ★ 1963 Kamloops Rockets ★ 1964 Kamloops Rockets ★ 1965 Kelowna Buckaroos ★ 1966 Kamloops Kraft Kings ★ 1967 Penticton Broncos ★ 1968 Penticton Broncos ★ 1969 Victoria Cougars ★ 1970 Vernon Essos ★ 1971 Kamloops Rockets ★ 1972 Vernon Essos ★ 1973 Penticton Broncos ★ 1974 Kelowna Buckaroos ★ 1975 Bellingham Blazers ★ 1976 Nanaimo Clippers ★ 1977 Nanaimo Clippers ★ 1978 Nanaimo Clippers ★ 1979 Bellingham Blazers ★ 1980 Penticton Knights ★ 1981 Penticton Knights ★ 1982 Penticton Knights ★ 1983 Abbotsford Flyers ★ 1984 Langley Eagles ★ 1985 Penticton Knights ★ 1986 Penticton Knights ★ 1987 Richmond Sockeyes ★ 1988 Vernon Lakers ★ 1989 Vernon Lakers ★ 1990 New Westminster ★ 1991 Vernon Lakers

★ 1992 Vernon Lakers ★ 1993 Kelowna Spartans ★ 1994 Kelowna Spartans ★ 1995 Chilliwack Chiefs ★ 1996 Vernon Vipers ★ 1997 South Surrey Eagles ★ 1998 South Surrey Eagles ★ 1999 Vernon Vipers ★ 2000 Chilliwack Chiefs ★ 2001 Victoria Salsa ★ 2002 Chilliwack Chiefs ★ 2003 Vernon Vipers ★ 2004 Nanaimo Clippers ★ 2005 Surrey Eagles ★ 2006 Burnaby Express ★ 2007 Nanaimo Clippers

Former Member Teams

★ Abbotsford Falcons

★ Kamloops Rockets

★ Kelowna Buckaroos

★ Kelowna Spartans

★ Revelstoke Rangers

★ Richmond Sockeyes

★ Williams Lake TimberWolves

External links

★ British Columbia Hockey League

★ BCHL History