History British Columbia Hockey League

locations of bchl teams (coastal conference teams in red; interior conference teams in blue)

in 1961, heads of 4 junior b hockey teams in okanagan region of british columbia got , formed first ever junior league in british columbia s history. okanagan-mainline junior hockey league, precursor bchl, comprised of kamloops jr. rockets, kelowna buckaroos, penticton jr. vees, , vernon jr. canadians.

in 1967, league expanded out of okanagan region, bringing in new westminster royals , victoria cougars. expansion, league decided since had stretched out of okanagan region, need new name - british columbia junior hockey league. year later, vancouver centennials joined league well. in 1970s, victoria cougars jumped western hockey league , new westminster team forced fold due invasion of estevan bruins arena. in 1972, bellingham blazers , nanaimo clippers expanded league 8 teams.

on side note, in 1970s canadian amateur hockey association separated 2 tiers of junior hockey. bcjhl, being tier ii league, disallowed competing memorial cup. therefore, variety of tier ii junior leagues across canada agreed compete new trophy called centennial cup. 70s saw rise of rival league bcjhl. pacific coast junior hockey league, briefly existed in 1960s, resurrected fred page, man eastern champion junior fred page cup , bchl championship trophy named for. richmond sockeyes pcjhl s dominant team, defeated nanaimo in bc championship, mowat cup, move on precursor doyle cup. in 1979, pcjhl , bcjhl merged. 77-78 season proved strange one. bcjhl sent regular season champion, merritt centennials off play in interprovincial playdowns league champions without playing single playoff game. bcjhl continued league playoffs without them, crowning nanaimo playoff champion after penticton refused finish playoff finals due series of brawls in third game of series. merritt played off against prince albert raiders of saskatchewan junior hockey league in abbott cup (the western canada championship) , lost in 5 games (best-of-7). raiders lost centennial cup finals guelph platers of ontario hockey association.

in 1986, penticton won bcjhl s first-ever national championship, defeating metro valley junior hockey league s cole harbour colts score of 7–4 win centennial cup. year later, bcjhl s richmond sockeyes won league s second national title well.

in 1990, bcjhl renamed current name, british columbia hockey league, , changed logo twice, in 1990 , 2000, continues expand new teams , young players.

the notable star come bchl olympian , national hockey league hall of famer brett hull played penticton. hull holds bchl record goals in season (105), set in 1983-84, record still stands today. other nhlers once played in bchl include chuck kobasew of colorado avalanche played since-renamed penticton panthers, scott gomez of montreal canadiens, played south surrey, , carey price of montreal canadiens played quesnel millionaires. willie mitchell of los angeles kings native of british columbia , played in bchl, member of kelowna spartans, in 1994-95.

as of july 2013, thehockeywriters.com lists bchl 6th best developmental league, professional or amateur, in north america.

the wenatchee wild, of north american hockey league had been attempting bchl since 2012. on june 1, 2015 announced joining 2015-16 season, marking league s return after twenty-year absence.