The East Kootenay Rams were a senior men's team ice hockey team that played in Cranbrook, British Columbia. They only played during the 1960-61 season in the Western International Hockey League.
Ice hockey is a contact team sport played on ice, usually in a rink, in which two teams of skaters use their sticks to shoot a vulcanized rubber puck into their opponent's net to score points. The sport is known to be fast-paced and physical, with teams usually consisting of six players each: one goaltender, and five players who skate up and down the ice trying to take the puck and score a goal against the opposing team.
Cranbrook is a city in southeast British Columbia, Canada, located on the west side of the Kootenay River at its confluence with the St. Mary's River, It is the largest urban centre in the region known as the East Kootenay. As of 2016, Cranbrook's population is 19,259 with a census agglomeration population of 26,083. It is the location of the headquarters of the Regional District of East Kootenay and also the location of the regional headquarters of various provincial ministries and agencies, notably the Rocky Mountain Forest District.
The Western International Hockey League (WIHL) was a senior level ice hockey league that featured teams from the Western United States and Western Canada. It operated from 1946–62 and 1963–88. It grew out of the West Kootenay League, which operated in southeast British Columbia from the 1920s.
They were formed in January 1961 to replace the Trail Smoke Eaters who traveled to Europe to represent Canada at the 1961 World Ice Hockey Championships.
The Trail Smoke Eaters were a senior level men's ice hockey team from Trail, British Columbia that played from 1926 to 1987. They are recognized as being one of the best senior hockey teams in Canadian history. The Smoke Eaters won their first Allan Cup in 1938; they won the 1939 World Ice Hockey Championships and the 1961 World Ice Hockey Championships; and they won another Allan Cup in 1962.
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. It comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia.
Canada is a country in the northern part of North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering 9.98 million square kilometres, making it the world's second-largest country by total area. Canada's southern border with the United States is the world's longest bi-national land border. Its capital is Ottawa, and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. As a whole, Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its land area being dominated by forest and tundra. Consequently, its population is highly urbanized, with over 80 percent of its inhabitants concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, many near the southern border. Canada's climate varies widely across its vast area, ranging from arctic weather in the north, to hot summers in the southern regions, with four distinct seasons.
The East Kootenay Rams won the WIHL semi-final but lost the league final to the Nelson Maple Leafs. The playing coach was Bill Hryciuk.
The Nelson Maple Leafs were a senior men's ice hockey team. They won the British Columbia Senior Championship, the Savage Cup, seven times. They played in, but lost, the 1965 Allan Cup Final.
