History
The most recent provincial Jr. B champions to come from the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League are the Campbell River Storm in 2015, the Peninsula Panthers in 2011, the Victoria Cougars in 2007, and the Campbell River Storm again in 1999 during their dynasty of the league. The only team in VIJHL history to ever win the Keystone Cup as Western Canadian champions are the 2015 Campbell River Storm. This has been accomplished multiple times by teams in the rival Pacific Junior Hockey League and Kootenay International Junior Hockey League.
In 2012, the VIJHL announced the addition of two new franchises, the Nanaimo Buccaneers and the Westshore Wolves. The Buccaneers are the namesake of a team that played in the VIJHL in the 1970s. The Wolves are not new to the area either, but are replacing an unsuccessful team, the Westshore Stingers, that folded on December 4, 2010. The Lake Cowichan Kraken and Port Alberni Bombers joined the league as expansion franchises in the 2021–22 VIJHL season. [1] [2]
In 2023, governing body BC Hockey announced plans to restructure its junior hockey framework following the departure of its only Junior A league. [3] The three Junior B leagues (PJHL, KIJHL and VIJHL) were summarily designated as "Junior A Tier 2", with plans to conduct an independent evaluation of those teams seeking to be promoted to "Junior A Tier 1". It was expected that those teams promoted to Tier 1 would eventually apply for membership in the CJHL. [4] The league expected the evaluations to be completed during the 2024–25 season. [5]
In April 2024, the league announced that it would withdraw from the Hockey Canada framework and become an independent farm league for the BCHL in the 2024–25 season. [6] [7] [8] Some BCHL clubs acquired an ownership stake in VIJHL clubs after the announcement. [8] [9] [10] However, sources reported that there will be no club-specific affiliations, and that BCHL teams will be allowed to call players up from, or send players down to, any VIJHL team. [11]
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