History
The Victoria Cougars were created as a Junior A team, playing out of Victoria, British Columbia, which joined the British Columbia Junior Hockey League (BCJHL) as an expansion team for the start of the 1967–68 season. This brought the league to a total of six teams. After a 1971 realignment of junior hockey into "Major Junior" and "Tier II Junior A", the Cougars joined the Western Canadian Hockey League (WCHL), now the Western Hockey League. In 1994 the Cougars relocated to Prince George, British Columbia.
In 1990, the BCHL's Cowichan Valley Capitals relocated to Victoria from Duncan, British Columbia and became the Victoria Warriors. [1] The Warriors returned to Duncan in 1993 and became the Cowichan Valley Capitals again, so in 1994 the Victoria Salsa joined the BCHL as an expansion team.
At the start of the 2006–07 season, the team was renamed as the Victoria Grizzlies under the ownership of Len Barrie who was building Bear Mountain Resort at the time (hence the name Grizzlies). The Grizzlies hosted and played in the 2009 Royal Bank Cup, won by the Vernon Vipers. In the 2013–14 season they won the Island Division championship after beating Powell River 4–2 in game six.
In 2011 Ron Walchuk purchased the team and remained as the owner for almost 15 years. Most notably the team fell in a Conference Final in 2016-17 to the Chilliwack Chiefs and then again in the Conference Final to the Prince George Spruce Kings in 2018-19 with Alex Newhook as the team captain.
During the summer of 2024, the team was purchased by local businessman; Jim Hartshorne. Hartshorne also owns the Victoria Shamrocks of the WLA making for the combination of both franchises playing out of The Q Centre under the umbrella of "Keycorp Sports & Entertainment". That company was named for Hartshorne's Development company (Keycorp Developments).
The team found success right away under new ownership and presidency of David Michaud, finishing fourth in the Coastal Conference with a record of 28-17-9. They defeated the Coquitlam Express in the first round in just six games before finishing their Island Rival Cowichan Valley Capitals in the second round in six games as well. They would, however, fall in the Conference Final in five games to the Chilliwack Chiefs.