| 2024–25 KIJHL season | |
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| League: | KIJHL |
| Sport: | Ice hockey |
| Duration: | September – February |
| No Of Games: | 44 |
| No Of Teams: | 21 |
| Prevseason Link: | 2023–24 KIJHL season |
| Prevseason Year: | 2023–24 |
| Nextseason Year: | 2025–26 |
The 2024–25 KIJHL season is the 58th season of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League. The regular season began on September 20, 2024, with 18 of 21 franchises in action on opening night, the Kelowna Chiefs and defending champions the Revelstoke Grizzlies started the season the next night while the Ghostriders started their season the following Friday night. The only rematch of the 2024 Teck Cup Finals will occur on December 7, 2024, in Revelstoke. The season will run until February 22, 2025.[1] The playoffs will begin a week later on February 28, 2025, with 16 teams competing for the Teck Cup.
The first major off-season change occurred on March 22, 2024, when the KIJHL's board of governors approved the sale of the Summerland Steam to a new ownership group including Tyrel and Robin Lucas, Parnell Pinette, Brad Paddison, Gerald Overton, and Aaron and Nathan Zurak. The new ownership moved the team to Williams Lake where they became the Williams Lake Mustangs,[2] a moniker previously used by the RMJHL team that played from 1978 to 1996.[3]
On March 31, 2024, the league announced that the Merritt Centennials, formerly of the BCHL, would join the KIJHL as an expansion franchise in the 2024–25 KIJHL season. The franchise will retain the Centennials moniker, colours, arena and branding.[4]
The second relocation of the 2024 off-season occurred five days later when the North Okanagan Knights were sold to a Quesnel-based ownership group who moved the team north, expanding the league footprint by 100 kilometres into the Cariboo region where they would be rebranded as the Quesnel River Rush.[5]
The Kelowna Chiefs were sold to Kelowna businessman Darren Tymchyshyn.[6]
On May 5, Rebels' forward Nathan Jackman was killed in a car accident.[7] Nate's number 23, was retired on September 20th at the Rebels home-opener. Jasper Tait, who started the season with William's Lake before being traded to Grand Forks, and Caden Still of the Nelson Leafs, have changed their numbers to 23 to honor Nate.
On December 2nd the Nelson Leafs fired head coach/general manager Briar McNaney after the team's 12-11-0-0 start to the season that saw six different goaltenders play[8] . Assistant Coach Gianni Mangone would be promoted to the role of interim-head coach, the Leafs orginization has yet to announce the full-time plans going forward.[9]
On July 3rd 2024 the KIJHL announced the regular season schedule as well as the new division format in the Okanagan Conference, the Revelstoke Grizzlies and Sicamous Eagles would move from the Doug Birks Division to the Bill Ohlhausen joining the Centennials, Chiefs, Coyotes, and Posse. While the River Rush and Mustangs would take their spots in the Doug Birks along with the Storm, Heat, and Wranglers. The KIJHL season will be 44 games long for each team. The KIJHL erroneously reported that each team would play 10 out-of-conference games but in reality the 10 clubs in the Kootenay will in fact play 11.[10] Each team's schedule can be broken down as follows:
The season began on September 20th
| style=width:2.2em | style=width:2.2em | style=width:2.2em | style=width:2.2em | style=width:2.2em | style=width:2.2em | style=width:2.2em | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 31 | 96 | 81 | 15 | |||||||
| 12 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 27 | 81 | 54 | 27 | |||||||
| 13 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 98 | 81 | 17 | |||||||
| 9 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 58 | 84 | -26 | |||||||
| 5 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 17 | 47 | 81 | -34 | |||||||
| 15 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 32 | 94 | 52 | 42 | |||||||
| 15 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 32 | 99 | 60 | 39 | |||||||
| 12 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 85 | 105 | -20 | |||||||
| 7 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 19 | 58 | 70 | -12 | |||||||
| 2 | 16 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 48 | 118 | -70 | |||||||
| 18 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 37 | 107 | 54 | 53 | |||||||
| 15 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 32 | 78 | 47 | 31 | |||||||
| 13 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 30 | 84 | 71 | 13 | |||||||
| 12 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 27 | 74 | 71 | 3 | |||||||
| 9 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 20 | 61 | 82 | -21 | |||||||
| 9 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 20 | 71 | 83 | -12 | |||||||
| 13 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 28 | 92 | 83 | 9 | |||||||
| 13 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 27 | 87 | 84 | 3 | |||||||
| 10 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 80 | 91 | -11 | |||||||
| 9 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 59 | 80 | -21 | |||||||
| 6 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 17 | 73 | 98 | -25 | |||||||
x-Clinched Playoffs xy-Clinched Division xyz-Clinched Conference xyzp-Clinched best regular season record e-Eliminated from playoff contention
| Eddie Mountain | Neil Murdoch | Doug Birks | Bill Ohlhausen | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Points | Team | Points | Team | Points | Team | Points | ||
| Sept 16 | 5 Teams | 0 | 5 Teams | 0 | 5 Teams | 0 | 6 Teams | 0 | |
| Sept 23 | Columbia Valley | 4 | 3 Teams (NEL, BVN, GFB) | 4 | Williams Lake | 4 | 5 Teams (REV, KEL, MER, SIC, OSO) | 2 | |
| Sept 30 | Columbia Valley | 8 | Nelson | 8 | Chase | 6 | Revelstoke | 6 | |
| Oct 7 | 2 Teams (CVR,KIM) | 8 | Nelson | 10 | Chase | 9 | Princeton | 11 | |
| Oct 14 | Kimberley | 12 | Nelson | 14 | 2 Teams (MHW, CHA) | 11 | Princeton | 15 | |
| Oct 21 | Kimberley | 18 | Nelson | 16 | 100 Mile House | 15 | Princeton | 19 | |
| Oct 28 | Kimberley | 23 | 2 Teams (BVN, GFB) | 19 | 100 Mile House | 15 | Princeton | 25 | |
| Nov 4 | Kimberley | 27 | 2 Teams (BVN, GFB) | 21 | 100 Mile House | 19 | Princeton | 29 | |
| Nov 11 | Kimberley | 28 | Beaver Valley | 23 | 100 Mile House | 21 | Princeton | 31 | |
| Nov 18 | Kimberley | 30 | Beaver Valley | 26 | 100 Mile House | 24 | Princeton | 35 | |
| Nov 25 | Kimberley | 30 | 2 Teams (BVN, GFB) | 30 | 100 Mile House | 26 | Princeton | 37 | |
| Dec 2 | Kimberley | 31 | 2 Teams (BVN, GFB) | 32 | 100 Mile House | 28 | Princeton | 37 | |
| Dec 9 | |||||||||
| Dec 16 | |||||||||
| Dec 23 | |||||||||
| Dec 30 | |||||||||
| Jan 6 | |||||||||
| Jan 13 | |||||||||
| Jan 20 | |||||||||
| Jan 27 | |||||||||
| Feb 3 | |||||||||
| Feb 10 | |||||||||
| Feb 17 | |||||||||
| Feb 24 | |||||||||
| Sep 23 | Connor Hovelkamp (NEL) 3G 2A 2GP | Liam Ray (BVN) 2G 2A 2GP | Brenner Fyfe (KAM) 3GA 71SVS 2GP | |
| Sept 30 | Jaden Rusznak (MHW) 2G 5A 3GP | Nick Hughes (KIM) 2G 3A 2GP | Michael Makowsky (SIC) 3GA 67 SVS 2GP | |
| Oct 7 | Boris Hristov (BVN) 2G 3A 2GP | Andrew Morris (CHA) 2G 1A 2GP | Brendan Smith (CRE) 2GA 46SVS 2GP | |
| Oct 14 | Braycen Dube (KAM) 4G 5A 4GP | Nathan White (REV) 2G 1A 1GP | Gibson Horne (PRI) 1GA 50SVS 1GP | |
| Oct 21 | Luke Davies (KIM) 2G 4A 3GP | Grady Sterling-Ponech (PRI) 1G 4A 3 GP | Andrew Krakora (MER) 0GA 46SVS 2GP | |
| Oct 28 | Matthew Langdon (PRI) 6G 2A 2GP | Brandon Spilchen (GOL) 2G 2A 3GP | Connor Stojan (BVN) 3GA 74SVS 2GP | |
| Matthew Langdon (PRI) 11G 11A 10GP | Eric Martin (KIM) 4G 11A 9GP | Andrew Krakora (MER) 1.64GAA .944SVP 5-1-1 | ||
| Nov 4 | JP Desabrais (WLM) 1G 6A 2GP | Nathan Laforge (KIM) 2G 1A 2GP | Ryder Ponto (REV) 0.00 GAA 1.000SVP 1GP | |
| Nov 11 | Sam Giangualano (MER) 4G 5A 3GP | Landen Janz (MHW) 2G 2A 2GP | Riley Deck (GOL) 4GA 74SVS 2GP | |
| Nov 18 | Justice Lowen (PRI) 3G 3A 2GP | Grady Sterling-Ponech (PRI) 1G 2A 2GP | Dawson Holitzki (KAM) 0GA 42SV 1GP | |
| Nov 25 | Taylor Haggerty (KIM) 4G 1A 2GP | Jonathan Strecheniuk (BVN) 1G 2A 2GP | Tyler Picha (SPO) 3GA 88SV 2GP | |
| Dec 2 | Kwentyn Oss (CAS) 3G 1A 1GP | Graham Willey (CHA) 3G 1A 2GP | Kael Svenson (SIC) 4GA 71SV 2GP | |
| Dec 9 | ||||
| Dec 16 | ||||
| Dec 23 | ||||
| Dec 30 | ||||
| Jan 6 | ||||
| Jan 13 | ||||
| Jan 20 | ||||
| Jan 27 | ||||
| Feb 3 | ||||
| Feb 10 | ||||
| Feb 17 | ||||
| Feb 24 | ||||
The Cariboo Cup is an informal in Regular-Season championship between the three Cariboo based teams (Quesnel, Williams Lake, 100 Mile House) organized by the three clubs and the cities' respective newspapers and radio stations, the winner will be the team with the best points percentage amongst the games played head-to-head between the three teams
| Quesnel River Rush | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0.875 | - | 2-0-1 | 1-0-0 | |
| 100 Mile House Wranglers | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 0.750 | 1-1-1 | - | 3-0-0 | |
| Williams Lake Mustangs | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0.375 | 0-0-1 | 0-1-2 | - |
The BCHC prospects game was the third edition of the game, a matchup between the best young players in the KIJHL and PJHL who formed the BCHC on September 22nd 2022.[11] The game is used to showcase the best talent in the league to higher leagues, including the WHL. The Langley Trappers of the PJHL hosted the 2024 game on November 19th at the George Preston Rec. Centre.[12] The team staff was announced on October 30th, team KIJHL's head coach was once again be Dave Hnatiuk of the Grand Forks Border Bruins, who was the head coach of the team at the two previous games. The assistant coaches were Nick Deschenes of the Kelowna Chiefs, Chad Scharff of the Fernie Ghostriders and Geordie Wudrick of the Creston Valley Thunder Cats. Stephen Piccolo of the Beaver Valley Nitehawks was the team's opperations manager and Brian Burdikin, of the Border Bruins, was the athletic trainer and equipment manager. Team PJHL was be coached by Cullen Revel (Richmond Sockeyes), Andy Liboiron (Surrey Knights), Jarrett Craig (Abbotsford Pilots) and Caymen Froude (Coastal Tsunami), the team's co-Operations Managers were Derek Bedard (Ridge Meadows Flames) and Will Kump (Richmond Sockeyes). Jordana Robinson (Langley Trappers), Steve Sun (Port Moody Panthers) and Kristalee Walchuk (Abbotsford Pilots) formed the PJHL’s Athletic Training & Equipment Management staff. Rosters were announced November 6th.[13] Many fans of both the KIJHL and PJHL voiced their displeasure with the concept of the game as many felt that either an inter-league all star game or a Kootenay Conference VS Okanagan Conference all star game would be more enjoyable to watch, as a game featuring the league's best players was seen as more enjoyable as opposed to a game of just the best players aged 17 or younger.
| Team PJHL | ||||
| Player | Team | Player | Team | |
| Goaltenders | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brenner Fyfe | Kamloops | Josh Vallee | Ridge Meadows | |
| Michael Makowsky | Sicamous | Armaan Kaila | Richmond | |
| Defencemen | ||||
| Aaron Zulinick | Kamloops | Tyler Blatz | Ridge Meadows | |
| Brett Woodard | 100 Mile House | Miller Bruckshaw | Delta | |
| Keiran Thibault | Kamloops | Noah Marshall | Chilliwack | |
| Ben Filippone | Castlegar | Lachlan Staniforth | Chilliwack | |
| Rhett Serfas | Merritt | Ryan Howe | Langley | |
| Levi Dewitt | Sicamous | Nathan Gray | Richmond | |
| Forwards | ||||
| Asher Lucas | Williams Lake | Lucas Davidson | North Vancouver | |
| Luca D'Amore | Kamloops | Cody Johnston | Abbotsford | |
| Phoenix Flett | Grand Forks | Beaudy Beaudin | Richmond | |
| Berkley Gross | Creston Valley | Jesse Brideau | Chiliwack | |
| Dylan Ruff | Merritt | Lukas Jakubec | Delta | |
| Jaden Rusznack | 100 Mile House | Jonah Ussher | White Rock | |
| Ryker Rougeau | Grand Forks | Max Shin | Richmond | |
| Clayton Gillmore | Sicamous | Oliver Nottingham | Coastal | |
| Noah Paulsen | Kamloops | Dalton Toma | Ridge Meadows | |
| Kaelen Swanson | Williams Lake | Deegan Holding | Chilliwack | |
| Brayden Rotach | Castlegar | Avraham Brown | Langley | |
| Luke Davies | Kimberley | Nick Kovich | Richmond | |
On November 12th the KIJHL announced the 'Wayne March 'GM of the Year' award' to join the existing annual awards. The award was name after Sicamous Eagles co-founder and GM who passed away on September 28th.
The 2025 'Quest for the Teck cup' will begin on February 28th 2025 with the top four teams in each division making the playoffs, 1st will play 4th and 2nd will play 3rd in the division semi-finals. The winners will meet in the division final. The winners of those series will meet in the conference finals (Eddie Mountain V Neil Murdoch in the Kootenay and Doug Birks V Bill Ohlhausen in the Okanagan/Shuswap). The winners of the conference finals will meet in the Teck Cup Final. All series will be best-of-seven with games 1,2,5,and 7 being hosted by the team with the superior regular-season record. Barring any unforeseen circumstances this format, which was also used last year, will be the same format as the previous season's for the first time since the 2018 and 2019 playoffs.
The Mowat Cup is the British Columbia Jr. A hockey championship between the champions of all the leagues in BC, a new format for the completion is expected as the previous format of the winners of the KIJHL, PJHL, and VIJHL plus a fourth host team would no longer be feasible due to the VIJHL becoming an independent league as an affiliate for the BCHL in a manner similar to Jr. B.[16] An announcement is expected in early February 2025.