West Kelowna Warriors

West Kelowna Warriors
CityWest Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
LeagueBritish Columbia Hockey League
ConferenceInterior
Founded1994 (1994)
Home arenaRoyal LePage Place
ColoursMaroon and tan
   
Owner(s)JMRH Hockey Development ULC
(John Murphy and Rod Hume)
PresidentChris Laurie
General managerSimon Ferguson
Head coachSimon Ferguson
Websitehttp://www.westkelownawarriors.ca
Franchise history
1994–1998Langley Thunder
1998–2006Langley Hornets
2006–2012Westside Warriors
2012–presentWest Kelowna Warriors

The West Kelowna Warriors are a Junior "A" ice hockey team from West Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. They are a part of the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) and play in the Interior Conference.

The West Kelowna Warriors are a relocated franchise, moving to West Kelowna in 2006 from Langley, British Columbia.

History

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Langley Thunder/Hornets

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Langley was originally granted a British Columbia Junior Hockey League (BCJHL) franchise in 1973 called the Langley Lords. The team played as the Lords through the 1975–76 season. In those three years they had very decent regular seasons, making it to the playoffs each year, including a loss in the league finals in their first season. In 1976 the Lords changed their name to the Langley Thunder. Their regular season performance diminished each year and they missed the playoffs for the first time in the franchise's history in the 1978–79 season. Shortly after the completion of the 1978–79 season, the franchise ceased operations. An unrelated BCJHL franchise, the Chilliwack Colts, relocated to become the Langley Eagles from 1981–82 through the 1986–87 seasons, before moving back to Chilliwack, British Columbia.

Langley Hornets Logo

In 1990, the BCJHL was renamed the BCHL, and in 1994 Langley returned to the BCHL with a new franchise, adopting the name Thunder from the defunct franchise of the 1970s. The new franchise competed as the Thunder for five seasons, reaching the BCHL championship finals in 1996, which they lost to the eventual Junior A national Royal Bank Cup champion Vernon Vipers, 4–1.

The Thunder changed their name to the Langley Hornets before the start of the 1998–99 season. Playing in Langley from 1998 through the 2005–06 season, the Hornets were led by several coaches. Coach Rick Lanz was notable for taking the last place 2001–02 team and guiding them to a fourth-place finish in the 2002–03 season, though the team would be eliminated in the first round of the BCHL playoffs. Lanz was not re-signed for the next season and the team returned to last place in the BCHL.[1]

Westside/West Kelowna Warriors

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Westside Warriors Logo

Before the start of the 2006–07 season the franchise moved from Langley to the unincorporated area on the "westside" of Kelowna, British Columbia, and renamed themselves the Westside Warriors. The Westside Warriors found immediate success, reaching the BCHL playoffs in the 2006–07 season, followed in 2007–08 with a third place BCHL finish in the regular season and making it to the BCHL semi-finals in the playoffs.

In late 2007, the unincorporated area the Westside Warriors called home became the incorporated Westside District Municipality, and in 2008 changed its name to West Kelowna. The franchise kept the place name Westside, rather than West Kelowna, through the 2011–12 season. In the summer of 2012, the Westside Warriors announced they would be changing their name to the West Kelowna Warriors, recognizing the proper name of the municipality where they play.

In 2018, the Warriors were purchased by Kim Dobranski and KD Sports Ltd. from Mark Cheyne and the Vision Sports Group LLP.[2][3]

In October 2019, the BCHL confirmed that it was in talks to buy the West Kelowna Warriors from owners Kim Dobranski and Linda Wang, with unaudited financial results that showed the team profited just over $10,000, the first time the team was ever profitable since moving to West Kelowna. In November 2019, the Warriors were purchased by John Murphy and Rod Hume under JMRH Hockey Development ULC,[4][5] with Murphy serving as governor and Hume as managing partner, and the BCHL approving the sale and the sale effective date being November 11, 2019.[5][6] The Warriors also announced that Chris Laurie was named team president.[7][6]

Season-by-season records

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Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, Pts = Points

BCJHL Langley Lords/Thunder

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Season GP W L T GF GA Pts Finish Playoffs
1973–74 64 38 24 2 326 283 78 1st, Coastal Lost in Finals
1974–75 66 34 31 1 330 351 69 1st, Coastal Lost in Quarter-finals
1975–76 66 32 31 3 349 298 67 5th, League Lost in Quarter-finals
1976–77 68 30 37 1 351 362 62 3rd, Coastal Lost in Semi-finals
1977–78 66 19 47 0 250 423 38 5th, Coastal Lost in Quarter-finals
1978–79 62 22 36 4 284 348 48 5th, Coastal Did not qualify

Current BCHL franchise

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Season GP W L T OTL GF GA Pts Finish Playoffs
Langley Thunder
1994–95 60 38 21 1 — 321 252 77 2nd, Mainland Lost in Quarter-finals
1995–96 60 38 19 3 — 317 273 79 2nd, Mainland Lost in Finals
1996–97 60 21 35 4 — 228 289 46 7th, Coastal Did not qualify
1997–98 60 26 31 3 — 219 239 55 6th, Coastal Did not qualify
Langley Hornets
1998–99 60 44 12 4 — 330 219 92 1st, Mainland Lost in Semi-finals
1998–99 60 20 38 — 2 242 294 42 3rd, Mainland Lost in 1st round
1999–00 60 41 17 — 2 305 247 84 1st, Mainland Lost in Semi-finals
2000–01 60 29 25 — 6 222 239 64 4th, Mainland Lost in 1st round
2001–02 60 19 34 — 7 226 274 45 5th, Mainland Did not qualify
2002–03 60 34 22 — 1 225 231 72 2nd, Mainland Lost in 1st round
2003–04 60 19 36 1 4 205 286 43 4th, Mainland Did not qualify
2004–05 60 12 42 1 5 169 277 30 4th, Mainland Did not qualify
2005–06 60 32 23 1 4 179 181 69 3rd, Mainland Lost in Quarter-finals
Westside Warriors
2006–07 60 23 25 3 9 192 221 58 7th, Mainland Lost in Preliminary
2007–08 60 40 17 0 3 237 161 83 3rd, BCHL Lost in Semi-finals
2008–09 60 37 18 1 4 220 162 79 5th, BCHL Did not qualify
2009–10 60 38 18 1 3 244 173 80 4th, BCHL Lost quarter-final
2010–11 60 33 20 2 5 246 183 73 4th, Interior Lost Division Semi-final
2011–12 60 22 29 2 7 190 208 53 11th, BCHL Did not qualify
West Kelowna Warriors
2012–13 56 30 13 4 9 205 151 73 2nd, Interior
4th, BCHL		 Won Div. Finals, 4–1 (Centennials)
Lost Conf. Finals, 4–1 (Vees)
2013–14 58 35 15 3 5 225 173 78 2nd, Interior
5th, BCHL		 Lost div. semi-finals, 4–2 (Vipers)
2014–15 58 29 21 0 8 205 210 44 4th of 6, Interior
7th of 16, BCHL		 Lost div. semi-finals, 4–1 (Vees)
2015–16 58 38 17 2 1 242 180 79 2nd of 6, Interior
3rd of 17, BCHL		 Won Div. Semi-finals, 4–2 (Silverbacks)
Won Div. Finals, 4–2 (Vees)
2nd of 3, round-robin
Won League Finals, 4–2 (Chiefs)
Advance to Western Canada Cup
2016–17 58 27 29 2 0 175 204 56 4th of 6, Interior
9th of 17, BCHL		 Lost div. semi-finals 4–0 (Centennials)
2017–18 58 28 27 2 1 198 221 59 5th of 7, Interior
11th of 17, BCHL		 Lost div. semi-finals 4–0 (Smoke Eaters)
2018–19 58 28 28 — 2 210 220 58 6th of 7, Interior
12th of 17, BCHL		 Lost First Round, 3–4 (Wild)
2019–20 58 16 33 0 9 160 223 41 6th of 7, Interior
16th of 17, BCHL		 Lost First Round, 1–4 (Vees)

Western Canada Cup

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Western Canada championship from 2013 to 2017
Participants: British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) – Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) – Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) – Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) – host team
Round-robin play with 1st vs. 2nd winner advancing to RBC Cup junior A national championship and loser to a runner-up game.
3rd vs. 4th in semifinal with winner to the runner-up game and loser eliminated.
Runner-up game determined second representative to national championship.

Year Round-robin Record Standing Semifinal Runner-up game Championship game
2016 W, Estevan Bruins (host) 3–0
L, Brooks Bandits (AJHL) 2–4
OTW, Portage Terriers (MJHL) 3–2
W, Melfort Mustangs (SJHL) 4–1		 3–1–0 2nd of 5 — — W, Brooks Bandits 6–0
Cup Champions

Royal Bank Cup

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Hockey Canada junior A national championship
Participants in 2016: Dudley Hewitt Cup champions (Central), Fred Page Cup champions (Eastern, Western Canada Cup champions (Western #1), Western Canada Cup runners-up (Western #2) and a host team
Round-robin play with top four in semifinal and winners to finals.

Year Round-robin Record
W–OTW–OTL–L		 Standing Semifinal Championship game
2016 W, Lloydminster Bobcats (host) 5–2
L, Brooks Bandits (Western #2) 1–5
OTW, Trenton Golden Hawks (Central) 4–3
W, Carleton Place Canadians (Eastern) 4–1		 2–1–0–1 3rd of 5 W, Brooks Bandits 4–1 W, Lloydminster Bobcats 4–0
Canadian Junior A Champions

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Greenizan, Nick (5 October 2016). "Lanz returns to Surrey Eagles as assistant coach". Peace Arch News. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  2. ^ "West Kelowna Warriors under new ownership". JuniorHockey.com. 15 August 2018.
  3. ^ McIntyre, Pete (10 August 2018). "New Owner For BCHL Team". 103.1 Beach Radio/Jim Pattison Broadcast Group. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  4. ^ "Warriors Announce New Ownership". West Kelowna Warriors. 12 November 2019.
  5. ^ a b Britton, Mackenzie (12 November 2019). "West Kelowna Warriors find new owner". Kelowna Capital News. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  6. ^ a b Lowe, Travis (13 November 2019). West Kelowna Warriors get new owners (television). Kelowna, British Columbia: Global Okanagan News.
  7. ^ "Chris Laurie Named Team President". West Kelowna Warriors. 12 November 2019.
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Preceded by Royal Bank Cup Champions
2016 		Succeeded by


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