Storm owner Kolle on B.C. Hockey Conference: ‘We simply seek to be the best’

The Storm and Merritt Centennials are making the jump to the BCHC and will toil in the eight-team Interior Division.

BCHC clubs will compete for the Mowat Cup, the provincial Junior A championship trophy.

“The next step here is membership in the Canadian Junior Hockey League,” BCHC commissioner Jeff Dubois said. “We’re putting forward an application for the 2026-27 season. That is what would put B.C. on an equal footing with other provinces and regions in terms of the status of Junior A hockey having a pathway to the Centennial Cup, the national junior championship.”

Kolle has heard criticism, including the concern that while the BCHC has Junior A status, the quality of hockey will remain more akin to Junior B.

“That’s such a shallow thought,” he said. “If you really look into it, only a certain number of teams got elevated. So, naturally, those players, the top players, are going to go to those teams.”

Kolle said the quality of play in the BCHC will get a boost from Junior A-calibre players who in recent years chose to play out of province.

“Now that this exists in our province and you already know the level is going up and these teams will potentially compete against other provinces, why would you not stay home?” Kolle said.

The Storm’s owner has noted an increase in talent on his roster since the KIJHL’s tiering assessment began.

“Really, it started two years ago,” Kolle said. “I probably had four to five players rostered this year that made a choice come to Kamloops rather than go to Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba.”

Kolle said his club’s promotion may benefit its relationship with the Kamloops Blazers of the WHL.

“It better supports them,” he said. “They are going to have a need for places for their players to develop and prepare them for the next step at their level. Knowing that we’re a good, solid option is a good thing for us. I’d hope that the Blazers talk to us more and more about partnering and working together on player development.”

The formation of the BCHC was not without controversy.

Eight KIJHL teams that seemed destined to play in the Junior B BCHC next season instead split from Hockey Canada and formed the Western International Junior Hockey League.

(Chase Heat president Darryl Adamson offered a few of the reasons why his club went that route. Dubois shared his thoughts on Adamson’s remarks.)

“Where this led along the way wasn’t what we expected necessarily three years ago,” Dubois said. “The fact that we’ve lost some members is really disappointing. The fact that the KIIJHL, which has been around for 60 years, won’t be operating as a league under that name next season is disappointing. We’ll keep an open mind and an open door in terms of any teams that want to return to sanctioned hockey. We see the value in existing as part of that community sport model.”

The WIJHL is affiliated with the BCHL, which Kolle sees as competition.

“I think you’re always in competition with everybody, whether it be the Alberta Junior Hockey League, Manitoba, Ontario, the BCHL,” he said. “We are directly competing with all of those guys and we simply seek to want to be the best. We’re Kamloops, British Columbia. I think that naturally, as a community, we seek to be the best. And I think that’s the way we’re going to approach it. Let’s become that best option for Kamloops, Kamloops area, British Columbia and Western Canadian hockey players. We want them here.”

Dubois said more information on the BCHC will be released in the coming months.

“We’re planning to increase the number of games,” Dubois said. “You look at the CJHL Junior A leagues across Canada and you tend to be in the low-to mid-50s. I would think we’re going to have an announcement coming out of our AGM in June in terms of divisional play, the number of teams that qualify for playoffs and playoff format.”

by Marty Hastings

Storm owner Kolle on B.C. Hockey Conference: ‘We simply seek to be the best’

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