TRU WolfPack hockey returns with men’s, women’s teams; Miners retire moniker

Home games will be played at the Logan Lake Recreation Centre, with the likely exception of a student night or two in Kamloops.

The Highland Valley Athletes Society, a non-profit organization, will continue to run the team.

Grant Friesen, who took over as head coach and general manager of the Miners in time for the 2023-2024 campaign, will handle those duties for both WolfPack teams.

“It makes recruiting so much easier when you’re recruiting players to a university, especially when you’re trying to recruit against other teams – even within our own league – that are tied to universities,” Friesen said.

“You can go and talk to an athlete or family and say, ‘Hey, we want you to come out to Kamloops. We want you to play for the TRU WolfPack.’ First and foremost, this is for our athletes. They’re not having to explain that, you know, they’re playing for the Logan Lake Miners and explain what that is. They can just say, ‘I play for Thompson Rivers University.’”

The five-team circuit — which includes the Miners, Vancouver Island University Mariners of Nanaimo, University of Victoria Vikes, Simon Fraser University Red Leafs of Burnaby and Okanagan Lakers (who draw from Kelowna schools Okanagan College and UBC Okanagan — is populated heavily by former junior players who love the game and wish to continue playing competitively while pursuing an education.

Friesen sees value in the WolfPack brand.

“On the financial side, when you’re going and asking for support, whether it’s coming out to fundraisers or you’re going looking for sponsorship, it’s a lot easier to get behind that name [the TRU WolfPack] than it is this independent non-profit program,” Friesen said.

WolfPack athletics and recreation director Curtis Atkinson said the partnership is possible because the non-profit is funding the team.

“They’ve had an amazing relationship with the community in Logan Lake and that will hopefully continue,” Atkinson said. “That’s through fan support, corporate support. Facility support through the municipality has been really positive there. Availability of ice time and things like that are difficult in Kamloops right now.”

Added Friesen: “As the years have gone by, we’ve shown that not only are we getting more competitive on the ice, but we’re financially viable enough to be self-sustaining. We can get by through our team fees, our sponsorship and fundraising.”

The Miners averaged between 150 to 200 fans per game last season, noted Friesen, who said that is “phenomenal” for a town of about 2,000.

Atkinson sees merit in continuing the institution’s hockey tradition, which dates back to the 1970s with the introduction of the Cariboo College Chiefs.

“There’s an opportunity to have our brand reflected in a positive way throughout the province,” Atkinson said. “That’s a real positive.”

The hockey program is a recruiting tool during an enrolment crisis at the institution.

“We have to find more TRU students and I don’t think that’s ever a bad thing,” Atkinson said. “These will be TRU students on these teams.”

When talks began between the WolfPack and Miners last year, there was no mention of a women’s team.

That (quite sizeable) wrinkle was added in the spring, when the BCIHL confirmed female teams will join the circuit in time for the 2026-2027 season, said Friesen.

The news – all five league members are expected to have female squads – sweetened the pot in Atkinson’s eyes.

“For us, it was a real positive and I think it’s a real positive for hockey in the province,” he said. “We can see the women’s game obviously exploding with the PWHL and there’s a lot of positive things happening there.”

Atkinson said the BCIHL women’s division has potential to fill a competitive gap.

“In the province, when U18 women’s hockey players finish right now, some of them look south of the border, some look at U Sports schools,” he said. “There are only two U Sports hockey schools in our province. If you want to play at the college level, you might have to look south or into Alberta.”

TRU Sports Information noted the institution has never had an athletics-department-affiliated women’s hockey team.

Friesen acknowledged helming both the men’s and women’s clubs is not likely a tenable long-term plan, but he is happy to perform double-duty while the female program finds footing.

He does not foresee problems with putting together the women’s roster on relatively short notice, noting a team tryout will be held on July 18 and July 19.

“The response that I’ve gotten even just since we announced it less than a week ago has been tremendous,” Friesen said. “Whether that’s from players reaching out wanting to play or people reaching out wanting to be involved to help get the women’s team off the ground, it has been overwhelming, honestly.”

The men’s league is expected to consist of a traditional schedule, with practices during the week and games on weekends.

“All the women’s games are going to be played in a showcase-style tournament,” Friesen said. “So, on whatever weekends we decide throughout the year, all five teams will get together, everybody will play everybody and then we’ll disperse and come back again.”

That arrangement will likely change if the women’s division is successful.

“We’ll do it that way so we can have more focus on getting the product and the player experience down pat on the women’s side and get it to the standard that we want it to be before we try and bite off more than we can chew with having a more traditional regular season,” Friesen said.

The teams will adopt WolfPack jerseys. For those lamenting the loss of the Miners’ logo and colour scheme, a small peace offering.

“For sure, it is tough,” Friesen said. “What’s been nice is TRU did allow us to keep our old “M” logo on our shoulders of our jerseys, so we’ll still have a little bit of homage to the past.”

by Marty Hastings

TRU WolfPack hockey returns with men’s, women’s teams; Miners retire moniker

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