MERRITT, B.C. - The new Merritt Centennials have their first head coach. In a news release issued Thursday (April 18) morning, the Centennials announced the hiring of Wes McLeod as their head coach and assistant general manager heading into the 2024-25 Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) season. The 31-...

KAMLOOPS - Kamloops Blazers' defenceman Harrison Brunicke received a double dose of notable news on Tuesday (April 16).Brunicke, 17, is one of six defencemen named to Hockey Canada's U-18 roster for the 2024 International Ice Hockey Federation Under-18 World Championship in Finland.The tournament is slated to run from ...

KAMLOOPS -- Kamloops Gymnastics and Trampoline Centre athlete Gavin Dodd has added to his substantial hardware collection. Dodd, 20, won two gold medals -- in double-mini trampoline and synchronized trampoline (along with Keegan Soehn) -- and placed sixth in senior men's individual trampoline at Trampoline Gymnastics E...

KAMLOOPS -- The Kamloops Rattlers will begin their Thompson Okanagan Senior Lacrosse League season on Sunday (April 14) with a game against the Kelowna Raiders.Game time is 4 p.m. at Memorial Arena. Alcohol will be served in the beer garden.

KAMLOOPS - The Kamloops Blazers will be represented behind the bench for the upcoming IIHF U18 World Championships, which will take place in Finland from April 25 to May 5.Longtime Blazers' goaltending coach Dan De Palma has been selected to fill that same role for Hockey Canada. De Palma has been with the Blazers sinc...

KAMLOOPS - Touted as one of the fastest growing sports in the country, pickleball is a relatively new sport - first created in the 1960s - but it's not a fad. The local club in Kamloops now has around 600 members, using any court space in the city they can get their hands on. CFJC crews paid a visit to the courts at Ri...

TORONTO - Kamloops skip Matt Dunstone and his Manitoba team that includes third B.J. Neufeld, second Colton Lott and lead Ryan Harnden, is chasing a Grand Slam of Curling title this week in Toronto.Team Dunstone is 1-1 at the Princess Auto Players' Championship following a 7-4 victory over Team Joël Retornaz of Tr...

KAMLOOPS -- Svyatik Artemenko of the TRU WolfPack men's soccer team is expected to be featured in the national sports spotlight.The WolfPack confirmed on Tuesday (April 9) that TSN is bringing a documentary crew to Kamloops this week to focus on the goalkeeper who was born in Odesa, Ukraine, but grew up in Winnipeg.Art...

KAMLOOPS - Snake Pit fever will return this weekend at Memorial Arena. The Kamloops Venom will begin the defence of their Thompson-Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League title on Saturday (April 13), when the Kelowna Kodiaks come to town for a 7:00 p.m. start at the venerable barn on Victoria Street. "There hasn't been t...

KAMLOOPS - Last week, the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League announced that the North Okanagan Knights had been sold and will be relocated to Quesnel, where they will become the Quesnel River Rush. The team will be owned and operated by Tracy Mero, formerly the principal owner of the Kamloops Storm.The Kamloop...

KAMLOOPS - The Kamloops Sports Hall of Fame has added another three people and one more team. The induction was held Saturday (April 6), when the 1972-73 North Kamloops Kinsmen hockey team was honoured along with builders and athletes Randy Nelson, Jim Roode and KJ Klontz. KJ Klontz is a longtime athlete and sports adv...

KAMLOOPS -- Nine awards were handed out and the TRU Athletics Hall of Fame welcomed one new inductee on Thursday (April 4) at the WolfPack Annual Awards Night.Sam Flowerday of men's volleyball and Raiya Rumo of women's soccer took home marquee awards as the Sports Task Force Athletes of the Year Award winners.A Canada ...

MERRITT, B.C. - One final ride, and a chance at long last to etch the Centennials name into the Fred Page Cup begins Friday night (Apr. 5) in Salmon Arm. "We have worked all year to get into the position we are," said Cents forward Dylan Lariviere. "Obviously, it was a matchup we were kind of looking for...

PHOENIX - Former Kamloops Blazers goaltender Connor Ingram is in the running for a major NHL award.Ingram is the Arizona Coyotes' nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, awarded annually to the "player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey."The Sask...

MERRITT B.C. - 'Bittersweet' is a word closely affiliated with the Merritt Centennials folding after 51 years, but as one door closes, another opens as Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) action will be played in the Nicola Valley this fall."I believe we are going to strive for other KIJHL teams to...

KAMLOOPS - There wasn't much memorable about the 2023-24 Western Hockey League season for the Kamloops Blazers, but the performance of some of the team's first-year players was a bright spot.One of them has now been recognized for his diligent work in the classroom.Seventeen-year-old forward Andrew Thomson is the West ...

QUESNEL, B.C. - Armstrong's junior hockey club is moving to B.C.'s Cariboo region.The Kootenay International Junior Hockey League announced Thursday that the North Okanagan Knights franchise has been sold and relocated to Quesnel, where they will be known as the River Rush.The sale and move was approved unanimously by ...

KAMLOOPS - In the last few years, Kamloops has been putting itself on the map as a soccer hub in B.C.Housing a founding member of the League1BC soccer league, Rivers FC, and following the Thompson Rivers University men's soccer team winning the U Sports national title in 2022, the local soccer community is looking to b...

KAMLOOPS -- Lyle Dos Santos was hired in October as general manager of both the Kamloops Youth Soccer Association and Rivers FC, the latter a club that fields men's and women's teams in semi-pro League1 BC. He told CFJC Today on Wednesday (April 3) that the KYSA, in partnership with Rivers FC, will in August apply to B...

MERRITT B.C. - The longest continually operating franchise in the BCHL. It's a moniker and title that the Centennials have proudly held for a vast majority of their tenure in Merritt. However, in the aftermath of COVID-19 and the 2021 floods, the teams future became untenable."If you want to call it the perfect st...

KAMLOOPS - Lawn bowling is not a seniors-only sport.That message is being spread by Bruce Clary, who belongs to the Kamloops Riverside Lawn Bowling Club's membership committee, ahead of free instructional sessions that will be offered later this month."A lot of people think they're too young," Clary said. &qu...

KAMLOOPS - It has been two years since Alesandro Comita's legendary extra-time goal that helped secure the Thompson Rivers University Men's Soccer team the U Sports National title victory. That goal helped launch Comita's lifelong dream of becoming a pro soccer player. Earlier this year, he signed with a second divisio...

KAMLOOPS - Jordan Keller of the Kamloops Blazers is the B.C. Division nominee for the WHL Most Sportsmanlike Player Award.Keller of Kamloops is nominated along with Gavin Hodnett of the Edmonton Oil Kings (Central Division), Brayden Yager of the Moose Jaw Warriors (East Division) and Jordan Gavin of the Tri-City Americ...

VANCOUVER - It's another NHL first for a member of the 2022-23 Kamloops Blazers' Memorial Cup host team.🚨 OLEN ZELLWEGER FIRST NHL GOAL 🚨What a snipe! #FlyTogether | @OlenZellweger pic.twitter.com/AZPKNA2t7K— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) March 31, 2024 Olen Zellweger scored his first NHL goal in the Anahei...

MERRITT -- The Merritt Centennials are withdrawing from the B.C. Hockey League at the end of this season, according to a club press release on Sunday (March 31). Meanwhile, the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League announced on Sunday the expansion Merritt Centennials will join their circuit in time for the 2024-...

KAMLOOPS -- The TRU WolfPack men's soccer team's latest addition is out of this world.Tommy Moon, a midfielder from Wellington, New Zealand, will bring NCAA Division 2 experience to the club in time for the 2024 Canada West campaign."Tommy is one of those young attacking pieces that are key," WolfPack men's h...

KAMLOOPS -- Jennifer Armstrong's tenure with Team Brown is over after one season.The Kamloops Curling Club rink announced the lineup change on Twitter, noting Sarah Koltun has been added to the team.Koltun, a 30-year-old second from Whitehorse, is formerly a member of the Kerry Galusha rink that curled out of Yellowkni...

The Kamloops Blazers finished last in WHL standings in 2023-2024, posting record of 20-42-3-3.They did not qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2017-2018 and recorded their lowest point total (46 points) in a complete season since 2013-2014 (33 points).Exit meetings took place on Monday (March 25) at Sandm...