No Crossovers, no fun, less fans ?

Play by play guy Dustin Scafe brings up an interesting point in his Tweet Thursday night.

Dustin Scafe

@dustinscafe

One of best parts of Jr Hockey is going on long road trips with the boys and seeing new places. Please don't take that away from the KIJHL

He was responding to the KIJHL Governors who are about to finalize their new schedule that will not have crossovers. That, for those who don’t know, means the Kootenay Conference will only play games against teams in the Kootenay Conference. Same for the Okanagan Shuswap Conference, essentially making two leagues.

The teams from the Okanagan Shuswap Conference are the main culprits and have been complaining for years about travel and money. However some of the mileage mathematicians can show it’s not all that valid of an argument.

Plus, as a fan, I really look forward to seeing the teams from the other Conference as do all fans in the league. But the league Governors, as usual, have the fans wishes at the bottom of their list. If it were up to me we would not only have crossovers, we would have a full crossover featuring one visit from every team in the league every year.

Riders helping out at "Coal Miner Says" in Sparwood

Ryan Teslak, Barb Anderson (Team Pres) Brandon Butler,
Taylor Sinceness, Kyle Haugo, Craig Mohr (Coach GM) and
former all star D man Cody Reinbold























Justin Peers and Kyle Haugo at Tim Hortan's Camp Day

Cyclone fun, Players pay the price not the Dewar, Scouts Rats Round the league

June 9th 2016- 6 AM

So  one of the biggest KIJHL stories out there since the 100 Mile House Wranglers won the KI, Cyclone and Keystone last April was the awarding of the 2017  Cyclone Taylor Cup to Coach Jeff Dubois and his Creston Thunder Cats. 

Cyclone Fun House

Creston, Kimberley, Beaver Valley, Revelstoke and the Kamloops Storm all put in bids to be the host team but it was Creston who had the winning bid. And they got it fair and square… but don’t tell that to Kamloops Storm Owner and GM Barry Dewar who was so pissed he didn’t get it that he leaked out his thoughts to Adam Williams of Kamloops This Week. 

Why "I" Should Get the Money- By Barry Dewar

“Players will pay the price.. “We” would have had a great event and would have been very financially successful for both ourselves and BC Hockey”. Then he played the scout card...  the “Scouts” won't  see the players to the degree that they would if it was in Kamloops"… 

Why I'm glad he didn't get the money- By Rider News

Yes Barry the scouts won't bother to travel to Creston... cause we all know that hockey scouts don’t travel all over the place to get an edge on the other teams. Maybe Lord Baden Dewar was thinking about them scouts who wear the weird shorts and hang around in tents.

Williams' full story is here

So a private owner is pissed because he won’t be able to fill his pockets and some hillbillies  with a  small town backwoods community owned team are gonna get his money. And don’t even get me started on BC Hockey, guaranteed Dewar couldn’t give a rat’s ass about them and I know that every team that has ever done the huge amount of work that goes into hosting the Cyclone Taylor only spitefully gave their  10% to  BC Hockey... who's main contribution at the games is to watch the gate to make sure they get their share. 

The Spirit Moves Me

The spirit of the  KIJHL Governors is suppose to be  "We are Partners " one for all and all for one. So his whining  drivel is way out of line (thus this column) and fans are going to see what kind of a "partner" he is in the coming months. Small town "Community owned" teams used to be what the KIJHL was all about, but increasingly we're seeing big city teams with private owners take over, next up is Williams Lake and then Quesnel. 

 ‘Round the League in the last few weeks. 

Our natural born enemies from Kimberley have hired a new Head Coach and General Manager in Derek Stuart. Long time Rider fans may remember Stuart from the 1995-98 Jr A RMJHL seasons where he got his start in junior hockey with Kimberley. In his final season KD went 49-5 and Stuart had 57 goals and 47 assists.  Tim Tisdale was the Head Coach and Jerry Bancks was also on the bench as well  back then.

 Stuart’s father Jim saved the team when he bought it then held it for a while before selling it (or giving it back, I don’t remember the particulars) and a couple of years later the old RMJHL folded... Who can remember  this sh@*t anyway, I need'a get a life.

The Castlegar Rebels Head Coach and General Manager Jesse Dorans has taken a job in Drayton Valley with the Alberta Junior Hockey League's Thunder. You can read that story here

No word yet on who the new Rebel coach will be. Everyone is still waiting on Trail who is about to hire someone shortly. Good for Jesse Dorans taking a step up to the Jr A  AJHL.

And finally, and not a moment to soon, former Ghostrider and Fernie local Dave LeNeveu is now part of the ownership group in Nanaimo where he will be the President and Governor of the BCHL Clippers. Read the full story by Greg Sakai here   Congrats Dave.