The KIJHL Notebook: Okanagan Conference
Seventy.
That’s how many rookies earned their first Junior A points in the opening weekend of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League season. Connor Hovelkamp (2006) of the Nelson Leafs leads the group with five points and is tied with Williams Lake Mustang Asher Lucas (2008) with three goals. Of the 70 rookies that collected points, nine have game-winning goals with Hovelkamp and Lucas among them. Hovelkamp was named the Top Forward for the 3 Stars of the Week.
Welcome to the first KIJHL Notebook of the 2024-25 season. The Notebook is changing to a rotation between conferences on a weekly basis. This week it focuses on the Okanagan, which now of course has more Cariboo flavour.
Doug Birks Division
The new Mustangs are not forgetting about the original Mustangs. Captain Jacob Schtaif said as the players were looking around their dressing room to get a feel for it, he found an original Mustangs jacket in the back of the equipment room.
“I thought that’s the perfect Player of the Game token. It brings the boys back to the history of the team and gives the fans something to look forward to. That is Williams Lake. Here’s the new Williams Lake team, here to play for the community and be a good team.”
Lucas received the jacket after his two-goal performance in the first game, then goalie Evan Leggett received it after his 35-save performance in a 1-0 win over Merritt.
Head coach-general manager Tyrel Lucas liked how they came out in their home opener, earning a 5-2 win over the Sicamous Eagles.
“After the first, we got our legs under us and a lead there, playing off the energy of the crowd. We played a really good game,” he says. “Saturday was a bit of a different story. We were a bit flat all game and our team has been hammered with a cold bug with about 10 guys sick. I think it was kind of hitting them during that game because it was such a drastic change from Friday.”
Lucas felt they played solid defensively, and their goaltending with Jasper Tait and Leggett, was rock solid.
Leggett, 19, has played five career KIJHL games since debuting with the Eagles in 2021-22 going 1-1. He spent part of last season in the BCHL with Alberni Valley as a third goalie and saw action against the Coquitlam Express, but primarily worked on his game in practices.
Chase Heat head coach-general manager Kyle Evans is happy with the split his team earned against the Kamloop Storm.
“I thought we did a very good job on the defensive end keeping them to the outside, and limiting their chances, limiting shots from inside the house,” he said. “By that second game, we had a good grasp on what we needed to do and are going to do to be successful offensively. We did a very good job getting pressure in front of the net, generating chances and activating our defensemen into the offence. I have to give credit to Kamloops goalie Brenner Fyfe, he was spectacular all weekend.”
Many of the players impressed Evans, but he added that Monte Creek’s Jack Smith had a really good weekend, scoring his first goal. “He was very effective in all three zones.”
Evans liked the combination of Markus Baron, Spencer Brazel and Jace Koskimaki who did a good job on the forecheck and was “causing fits for the Storm.”
The Heat recently recognized long-time billet Don Holt, who unexpectedly passed.
The Storm earned a split against the Heat, but head coach Jan Ludvig doesn’t believe their performance is a true reflection of his group.
“I think we can do a lot better than what we showed, but they played well and still gave us everything we could handle,” he said.
Ludvig continues to assess his group and find the right line chemistry. Ludvig has pairs that he likes and it’s the same on defence.
“I like to think we have a pretty deep forward core, our defence is fairly young and inexperienced, so we have a lot of work with them,” said Ludvig. “We have great goaltending.”
Ludvig mention that Noah Paulsen and Luca D’Amore have played together in the past. Returnees Ryan Larsen and Braycen Dube as well as Lochlan Stefanishyn or Larsen and Teghan Mullin have worked well. Their defence is basically revamped.
100 Mile House Wranglers head coach-general manager Levi Stuart was really happy with their play and effort, despite collecting a single point in their first two games: a 3-2 loss to Osoyoos and a 5-4 shootout loss to Revelstoke.
“We feel like we actually outplayed both teams and they were really tight games. The other teams looked really good. Revelstoke being a championship team with a lot of returners. Osoyoos has made a bunch of changes and are very strong this year,” he said.
Stuart liked the play of goalies Ivan Tolsma and Michael Malinowski, and rookies Kole Duquette and Jaden Rusznak had strong weekends. Captain Ethan Davey was a stronghold and added that Nash Hilworth and Nelson Webster helped generate offence. Ethan Hofstrand and Tyler Smoluk were very solid in the defensive end and did well shutting down the top players.
“We got contributions from everybody and that’s the most important thing for us,” said Stuart.
The Wranglers have a massive raffle they are doing as a team fundraiser.
Quesnel River Rush head coach-general manager Dale Hladun would have liked to earn wins during a great home-opening weekend, but knows there’ s lots of hockey to be played.
“I look at it that we were in the games right to the end, nobody knew the result, the fans stayed right to the end, buzzing and pulled goalies in both situations. The effort was there, but I can’t believe the injuries we had to have to start the season,” he said. “Our captain Bennett Kuhnlein is out, he’s a very exciting player; Adam Valach is a very good player with a lot of experience. I thought there were far more positives than negatives.”
Some injured River Rush players are four to five weeks away from returning. Hladun was looking to add bodies through the week, stating there could be new faces arriving before Saturday. On Thursday, he pulled the trigger to add 2006-born forward Seth Clements from the Princeton Posse for future considerations.
Hladun also praised his goalie Josh Hager.
“Josh Hager showed why he’s the best goalie in the KIJHL,” he said. “If it wasn’t for Josh in both games, we would have had a tough go to even be close. He was fantastic.”
Local product Isaiah Bagri impressed Hladun, who said “he was one of the most exciting players on the ice.”
“He’s already a fan favourite, as they all know him very well,” he said. “I thought Cash Anderson was an exciting player too, he’s got family here. I was real happy with Cash. And then some of the rookies, it’s hard for them. They are competing. Yeah, there are mistakes, but they come from effort and that’s all I ask.”
Hladun also noted Winnipeg’s Reece Unrau, who didn’t play high-level hockey.
“I just look at him thinking, wow, if you’re that good and that’s where you played, your upside is exponential by skating every day,” he said. “I think the fans are gonna be really impressed with Reece within the next month or so.”
Bill Ohlhausen Division
Revelstoke Grizzlies general manager Ryan Parent says they have work to finalize their roster, following a 5-4 shootout win over the 100 Mile House Wranglers.
“We got the result we wanted in 100 Mile and I thought the Wranglers played a really strong game against us,” said Parent. “That’s going to be a challenging destination to play games, so we’re happy to get the two points and we hope to be playing a more defensive game moving forward.”
Off-season acquisition Jake Phillips-Watts impressed with his two-goal night.
“I think he had a strong, overall game and he did really well offensively,” said Parent. “I was glad to see him have a breakout game and it looks to me like Jake puts a little pressure on himself to perform.”
Kelowna Chiefs head coach-general manager Nick Deschenes saw a glimpse of how they want to play in their opening game.
“It was nice to see some of the dots connecting and when you go through exhibition, there’s a lot of different bodies in the lineup. There were definitely positives,” said Deschenes.
He noted Owen Miller had the puck a lot and was making plays. Defenceman Jack Libin played very composed and made really good decisions on breakouts and was good in the offensive zone.
The Chiefs also received strong play from goalie Brendan Smith, who stopped 27 of 28 shots in their win over Osoyoos. However, an opportunity to acquire Max Fowle, the Pacific Junior Hockey League Goalie of the Year last season, resulted in Smith getting dealt to the Creston Valley Thunder Cats for Hunter O’Neal (2005) and future considerations. Fowle is the brother of Spencer Fowle, who was picked up in a trade during the off-season and Max wanted to live with family and play. (Note: O’Neal was then traded to the Mustangs from Mission City.)
“We were fortunate from those circumstances so it was hard to make this deal. I feel like Brendan has put in a lot of time for the Chiefs and I know we’re going to turn things around and we would have liked him to be a part of it. It was too hard to pass up an opportunity to acquire a goaltender with those credentials. We think and know, if needed, Fowle can steal us a game or two as we move through our season and hopefully into the playoffs.”
Merritt Centennials head coach Wes McLeod liked the start his team had with a 2-1 win over Quesnel, followed by a 1-0 loss in Williams Lake, in lively atmospheres. McLeod said the energetic crowd for the River Rush’s home opener also energized his group.
“There was a lot of adversity through that game, but we hung in there and made some good decisions to help us hold on to that win,” he said. “In Williams Lake, same thing. There was a lot of adversity against us and I felt like our age showed a bit and just being a younger team, we made some mistakes. We stayed a little bit too much on the perimeter in the offensive zone and that ended up hurting us.”
Goalies Andrew Krakora, who earned his first win, and Mathis Perron impressed McLeod with their play. The two combined for a 1.00 goals against average and .966 save rate.
“Those are games that we want to try to get two points out of,” he said. “We felt like our backend was good as well, moving pucks. A couple guys had good, quiet weekends like Rune Carlson. He’s a rookie from AA Alberta and had two very solid games making smart decisions, good plays and was hard on pucks. From our backend, Ethan Nesimuik was the same. He played smart, simple, moving pucks and didn’t do anything high risk.”
McLeod pointed out it’s going to take time for the players to build chemistry. He saw missed plays that come November and December, the players will execute on.
Sicamous Eagles head coach Liam McOnie felt their Friday game against Williams Lake was a struggle, but he was happy to see them regroup for a 5-3 win in Quesnel.
“It was good seeing Clayton Gillmore play well, and he was rewarded with a goal and an assist on the weekend,” said McOnie. “I liked what Austin Horbachewsky brought to the table. He was solid at both ends of the ice and good on the penalty-kill.”
Ken Law won’t make the same mistake again after his Osoyoos Coyotes opened the weekend with a trip to 100 Mile House, followed by a visit to Kelowna. After earning a 3-2 win in 100 Mile House, the Coyotes made a long 12-hour bus trip to Kelowna and lost 2-1.
“It just took a little bit too much out of the guys,” he said.
Goalie Hunter Arntsen was outstanding and Law said he was the difference between the win in 100 mile House and it being a different story in Kelowna.
“He will be a factor in any of our wins,” said Law, adding they competed hard.
Torrin White saw some good things and bad things in how his Princeton Posse performed in Grand Forks on opening weekend.
“There’s a lot of details that we’re still working on and trying to improve, so we had a really good week of practice, focusing on some of those areas and even today (Thursday) after practice everything looks more organized and ready to go,” he said. “There’s a difference between working really hard and kind of working within a structure. I think some little details of our defensive zone and how we want to defend in certain areas was an important one. All it takes is a couple little lapses in that area and you end up with some goals against. Cleaning those up will be important for sure. Then on the offensive side, we had some fun working on some different things that should help create a little bit more.”
The Posse head coach-general manager said Jackson Gush had a great game, playing both ends of the ice well.
“It was nice to see him start to create some offence and he got a shorthanded goal and a nice goal 5-on-5. We were really happy with how Paul Vanden Elzen played and brought something different to our lineup. He also displayed good abilities to put him in some different situations.”