Hockey has been an integral part of the fabric for many people along Canada's west coast and so many key people, events and moments have taken place in BC and the Yukon.  

BC Hockey plans to recognize and celebrate our past over the next year all while looking forward to growing the game at the grassroots level.

To kick things off, we're looking back on the 100 years that have shaped hockey in BC and the Yukon through a series of online magazines.  Two (2) magazines have been posted to date.

THE BEGINNING: the first 25

Click image to view.

THE GROWING YEARS: 1944 - 1969

Click image to view.

We guarantee you will learn a couple interesting facts you didn't know and can share with your friends (or wow them with your hockey knowledge!).  HAPPY HOCKEY READING!

c/o The Cowichan Valley Citizen

Although she spent the first few years of her life in Bamfield, about 90 kilometers from the nearest arena in Port Alberni, Maryna MacDonald still fell in love with hockey. Her passion for the sport eventually took her to Shawnigan Lake School, and come next fall, she will be playing for the Harvard Crimson.

MacDonald knew the sport from watching her cousin, but didn't play until she moved to the "big city" of Port Alberni at the age of seven (7).  "The day we moved to our new house, even before we opened any boxes, we drove to the rink and signed up," MacDonald recalls.

She took to the sport immediately. A few years later, when she was 15, MacDonald was skating for the Female Midget AAA Vancouver Island Seals. Scouts spotted her at a tournament in Washington, D.C., and kept in touch.

"It was a hell of a roller coaster," MacDonald laughs. "Their hockey coach saw me in D.C. and scouted me. I committed to the hockey team, and from there I had to get in. Since grade 10, I've been working everyday to get in. To be in now is surreal."

"She ran into the locker room and checked her phone," Shawnigan Lake head coach Carly Haggard remembers. "When she came back, the whole team jumped on her."

Admission to Harvard, MacDonald explains, isn't strictly on grades, but other criteria as well. "They want to make sure you're doing your absolute best," she says.

That's no issue for MacDonald, who is playing only her grade 12 year at Shawnigan as part of the process for reaching Harvard. "I've always taken school seriously," she points out.

No one is more familiar with the route from Port Alberni to the Ivy League than Haggard, who grew up in the same city, then left the island for Dartmouth College in 1999. "I understand the dedication you need to play at that level," she acknowledges.

After four (4) years at Dartmouth, including serving as team captain, Haggard went on to play for the U22 national team and professionally in the National Women's Hockey League's Oakville Ice and in Switzerland. She also coached three (3) years at the University of Guelph, including one (1) season as head coach.

Haggard spent three (3) years away from the sport in Australia before she signed on as the first head coach of Shawnigan's female hockey program in 2016. Helping players like MacDonald achieve their dreams is exactly what Shawnigan wants to do.

"The goal of our program is that anyone who wants to play in college or the elite level, to make them ready academically and athletically," she says.

A defender, MacDonald sits sixth in Shawnigan scoring with seven (7) points in 13 games this year. She also put up 21 points on 12 goals and nine (9) assists with the Seals last season.

"She is an amazing hockey player," Haggard says. "Her talent, you don't see that very often in high school. I couldn't be happier with what she has done for our program in such a short time."

Beyond Harvard, where MacDonald will study engineering, MacDonald is aiming for the national team. She has played with the Team BC program, which is the first step in that direction, and last spring skated for BC at the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships in Duncan. Hockey Canada scouts will continue to observe her at Harvard as well.

"Obviously," she said, "Team Canada is always the goal."

c/o BC Local News

Just in time for the Coy Cup, three (3) murals showing the proud hockey history of the Cariboo are up for everyone to admire in the Cariboo Memorial Complex. Commissioned by the City of Williams Lake, for Rogers Hometown Hockey, the murals were created by local artist Dwayne Davis, and showcase three (3) legendary Cariboo hockey teams.

The first is an image of the Alkali Braves from 1931. The team was the first in the area, and won the BC Northern League title, earning the opportunity to play against the professional Vancouver Commercials.

The second shows the 1960-1961 Williams Lake Stampeders Waller Cup champions.

The final mural is of the 1982-1983 Williams Lake Mustangs, who were the Pacific Coast Junior Hockey League Junior A champions.

"All three (3) teams are champions in their own right and all of the guys from there are pillars of our community and great role models for all the younger kids," said Davis, who worked on them throughout the winter. "Now a lot of the guys there - even some of their grandkids are playing."

Davis said the idea came about initially with the image of he Alkali Braves. He then wanted to connect the Stampeders, but also bring Junior hockey into the mix. What he didn't realize was how long it would take to paint.

"If you look at them, there are 24 portraits in one, 23 in the next and 10 in the other one. There are a lot of faces. I'm used to doing faces, but doing that many altogether and trying to make them all work. It was a happy challenge."

"Wow. It brings back some memories," Mayor Walt Cobb told the Tribune. "It's history, alright. A lost of those guys I knew, believe it or not."

Both Cobb and Davis have fond memories of the more recent teams, and hockey in general throughout the Cariboo.

"It meant everything - it kept you out of trouble, you had curfews, you had games, you had stuff to do on the weekends. Without it you would be in a lot of trouble in a town like this," said Davis, adding that he graduated in 1983 so he knew a lot of the members of the Mustang team. The Stamps were also the first team Davis saw play as a young boy.

"For me it was always a weekend town," said Cobb. "I always lived out of town and it was special we could come to watch a hockey game on a Saturday night."

c/o BC Local News

For Francis Johnson Jr., being a part of hosting the Coy Cup Senior Men's AA Hockey Championship in the lakecity IS a treat. The 41-year-old Williams Lake Stampeders veteran, and the entire Stamps roster, had Johnson Jr.'s dad, Francis Johnson Sr., drumming from the stands and cheering them on as he had since Johnson Jr. first laced up his skates with the team roughly 20 years ago.

"I was about 20 years old when I started, then I took five (5) years off to go to school," Johnson Jr. said, noting he received a degree in Natural Resource Sciences from Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops and is now a professional forester for Alkali Resource Management. "My dad got his master's degree in education, and he's always been an inspiration for me to go to university."

This was Johnson Jr.'s ninth time competing at a Coy Cup. Throughout the years, Johnson has captured several season scoring records for the Stamps, along with league scoring titles. 

"It's just a time where you can enjoy a whole week of playing hockey," he said. "You can take a week off wrok, focus on that and enjoy hanging out with the team and really get to know the people."

"As far as the Coy Cup tournament goes, Williams Lake as hosts has been the best Coy Cup I've been to." Johnson Jr. added he'll be proud to represent Indigenous people on the ice. "Williams Lake has been the only place where Indigenous people and the culture was included in the opening ceremony of the tournament," he said. "It just shows how diverse we are here, and I like that a lot."

As one of the team's veterans, Johnson Jr. said his decision to play again this year had a lot to do with his wife, Roxanne, and his five (5) children. "My kids really wanted me to play again and be that role model for them," he said. "You're kind of trying to hang on to your youth and get exercise, and I really missed being with the guys."

A member of the Esketemc First Nation (Alkali), Johnson Jr. noted the community has a rich hockey history and pointed to the lines of Alkali Braves legend Alec Antoine as one of his biggest inspirations.

Asked whether this will be his last season with the Stamps, Johnson Jr. said he isn't making any decisions yet. "I'm not looking to next year," he said. "I'm never going to quit playing hockey, and playing competitively is something I enjoy."

Of watching his son grow up playing hockey, he recalls a time where Johnson Jr. was told he'd never be able to play hockey again after breaking his arm twice. "He came back after that and scored nine (9) goals in one (1) game, and he was disappointed they lost 10 - 9," he said. "This year, I think they're ready, and it's good to see all the Indigenous boys on the team."

Normally perched in the mezzanine at the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex, Johnson Sr. said he'll be cheering his loudest during this year's tournament. "I drum for them, I go on the road, and I enjoy it," he said. "I get to hang out with all of them, and get to know a lot of the guys on the team. They're all really, really good friends and that's what makes a team work."

"I never had a minor hockey career but it was always something I encouraged the young people to play."

Having his dad as his biggest fan, meanwhile, is something Johnson Jr. will always cherish. "I feel privileged my dad is able to watch me, and my teammates tell me the same," he said. "I feel blessed he comes and enjoys the games and him being able to come watch the grandkids now and tell the stories - it makes the grandkids proud too."

c/o Richmond News

For all the talented teams he has coached and the championship banners won, Glenn Wheeler's greatest gratification as a hockey mentor is far removed from the big games.  Since September, Wheeler has been overseeing Introduction to Hockey at the Richmond Ice Centre.

This outstanding program offered by the Richmond Minor Hockey Association (MHA) provides kids of all ages an opportunity to learn the game at a gradual pace in a non-competitive environment. It compliments Richmond MHA's immensely popular First and Second Shift Programs which are an affordable option for children to discover Canada's favourite winter pastime. At just $199 for three (3) weekly on-ice sessions over six (6) months, Intro to Hockey is also a great deal.

"I am a pretty competitive guy. Last year I was coaching a good group of 2005's and running these First Shift Programs. I wasn't sure personally where the satisfaction was going to come from," recalled Wheeler, Richmond MHA's director of player and coach development. "But it's almost the same feeling as holding a provincial banner. It's way more gratifying because these are kids in my community and you just look at the demographics here."

The Intro to Hockey participants would make the United Nations proud.

There is 16-year-old Louis Vigneras who grew up playing handball in France but wanted to try hockey and "be Canadian" when his dad's job transferred to Vancouver. He had never skated before. "There is just so much movement," he smiled. "In handball you mark and then go back to defence. In hockey, you just never stop moving."

When Shirley Xu came from China, she wanted to learn to skate when she found out she could try hockey too. The 15-year-old McMath student has not only made tremendous progress on the ice but is speaking fluent English as well.

"I think I have improved my skating a lot. Hockey is interesting because you can get a lot of energy from it," she said. "I just want to keep improving."

Jenny Wang's son said he wanted to play hockey but she wasn't sure what to do. As a beginner skater, Frank was overwhelmed when he initially signed up for community centre drop-in hockey program and joining his grade five (5) friends on a minor hockey team was far too intimidating. Luckily, Wang discovered the First Shift Program and her son has never looked back. He has progressed to the point where he is now and regularly practices with an Atom team which is part of the program's transition process when the kids are ready.

"When my son was in First Shift he felt like a real star," said Wang. "I am so proud and happy. I can't thank Richmond MHA enough for helping."

The introductory programs also cater to those who simply want to try the game at a later age or don't want to make a huge financial commitment. Richmond MHA has an inventory of used equipment that is available.

"Never was hockey on the radar for my two (2) kids," said Ron Hill. "It was a cost effective way to get them to learn how to skate. Obviously it gets more expensive as you get into it but at this level it's affordable and there is no pressure. It's given them the chance to get comfortable. It is like a team for them as well. They feel like they are part of something."

CLICK HERE to continue reading.

The BC Hockey Locker Room offers you a convenient way to pick out gifts & shop for yourself. Gear up with BC Hockey!

HOODIES	JACKETS	SHIRTS	MISC