The West Kelowna Warriors are a Junior "A" ice hockey team from West Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. They are a part of the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) and play in the Interior Conference.
The West Kelowna Warriors are a relocated franchise, moving to West Kelowna in 2006 from Langley, British Columbia.
History Langley Thunder/Hornets Langley was originally granted a British Columbia Junior Hockey League (BCJHL) franchise in 1973 called the Langley Lords. The team played as the Lords through the 1975–76 season. In those three years they had very decent regular seasons, making it to the playoffs each year, including a loss in the league finals in their first season. In 1976 the Lords changed their name to the Langley Thunder. Their regular season performance diminished each year and they missed the playoffs for the first time in the franchise's history in the 1978–79 season. Shortly after the completion of the 1978–79 season, the franchise ceased operations. An unrelated BCJHL franchise, the Chilliwack Colts, relocated to become the Langley Eagles from 1981–82 through the 1986–87 seasons, before moving back to Chilliwack, British Columbia.
In 1990, the BCJHL was renamed the BCHL, and in 1994 Langley returned to the BCHL with a new franchise, adopting the name Thunder from the defunct franchise of the 1970s. The new franchise competed as the Thunder for five seasons, reaching the BCHL championship finals in 1996, which they lost to the eventual Junior A national Royal Bank Cup champion Vernon Vipers, 4–1.
The Thunder changed their name to the Langley Hornets before the start of the 1998–99 season. Playing in Langley from 1998 through the 2005–06 season, the Hornets were led by several coaches. Coach Rick Lanz was notable for taking the last place 2001–02 team and guiding them to a fourth-place finish in the 2002–03 season, though the team would be eliminated in the first round of the BCHL playoffs. Lanz was not re-signed for the next season and the team returned to last place in the BCHL.
Westside/West Kelowna Warriors
Before the start of the 2006–07 season the franchise moved from Langley to the unincorporated area on the "westside" of Kelowna, British Columbia, and renamed themselves the Westside Warriors. The Westside Warriors found immediate success, reaching the BCHL playoffs in the 2006–07 season, followed in 2007–08 with a third place BCHL finish in the regular season and making it to the BCHL semi-finals in the playoffs.
In late 2007, the unincorporated area the Westside Warriors called home became the incorporated Westside District Municipality, and in 2008 changed its name to West Kelowna. The franchise kept the place name Westside, rather than West Kelowna, through the 2011–12 season. In the summer of 2012, the Westside Warriors announced they would be changing their name to the West Kelowna Warriors, recognizing the proper name of the municipality where they play.
In 2018, the Warriors were purchased by Kim Dobranski and KD Sports Ltd. from Mark Cheyne and the Vision Sports Group LLP.
In October 2019, the BCHL confirmed that it was in talks to buy the West Kelowna Warriors from owners Kim Dobranski and Linda Wang, with unaudited financial results that showed the team profited just over $10,000, the first time the team was ever profitable since moving to West Kelowna. In November 2019, the Warriors were purchased by John Murphy and Rod Hume under JMRH Hockey Development ULC, with Murphy serving as governor and Hume as managing partner, and the BCHL approving the sale and the sale effective date being November 11, 2019. The Warriors also announced that Chris Laurie was named team president.
Season-by-season records Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, Pts = Points
BCJHL Langley Lords/Thunder Season GP W L T GF GA Pts Finish Playoffs 1973–74 64 38 24 2 326 283 78 1st, Coastal Lost in Finals 1974–75 66 34 31 1 330 351 69 1st, Coastal Lost in Quarter-finals 1975–76 66 32 31 3 349 298 67 5th, League Lost in Quarter-finals 1976–77 68 30 37 1 351 362 62 3rd, Coastal Lost in Semi-finals 1977–78 66 19 47 0 250 423 38 5th, Coastal Lost in Quarter-finals 1978–79 62 22 36 4 284 348 48 5th, Coastal Did not qualify
Current BCHL franchise Season GP W L T OTL GF GA Pts Finish PlayoffsLangley Thunder 1994–95 60 38 21 1 — 321 252 77 2nd, Mainland Lost in Quarter-finals 1995–96 60 38 19 3 — 317 273 79 2nd, Mainland Lost in Finals 1996–97 60 21 35 4 — 228 289 46 7th, Coastal Did not qualify 1997–98 60 26 31 3 — 219 239 55 6th, Coastal Did not qualifyLangley Hornets 1998–99 60 44 12 4 — 330 219 92 1st, Mainland Lost in Semi-finals 1998–99 60 20 38 — 2 242 294 42 3rd, Mainland Lost in 1st round 1999–00 60 41 17 — 2 305 247 84 1st, Mainland Lost in Semi-finals 2000–01 60 29 25 — 6 222 239 64 4th, Mainland Lost in 1st round 2001–02 60 19 34 — 7 226 274 45 5th, Mainland Did not qualify 2002–03 60 34 22 — 1 225 231 72 2nd, Mainland Lost in 1st round 2003–04 60 19 36 1 4 205 286 43 4th, Mainland Did not qualify 2004–05 60 12 42 1 5 169 277 30 4th, Mainland Did not qualify 2005–06 60 32 23 1 4 179 181 69 3rd, Mainland Lost in Quarter-finalsWestside Warriors 2006–07 60 23 25 3 9 192 221 58 7th, Mainland Lost in Preliminary 2007–08 60 40 17 0 3 237 161 83 3rd, BCHL Lost in Semi-finals 2008–09 60 37 18 1 4 220 162 79 5th, BCHL Did not qualify 2009–10 60 38 18 1 3 244 173 80 4th, BCHL Lost quarter-final 2010–11 60 33 20 2 5 246 183 73 4th, Interior Lost Division Semi-final 2011–12 60 22 29 2 7 190 208 53 11th, BCHL Did not qualifyWest Kelowna Warriors 2012–13 56 30 13 4 9 205 151 73 2nd, Interior 4th, BCHL Won Div. Finals, 4–1 (Centennials)Lost Conf. Finals, 4–1 (Vees) 2013–14 58 35 15 3 5 225 173 78 2nd, Interior 5th, BCHL Lost div. semi-finals, 4–2 (Vipers) 2014–15 58 29 21 0 8 205 210 44 4th of 6, Interior7th of 16, BCHL Lost div. semi-finals, 4–1 (Vees) 2015–16 58 38 17 2 1 242 180 79 2nd of 6, Interior3rd of 17, BCHL Won Div. Semi-finals, 4–2 (Silverbacks)Won Div. Finals, 4–2 (Vees) 2nd of 3, round-robinWon League Finals, 4–2 (Chiefs)Advance to Western Canada Cup 2016–17 58 27 29 2 0 175 204 56 4th of 6, Interior9th of 17, BCHL Lost div. semi-finals 4–0 (Centennials) 2017–18 58 28 27 2 1 198 221 59 5th of 7, Interior11th of 17, BCHL Lost div. semi-finals 4–0 (Smoke Eaters) 2018–19 58 28 28 — 2 210 220 58 6th of 7, Interior12th of 17, BCHL Lost First Round, 3–4 (Wild) 2019–20 58 16 33 0 9 160 223 41 6th of 7, Interior16th of 17, BCHL Lost First Round, 1–4 (Vees) 2021–22 20 8 10 1 1 58 72 18 10th of 16, BCHL Season Lost to covid 2020–21 54 37 16 0 1 231 156 75 3rd of 9, Interior3rd of 18, BCHL Won Div Quarterfinal, 4-1 (Vipers)Won Div Semifinal 4-1 (Silverbacks)Lost Div Finals 0-4 (Vees) 2022–23 54 28 20 0 6 211 205 62 3rd of 9, Interior7th of 18, BCHL Lost Div Quarterfinal, 2-4 (Vipers) 2022–23 54 33 10 0 11 208 158 77 2nd of 8, Interior3rd of 17, BCHL Won Div Quarterfinal, 4-3 (Bucks)Lost Div Semifinals 1-4 (Silverbacks) 2024–25 54 23 24 5 2 157 173 53 7th of 11, Interior14th of 21, BCHL Lost Div Quarterfinal, 1-4 (Bandits)
Western Canada Cup Western Canada championship from 2013 to 2017Participants: British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) – Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) – Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) – Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) – host teamRound-robin play with 1st vs. 2nd winner advancing to RBC Cup junior A national championship and loser to a runner-up game.3rd vs. 4th in semifinal with winner to the runner-up game and loser eliminated.Runner-up game determined second representative to national championship. Year Round-robin Record Standing Semifinal Runner-up game Championship game 2016 W, Estevan Bruins (host) 3–0L, Brooks Bandits (AJHL) 2–4 OTW, Portage Terriers (MJHL) 3–2W, Melfort Mustangs (SJHL) 4–1 3–1–0 2nd of 5 ——W, Brooks Bandits 6–0Cup Champions
Royal Bank Cup Hockey Canada junior A national championshipParticipants in 2016: Dudley Hewitt Cup champions (Central), Fred Page Cup champions (Eastern, Western Canada Cup champions (Western #1), Western Canada Cup runners-up (Western #2) and a host teamRound-robin play with top four in semifinal and winners to finals. Year Round-robin RecordW–OTW–OTL–L Standing Semifinal Championship game 2016 W, Lloydminster Bobcats (host) 5–2L, Brooks Bandits (Western #2) 1–5OTW, Trenton Golden Hawks (Central) 4–3W, Carleton Place Canadians (Eastern) 4–1 2–1–0–1 3rd of 5 W, Brooks Bandits 4–1W, Lloydminster Bobcats 4–0Canadian Junior A Champions
See also List of ice hockey teams in British Columbia
References
Further reading
External links West Kelowna Warriors website