The Rocky Mountain Junior Hockey League was a Canadian Junior "A"

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

league in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. :Peace Junior B Hockey League 19xx–1975 :Peace-Cariboo Junior Hockey League 1975–1991 :Rocky Mountain Junior Hockey League 1991–1999

History

In 1975, the

Quesnel Millionaires The Quesnel Millionaires were a junior "A" ice hockey team based in Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada. They were members of the Interior Conference of the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL). They played their home games at Quesnel Twin Arena. ...

and Prince George Spruce Kings joined the Peace Junior B Hockey League. The PJBHL already included the Fort St. John Huskies, Dawson Creek Canucks, and Grande Prairie North Stars. Previously, Fort St. John won the Cyclone Taylor Cup as British Columbia Jr. B Champions in 1969 as a member of the Peace Jr. B League. With the expansion, the PJBHL became the Peace-Cariboo Junior Hockey League. The first championship of the new PCJHL was won by Prince George, but Quesnel won the league and the Cyclone Taylor Cup as BC Champions in 1977, 1978, and 1979 and the Grande Prairie North Stars won the Russ Barnes Trophy and

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

champions in 1976. In 1980 the PCJHL became a Junior "A" League, one season after the

British Columbia Junior Hockey League The British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) is a Junior A ice hockey league from British Columbia under Hockey Canada and BC Hockey. Founded in Vernon in 1961, the BCHL now includes 18 teams. From 1993 to 2021, the league was a member of the Can ...

Pacific Coast Junior Hockey League The Pacific Junior A Hockey League (PJHL) was a Canadian Junior "A" ice hockey league operating within the Greater Vancouver metropolitan area in British Columbia from 1971 until 1979. History From 1962 to 1967, a Pacific Coast Junior Hockey Leagu ...

merger. The league's most successful team, by far, was the Prince George Spruce Kings. Every season, their playoff champion earned the right to play for the Mowat Cup, the British Columbia Junior "A" Title. The PCJHL/RMJHL was eligible for the Royal Bank Cup, the Junior "A" National Title. In 1991, the Peace Cariboo league doubled in size when it took in a portion of the Jr. B

Kootenay International Junior Hockey League The Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) is a Junior "B" Ice Hockey league in British Columbia, Canada sanctioned by Hockey Canada. The winner of the Teck Cup competes with the champions of the Pacific Junior Hockey League ...

and renamed itself the Rocky Mountain league. The original teams to the North would form the Peace-Cariboo Division, while the newer teams to the South would form the Kootenay Division. In 1995, the

Trail Smoke Eaters The Trail Smoke Eaters are a junior A ice hockey team from Trail, British Columbia, Canada. They are a part of the British Columbia Hockey League. History The Smoke Eaters (aka ''Smokies'') have existed as both junior and senior teams since the ...

walked away from the league and joined the British Columbia Hockey League. In 1996, the league was reduced to the Kootenay Division members, when the entire Peace-Cariboo Division lost all its members: Prince George Spruce Kings and

jumped to the BCHL, the

Grande Prairie Chiefs The Grande Prairie Storm is a junior A ice hockey team in the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) based in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada, with home games at Revolution Place. History The organization was founded in 1966 as the Junior Athlet ...

jumped to the

Alberta Junior Hockey League The Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) is an Alberta-based Junior A ice hockey league that belongs to the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL). It was formed as a five-team league in 1964. There are currently 16 teams in the league. The re ...

, the Williams Lake Mustangs went defunct, and the Fort St. John Huskies jumped to

Hockey Alberta Hockey Alberta is the governing body of all ice hockey in Alberta, Canada and is affiliated with Hockey Canada. It was founded in 1907 as the Alberta Amateur Hockey Association (AAHA) to be the governing body for Alberta intra-city ice hockey play ...

's North West Junior Hockey League. To fill the void left when the Peace-Cariboo Division folded in 1996, the

Castlegar Rebels The Castlegar Rebels are a junior 'B' ice hockey team based in Castlegar, British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Neil Murdoch Division of the Kootenay Conference of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL). The Rebels ...

joined the fold. In 1998, however, the Rebels would return to the KIJHL and the

Cranbrook Colts The Cranbrook Colts were a Junior "B" and a Junior "A" team in Cranbrook, British Columbia. They were formed in 1970 as a Junior "B" team in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League. They were immediately successful, winning the league title ...

would fold to make way for the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior h ...

Kootenay Ice The Kootenay Ice (officially stylized as ICE) were a major junior ice hockey team based in Cranbrook, British Columbia, and competed in the Western Hockey League (WHL). The team played its home games at Western Financial Place. The franchise w ...

.http://esportsdesk.com/leagues/custom_page.cfm?leagueID=14327&clientID=4369&link=Mills&pageid=6032 Left with 4 teams, the 4 teams of the RMJHL ( Creston Valley Thunder, Kimberley Dynamiters,

Nelson Leafs The Nelson Leafs are a Junior "B" ice hockey team based in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Neil Murdoch Division of the Kootenay Conference of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL). They play their home ...

, and

Fernie Ghostriders The Fernie Ghostriders are a junior 'B' ice hockey team based in Fernie, British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Eddie Mountain Division of the Kootenay Conference of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL). The Ghost ...

) played an interlocking schedule with the

America West Hockey League The America West Hockey League (AWHL) was a Tier II Junior A ice hockey league. The AWHL was formed in 1992 to offer junior ice hockey to the Rocky Mountain region of USA Hockey. It originally was called the American Frontier Hockey League (AFHL), ...

USA Hockey USA Hockey is the national ice hockey organization in the United States. It is recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee as the governing body for organized ice hockey in the United ...

. On February 12, 1999, the commissioner of the RMJHL,

Bronco Horvath Bronco Joseph Horvath (March 12, 1930 – December 17, 2019) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played 434 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1955 and 1968. Early life Horvath was born to an ethnic Hungarian family ...

, presented a letter to the management of the British Columbia Hockey League proposing the four remaining teams join the BCHL as a "Kootenay Division". The proposal was universally rejected by the BCHL. After the 1998–99 season, Creston took a one-year hiatus which forced the RMJHL to fold. Nelson jumped to the KIJHL. Kimberley and Fernie outright joined the AWHL for the 1999–00 season and Kimberley left for the KIJHL in 2001, while Fernie moved to the North American Hockey League in 2003 before joining the KIJHL in 2004. Creston returned to hockey after one year off in 2000 with the KIJHL.

The Mowat Cup

The Mowat Cup is the championship trophy of Junior A hockey in

. For 19 years, starting in 1981, the champion of the RMJHL was forced to square off against the champion of the British Columbia Hockey League for the right to face the

champion in the Doyle Cup. In the end, the BCHL had a virtually spotless record against the RMJHL, winning all 19 Mowat Cups and compiling a record 48 wins and 1 loss in that time frame. In fact, until the 1999 Mowat Cup (the final year of the RMJHL's existence), no BCHL champion had ever lost a playoff game against a RMJHL champion. In the 1999 Mowat Cup, the Kimberley Dynamiters were able to snap the losing streak against the BCHL's

Vernon Vipers The Vernon Vipers are a junior "A" ice hockey team based in Vernon, British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Interior Conference of the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL). They play their home games at Kal Tire Place. History The V ...

before losing the series.

Teams

Champions

From its founding until 1991, the league's champion was awarded the PCJHL Trophy. From 1992 until 1996, the league's champion was awarded the Citizen Cup. From 1997 until 1999, the league's champion was awarded the Subway/Eddie Mountain Trophy.

References

External links