2022–23 KIJHL season

The 2022-23 KIJHL season was the 56th in league history. The season began on September 23, 2022, and finished on February 11, 2023,^[1] with the playoffs beginning the following week and running until April 10 when the Kimberley Dynamiters defeated the Princeton Posse 3–2 in Princeton to win the Teck Cup Finals 4–3, for the fourth time in franchise history.^[2] The season was originally scheduled to feature all 20 teams in the league but the league's sole U.S. franchise, the Spokane Braves withdrew on August 3 resulting with the season continuing with just 19 teams.^[3]

2022–23 KIJHL season
League	KIJHL
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	September – February
Number of games	44
Number of teams	19
Streaming partner(s)	flohockey.tv
League champions	Kimberley Dyanimters
Runners-up	Princeton Posse

Regular season

Teams played 44 games throughout the course of the regular season: six games against each team in the division, two games against each team in the other division within the same conference and one game against each team in the other conference. To make up for the absence of the Spokane Braves, teams in the Doug Birks hosted a sixth game against a Bill Ohlhausen team, the Eddie Mountain division played one extra home and away game within the Division, and the Neil Murdoch would play two extra games against each of the other three teams within the division.^[4][3]

League map

League map

180km
112miles

19

18

17

16

15

14

13

12

11

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

   

Legend

• Kootenay Conference
• Eddie Mountain Division
• 1
  Golden Rockets
• 2
  Columbia Valley Rockies
• 3
  Fernie Ghostriders
• 4
  Kimberley Dynamiters
• 5
  Creston Thundercats
• Neil Murdoch Division
• 6
  Nelson Leafs
• 7
  Castlegar Rebels
• 8
  Beaver Valley Nitehawks
• 9
  Grand Forks Border Bruins
• Okanagan/Shuswap Conference
• Bill Ohlhausen Division
• 10
  Osoyoos Coyotes
• 11
  Summerland Steam
• 12
  Princeton Posse
• 13
  North Okanagan Knights
• 14
  Kelowna Chiefs
• Doug Birks Division
• 15
  100 Mile House Wranglers
• 16
  Revelstoke Grizzlies
• 17
  Sicamous Eagles
• 18
  Chase Heat
• 19
  Kamloops Storm

Standings

The final standings were as follows.^[5]

Eddie Mountain division

Team	W	L	OTL	Pts	GF	GA
Columbia Valley Rockies	31	9	4	66	218	126
Kimberley Dynamiters	29	13	2	60	171	113
Golden Rockets	25	16	5	53	175	168
Fernie Ghostriders	23	14	7	53	163	138
Creston Valley Thunder Cats	19	23	2	40	147	189

Neil Murdoch division

Team	W	L	OTL	Pts	GF	GA
Grand Forks Border Bruins	25	16	3	53	146	133
Nelson Leafs	24	15	5	53	150	137
Beaver Valley Nitehawks	24	17	3	51	192	136
Castlegar Rebels	11	28	5	27	103	169

Bill Ohlhausen division

Team	W	L	OTL	Pts	GF	GA
Princeton Posse	31	7	6	68	181	110
Osoyoos Coyotes	27	13	4	58	188	140
North Okanagan Knights	22	16	4	50	143	144
Summerland Steam	14	24	6	34	104	165
Kelowna Chiefs	6	34	4	16	95	205

Doug Birks division

Team	W	L	OTL	Pts	GF	GA
Revelstoke Grizzlies	30	7	7	67	153	95
Kamloops Storm	26	13	5	57	145	105
Sicamous Eagles	26	15	3	55	158	111
100 Mile House Wranglers	16	24	4	36	111	167
Chase Heat	10	30	4	24	93	194

2022 BCHC prospects game

The BCHC held its first annual prospects game in Chilliwack on November 22, 2022, with team KIJHL defeating the PJHL team 4–3 with Jonathan Ward of the Princeton Posse scoring the game-winning goal 2:09 into the third period.^[6]

Leafs-Nitehawks line brawl

On December 31, 2022, all ten players dropped the gloves in a line brawl instigated by the Leafs at the start of the second period of the New Year's Eve Classic between the Neil Murdoch Division Rivals. The brawl was possibly instagted by an open-ice hit on the Leafs' goaltender late in the first^[7] or a cross-check to the head of a Leafs player at the buzzer that left his jersey covered in blood, as neither incidents earned a call the referee in charge of the game. A total of 172 penalty minutes were handed out (75 to Beaver Valley, 97 to Nelson).^[8] After the game, Leafs' head coach Adam Dibella resigned for his role in the fight and faced harsh criticism from Leafs fans and a harsher suspension from the league.^[9] In addition, the league suspended the nine Leafs' players involved for a total of 35 games and the five Nitehawks' players for 9 games. The Leafs would go on to win 3–1.

Awards

Award	League Winner	Eddie Mountain Winner	Neil Murdoch Winner	Doug Birks Winner	Bill Ohlhausen Winner
MVP	Luke Chakrabarti, Creston Valley	Luke Chakrabarti, Creston Valley	Nathan Dominici, Beaver Valley	Carter Bettenson, Revesltoke	Jack Henderson, Osoyoos
Top Scorer	Luke Chakrabarti, Creston Valley	Luke Chakrabarti, Creston Valley	Spencer Horning, Grand Forks	Ryan Larsen, Kamloops	Jack Henderson, Osoyoos
Top Defenceman	Cameron Reid, Kimberley	Cameron Reid, Kimberley	Tyson Lautard, Nelson	Nicholas Hughes, Sicamous	Curtis Gould, Princeton
Top Goaltender	Jozef Kuchaslo, Revelstoke	Trystan Self, Kimberley	Connor Stojan, Beaver Valley	Jozef Kuchaslo, Revelstoke	Peyton Trzaska, Princeton
Rookie of the Year	Keenan Ingram, Columbia Valley	Keenan Ingram, Columbia Valley	Russell Kosec, Grand Forks	Owen Aura, Kamloops	Austin Seibel, North Okanagan
Most Sportsmanlike	Matthew Johnston, North Okanagan	Nick Morin, Golden	Chad Bates, Grand Forks	Jack Mulder, 100 Mile House	Matthew Johnston, North Okanagan
Coach of the Year	Mark Readman, Princeton	Chuck Wright, Golden	Dave Hnatiuk, Grand Forks	Nick Deschenes, Sicamous	Mark Readman, Princeton

^[10]

Playoffs

The 2023 playoff format was as follows: the top four teams in the Doug Birks, Bill Ohlhausen, and Eddie Mountain Division would make the playoffs as would the top three teams in the Neil Murdoch and the best ranked Kootenay Conference team not already in the playoffs which would be referred to as the "crossover team". In each of the Okanagan Divisions and the Eddie Mountain division the 1st Seed would play 4th and 2nd would play 3rd. In the Neil Murdoch division, if the crossover team was 4th in the Neil Murdoch the format would be the same as the other three divisions. However, if the crossover team was the 5th ranked team in the Eddie Mountain, the 1st seed in the Neil Murdoch would have the choice of Neil Murdoch #3 or Eddie Mountain #5 in the first round.^[11] As it happened the Creston Thundercats earned this crossover spot and the Neil Murdoch champion, Grand Forks chose to play them over the Beaver Valley Nitehawks.

	Division Semi Finals				Division Finals				Conference Finals				2023 Teck Cup Championship
	Columbia Valley	2
	Fernie	4
					Kimberley	4
					Fernie	3
	Kimberley	4
	Golden	1
									Kimberley	4
									Beaver Valley	0
	Grand Forks	1
	Creston	4
					Creston	3
					Beaver Valley	4
	Nelson	2
	Beaver Valley	4
													Kimberley	4
													Princeton	3
	Princeton	4
	Summerland	0
					Princeton	4
					North Okanagan	1
	Osoyoos	1
	North Okanagan	4
									Princeton	4
									Revelstoke	2
	Revelstoke	4
	100 Mile House	0
					Revelstoke	4
					Sicamous	0
	Kamloops	3
	Sicamous	4