SEASON PREVIEW | Examining all 5 BCIHL teams going into 2023.24

The 2023.24 season is shaping up to be one of the most competitive in recent years. Today, we take a look at all 5 BCIHL teams’ off-seasons and expectations going into the new season.

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The 2022 expansion Logan Lake Miners are looking forward after a forgettable inaugural season. The team struggled mightily throughout the year, and they will most certainly be looking to improve on last year’s results. While the team hasn’t announced much, two key additions to the Miners lineup include Jordan Lario, who captained the KIJHL Golden Rockets and scored 61 points in 44 games last season, and Marian Pazitka, a Slovakian forward who scored 159 points in 47 games with the 2023 champion CAJHL Hinton Timberwolves. The Miners will also take on the ACHA Division 2 University of Montana Grizzlies in January in the first non-conference game in the program’s history.

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The Okanagan Lakers got off to a hot start in 2022, spending the first half of the season challenging the Red Leafs and Mariners for first in the league. After finishing fourth, qualifying for the final spot in the 2023 playoffs, and falling to the eventual champion Red Leafs, the Lakers have been tasked this off-season with rebuilding a core part of their team with the departure of Captain Arik Breton, Alternate Captains Noah Turanski and Ty Banser, and goaltender Daniel Paul, who all graduated from their respective programs at Okanagan College and UBC Okanagan. The team’s first commitments for the coming season came as early as January, and the organizations has announced eleven commitments since, including ten KIJHL alumni.

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A team looking to get back to the top of the league after a few years away is the University of Victoria Vikes, who have been building a strong foundation to success since the league returned from the 2020.21 cancelled season. This off-season, the team has committed 7 players to the 2023.24 roster, including forward Ethan Anstey from the SJHL’s Melville Millionaires, goaltender Shawn Parkinson from the USports CanadaWest Grant MacEwan Griffins, and forward Booker Daniel, who spent parts of the last 4 years with the WHL’s Tri-Cities Americans. The team also announced the additions of Josh Coblenz as Head of Scouting, Alex Benger as Assistant Coach and Head of Social Media, and Dustin Deugeau, who joined the Vikes in 2022.23 after 4 years with the Trinity Western Spartans, as another Assistant Coach. The Vikes finished third in BCIHL standings last season, and will look to challenge the Mariners and Red Leafs again this year for the top spots in the league.

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The Vancouver Island University Mariners have added 12 fresh faces to their lineup ahead of their fifth season in the BCIHL, including forwards Aidan Bangs, who spent three years with the SJHL’s Kindersly Klippers, and Logan Kurki, who put up 33 points in 21 games with the SJHL’s Humboldt Broncos. The team also announced several changes to their operations team, including the addition of Head Coach Dave Johnston, President Gord Nowicki, General Manager Andrew Riddel, and Assistant Coaches Curt McCarrick and Isabella Thomson-Fiddes. The Mariners’ aggressive off-season comes on the heels of losing their third BCIHL championship in a row, and second in a row to the Simon Fraser University Red Leafs.

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Finally, the defending champion Simon Fraser University Red Leafs will look to become the first team since the 2013-2016 Selkirk College Saints to win back-to-back-to-back titles. The Red Leafs finished last season with an impressive 19-1-0 regular season record en route to winning four games in a row against the Okanagan Lakers and Vancouver Island University Mariners to capture their league-leading fifth program championship. However, the team will look almost completely different from the championship squad from last year, with just four players returning to the BCIHL roster for the 2023.24 season. The organization will split with former Head Coach Mark Coletta undertaking a second roster with fourteen returning players under the Red Leafs name, which will only participate in non-conference play against NCAA, ACHA, ACAC, and CanadaWest competition. Under the direction of a new coaching staff in Head Coach Mark Soares and Assistant Coach Brian Stewart, the team will be challenged unlike we’ve ever seen throughout the entire history of SFU Hockey in the BCIHL.