1969–70 WKJHL season

1969–70 WKJHL season
LeagueKIJHL
SportIce hockey
DurationSeptember–February
Games32
Teams5
League championsTrail Smoke Eaters
  Runners-upRossland Warriors

The 1969-70 West Kootenay Junior Hockey League season was the third in league history. The season would proceed with the same five teams as the previous season.[1] For the third consecutive season there were no playoffs, and instead the league champion was the team with the best regular season record. The Trail Smoke Eaters became the first team to win multiple championships.[2] There is some contention over if this season was the inaugural season of the WKJHL as it is listed as the third in history on the KIJHL's list of champions[3] however, this is contradicted by its own history page and research by Kootenay historian Greg Nesteroff[4][5]

Team map

League map
20km
12miles
5
4
3
2
1
Legend

Regular season

Each team played 32 games throughout the regular season, eight head-to-head matchups against each opponent (four home and four away). The Trail Smoke Eaters had one of the most dominant seasons of all time, outscoring their opponents 335-86 through 32 games for an average final score of 10.5-2.7. Conversely, the Grand Forks Border Bruins won just once and were outscored 67-352, for an average score of 2.1 to 11.

Final Standings[6]
Team W L T P GF GA
Trail Smoke Eaters 29 3 0 58 335 86
Rossland Warriors 24 7 1 49 241 92
Nelson Plaza Oilers 13 19 0 26 165 179
Castlegar Apollos 12 19 1 25 130 233
Grand Forks Border Bruins 1 31 0 2 67 352

Playoffs

This was the first season to include playoffs as the top four teams would make the playoffs.

Semi-Finals Championship
      
1 Trail 3
3 Nelson 0
1 Trail 3
2 Rossland 1
2 Rossland 3
4 Castlegar 0

Sources

  1. ^ "League History". www.kijhl.ca. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
  2. ^ "Teck Cup Champions". www.kijhl.ca. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
  3. ^ "Teck Cup Champions". www.kijhl.ca. Retrieved 2026-02-01.
  4. ^ "League History". www.kijhl.ca. Retrieved 2026-02-01.
  5. ^ Nesteroff, Greg (2023-10-24). "How old is the KIJHL, anyway?". Kutne Reader. Retrieved 2026-02-01.
  6. ^ "Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (Design, Hosting, Registration & Administration tools by esportsdeskpro.com)". www.kijhl.ca. Archived from the original on 2012-05-26. Retrieved 2025-06-27.