Nanaimo Buccaneers

The Nanaimo Buccaneers are a junior ice hockey team based in Nanaimo, British Columbia. The original Buccaneers were founded and owned by Cliff McNabb, and Jimmy Dawes in 1966-67. They play in the North Division of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League. They were one of two expansion teams in 2012 in the VIJHL returning to the league after 30+ years (the other being the Westshore Wolves), and play their home games at the Nanaimo Ice Centre (Rink #1).

The current Buccaneers franchise was founded as an expansion team in 2012 along with the Westshore Wolves by Brenda and Phil Levesque.^[1] However there was a former Buccaneers franchise founded by Cliff McNabb that operated in the 1960’s. They finished first in the North Division in their first season (2012–13) with 58 points in 48 games, losing in the second round of the playoffs. The following year they finished third in the division, losing in the first round. They finished third again in 2014-15, and lost again in the first round. The 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18 & 2018/19 proved to be good years for the Buccaneers having strong regular seasons but not advancing through the second round in the playoffs. After the 2017/18 season the team was sold to Clayton Robinson. 2019/20 was a tough year for the Bucs finishing third in the division and losing in the first round. After the 2019/20 season the team was sold to Carl Ollech. The next couple seasons were short due to the COVID pandemic. After things got back to the normal in the world the Buccaneers went through five very hard seasons two of which the team only had one win the entire season. After the 2021/22 season the team was sold to Nicole Brandenburg. After the first two seasons under her ownership the team hired well known local hockey coach Bill Bestwick as Head Coach and General Manager. Many Nanaimo hockey fans remembered Bill from his time coaching the Nanaimo Clippers. The team improved finishing in 3rd place in the North division but still failing to make the playoffs. After the season Bestwick moved into the General Manager position full time and moving Tyler Gow up to the Head Coach position. The team improved significantly the following season under the hockey leadership of Bestwick and Gow finishing 1st in the North Division and 4th in the league overall, making the playoffs for the first time in six seasons. In the first round Nanaimo took care of business beating the Campbell River Storm in a 4-0 series sweep. Three of the games Nanaimo shutout the Storm. Moving onto the second round the Bucs faced off against the Comox Valley Glacier Kings beating them 4 games to 2, and advancing to the VIJHL final for the first time in franchise history against the Victoria Cougars. Unfortunately after winning the first game of the series the Bucs would go on to lose the next 4. The future looks bright for the Bucs under Head Coach Tyler Gow & assistant coach Brett Bestwick and veteran leadership under General Manager Bill Bestwick, the Bucs will look to improve the next season on their quest for their first championship.

Note: GP - Games Played, W - Wins, L - Losses, T - Ties, OTL - Overtime Losses, Pts - Points, GF - Goals for, GA - Goals against

Accurate as of 19 February 2018.^[2]

Accurate as of 29 April 2018.^[3]

• Official website of the Nanaimo Buccaneers