The Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League (VIJHL) is a junior ice hockey league of 11 clubs on Vancouver Island. The Brent Patterson Memorial Trophy is awarded annually to the league playoff champion at the end of each season. In 2024, the league decided to withdraw from the Hockey Canada framework and operate as an independent farm league for the BCHL.
In 2012, the VIJHL announced the addition of two new franchises, the Nanaimo Buccaneers and the Westshore Wolves. The Buccaneers are the namesake of a team that played in the VIJHL in the 1970s. The Wolves are not new to the area either, but are replacing an unsuccessful team, the Westshore Stingers, that folded on December 4, 2010. The Lake Cowichan Kraken and Port Alberni Bombers joined the league as expansion franchises in the 2021–22 VIJHL season.[1][2]
In 2023, governing body BC Hockey announced plans to restructure its junior hockey framework following the departure of its only Junior A league.[3] The three Junior B leagues (PJHL, KIJHL and VIJHL) were summarily designated as "Junior A Tier 2", with plans to conduct an independent evaluation of those teams seeking to be promoted to "Junior A Tier 1". It was expected that those teams promoted to Tier 1 would eventually apply for membership in the CJHL.[4] The league expected the evaluations to be completed during the 2024–25 season.[5]
In April 2024, the league announced that it would withdraw from the Hockey Canada framework and become an independent farm league for the BCHL in the 2024–25 season.[6][7][8] Some BCHL clubs acquired an ownership stake in VIJHL clubs after the announcement.[8][9][10] However, sources reported that there will be no club-specific affiliations, and that BCHL teams will be allowed to call players up from, or send players down to, any VIJHL team.[11]
