Assembled throng, please welcome, your Tumbler Ridge Steel Kings!
That is the name of the new Tumbler Ridge Junior A Hockey Team.
The name was chosen from the top four names suggested by residents of Tumbler Ridge in a contest held by the Greater Metro Hockey League (GMHL).
It was one of four names that were chosen from the submissions to be voted on by the public.
The other names in the running were the Tumbler Ridge Yetis, the Tumbler Ridge Titans, and the Tumbler Ridge Coal Bandits. Alex Dyck, Director of Player and Community Development for the GMHL says there were 78 entries total, not all of them of quite so high quality. “Someone suggested the Tumbler Ridge Harry Potters,” says Dyck.
On February 12, Tumbler Ridge signed a contract with the league to create the new GMHL team to play in the league’s relatively new Western Division.
The GMHL started 18 years ago with teams around the Greater Metro Toronto area, which is where the name comes from, expanding into Alberta three years ago. In 2020-21, the Mackenzie Mountaineers joined the league as the first BC team.
And in 2022-23, Tumbler Ridge and two other newly-signed teams, one in Kitimat and one in Burns Lake, will join Mackenzie as the BC Division.
Dyck says they are hoping to have three more teams in Northern BC by the start of the season, which would make seven teams in the BC Division.
BC has one other Junior Hockey league—the BC Hockey League, which is officially designated under Hockey Canada. Of the 16 teams in the league, the only team in the north of the Okanagan is the Prince George Spruce Kings.
The GMHL is an independent Hockey League, with the goal of providing more opportunities for hockey players to play.
The newly named team already has a website— www.tumblerridgejuniora.com —and, as of May 19, a new name, with a logo and jersey to follow.
Dyck says they are in the final round of interviews for a GM/Head Coach, and will be announcing who will be filling that position here in Tumbler Ridge by June 15.
“We will also be having a season ticket drive, with a discounted price for the first 150 season ticket holders.”
The new Kitimat Team will be called the Spirit Bears, while the Burns Lake team are the Timbermen.
There are currently ten teams in the GMHL West division. In addition to the four BC teams named above, there are the Edson Eagles, the Fox Creek Ice Kings, the Gibbons Pioneers, the High Prairie Red Wings, the Slave Lake Icedogs and the Northern Alberta Tomahawks (who play out of Enoch) in Alberta.
Also expect an announcement on a head coach for the Tumbler Ridge team (as well as the others) in the next few months.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
