The information below is retrieved from the display cases on the concourse of Kal Tire Place, which is open to public viewing, provided by a Hall Of Fame committee. Additional information added, here and there, was retrieved from Don Klepps book, "Vernon's Hockey History 1894-2021", which is available to purchase at Vernon Viper home games. Information was also, retreived from various Wikipedia pages. The accuracy of this information is up to debate as many teams during this period had the same names so, it was very ambiguous as to which team was which.
The idea here was to give one a perspective of what, in terms of hockey, proceeded the Vernon junior 'A' teams and the league in which they played, the BCJHL.
Before organized hockey in the Okanagan, the frozen lakes in the area provided what was commonly known as "pond hockey". Some of the local ponds used for this purpose were Cools Pond, in the BX, a pond on Turtle Montain, Bluebush Pond, above Becker Park, and ponds in the Commonage.
1894 - The first known organized hockey in the North Okanagan was a game played between groups from Enderby and Mara. Also, that same year Vernon and Mara played a game.
1899 - A hockey club was formed in Vernon to play on an open-air rink between Barnard Avenue and Tronson Street.
1900 - The newly formed Vernon Hockey Club played a tournament at Rossland, before that they played exhibition games at Revelstoke, Nelson, and Greenwood.
1902 - An indoor rink was erected , on 34th Street, between 33rd and 34th Avenues, which relied on natural cold weather temperatures.
1904 - The Vernon Hockey Club after a series of unbroken streaks since 1902 won a B.C. Championship against Rossland.
1907 - The Vernon Ladies Hockey Club was organized. Their first game was against the Armstrong ladies in Armstrong. The Vernon women continued to play well into 1916.
1908 - On February 7th, a game was played, in the
rink, between teams of guests of the Coldstream
and Royal hotels.
- The Vernon's men's team swept a
best-of-five series versus Armstrong to win the
Ellison Cup.
1914 - Intermediate(Senior Mens) teams from a few of the the communities had emerged.
1918 - The Vernon's men's team defeated Armstrong to win the Moore-Keary Cup(Okanagan Championship).
1919 - On December 15th, the Vernon Hockey Club came under the asupices of the Vernon Amateur Athletic Association, along with the formation of a city league. A Valley League was also formed three nights later.
1920 - On January 6th,The first hockey game of
the City League was played between teams from the
Vernon Baseball Club and the G.W.V.A. (Great War
Veterans Association).
On January 9th, the opening game of the Valley
Hockey League was played between Armstrong and
the Vernon Athletic Association team, on the
local rink.
1922 - The Vernon High School boy's and
girl's teams played against the School teams
of Armstrong.
A Okanagan (High School) Championship game
between Enderby and Vernon was played, hosted by
Vernon.
1923 - The first Coy Cup(Mens Senior B) was awarded to Enderby (North Okanagan Hockey League) defeating Trail, in a two game total goals series.
1928 - On February 18, the Vernon Intermediate hockey team defeated a team from Merritt capturing the Intermediate British Columbia Championship, Coy Cup. One thousand and five people attended the game, a record attendance for the Okanagan Valley
1929 - The Vernon Intermediate hockey team won the Intermediate British Columbia Championship, Coy Cup.
1930 - Vernon won the regular season crown and then the playoffs as Lumby was unable to ice a team for a game. Vernon then beat Merritt, Prince George, and Copper Mountain(mining town) to win the Intermediate British Columbia Championship (Coy Cup).
1931 - The Lumby Hockey Club "Flying Frenchmen", won Intermediate British Columbia Championship (Coy Cup).
1932 - The Vernon club shared the Intermediate British Columbia Championship (Coy Cup) Prince George
1934 - The Vernon club shared the Intermediate British Columbia Championship (Coy Cup)
1935 - The Vernon club shared the Intermediate British Columbia Championship (Coy Cup)
1936 - Mr. G.H. Dawe builds a rink for use by friends and neighbours. It became very popular among all the hockey enthusiasts of the area. An adhoc group of school boys formed the "BX Monarchs" team. Many "pick up" teams also played here, the Home Oilers, the Jay Cees, the Kinsmen and the North BX, a team from Lavington and last but, not least the Patricia Dairy "Titpullers". Also, playing on this rink, for practices, was the juvenile Hydorphones team.
1937 - The Vernon Flying Irismen were BC Junior champions.
1938 - The Vernon Flying Irismen were BC Junior
champions.
On November 24th, The Formation of
'Midget' and 'Bantam' hockey
leagues in the North Okanagan was accomplished,
to promote and to control 'Bantam' or
'PeeWee' competition, for boys 14 and
under.
To be eligible to play in this league, a boy must
be attending school in the community for which he
plays.
1939 - Feburary 23 & 25, The Vernon
Hydrophones captured the B.C. Midget hockey crown
the Cromie Memorial Cup, at the Civic Arena.
- The Lumby Hockey Club "Flying
Frenchmen", won Intermediate British
Columbia Championship (Coy Cup).
- On January 13th, The Vernon Hockey Club picked
the name 'Eagles' for the city's
Intermediate team from 150 ballots submitted by
the local school students.
1940 - The Vernon Eagles club won the
Intermediate British Columbia Championship (Coy
Cup)
- The Dawes arena, outdoor rink, in the BX ceased
operations due to WW 2. By this time the rink had
lights, boards, goal nets and a soothing cup of
hot chocolate after the game.
- The Vernon Hockey Club's coach, noted that
there are 17 organized hockey teams operating in
the city. Among those..
1941 - The Vernon club won the BC Juvenile(aged 18 and 19) title.
1943 - The Vernon club won the Intermediate British Columbia Championship (Coy Cup).
1944 - The Vernon Legionnaires club won the Intermediate British Columbia Championship (Coy Cup).
1946 - The Vernon Legionnaires club won the Intermediate British Columbia Championship (Coy Cup).
1947 - The Senior A Mainline Okanagan Amateur
Hockey League, was formed, comprising of just two
teams, the Kamloops Elks and the Vernon
Legionnaires. Vernon won the league securing the
"Willoughby Cup".
- A Senior "B" Intemediate team from
Vernon, was also formed at this time.
1948 - The Vernon Senior A team changed its name
from the Vernon Legionnaires to the Vernon
Canadians, won league title, Willoughby Cup.
The new Senior 'B' team, the Vernon
Canadians, played its first game at the Vernon
Civic Arena on November 3rd before a crowd of
over 2500 spectators.
1949 - The senior B men's Okanagan Mainline
League (OML)formed, prior being a intemidiate
league.
- The Senior 'B' Vernon Canadians move up
to Intemediate M.O.A.H.L.(Mainline-Okanagan Amateur Hockey
League).
1950 - Sunday, October 29, 3pm, Commercial Hockey League starts play with three teams. 30 players showed up for parctice Tuesday, Oct 24.(as reported by Vernon News Oct 26, 1950)
1951 - In June, the Mainline-Okanagan Amateur
Hockey League was dropped in favour of adopting a
new interior league, the Okanagan Senior Amateur
Hockey League.
- The (MOAHL) split into two leagues, the Pacific
Coast Senior Hockey League and the Okanagan
Senior Hockey League (OSHL), which included teams
from Vernon, Kelowna, Kamloops and Penticton
Vees.
- On October 16th, The new Okanagan Senior
Amateur Hockey League, begins play in Vernon as
the Vernon Canadians take on the Kelowna Packers.
They also play teams of the Western International
Hockey League, namely, Trail, Nelson, Kimberley
and Spokane.
1952 - A Vernon club, coached by Bill Brown (who would later became owner of the Vernon Junior Canadians a junior 'A' team in 1961), won the BC Juvenile title.
1953 - Vernon Canadians, OSHL - Provincial Junior B Champions
1955 - The Vernon Canadians senior mens team of the Okanagan Senior Amateur Hockey League, won leagues, Willougby Cup & BC Championship, the Savage Cup and the Allan Cups' Western playdowns semifinal.
1956 - The Vernon Canadians of the OSAHL achieved national success, after winning the Willouby Cup, the Savage Cup.... On April 27th the Vernon Canadians claimed Vernon's first Allan cup in the Civic Arena before a record crowd of 3,654 fans.
1957 - The Vernon Canadians senior mens team of the Okanagan Senior Amateur Hockey League, win leagues, Willougby Cup.
The Vernon Canadians senior mens team of the Okanagan Senior Amateur Hockey League
1959 - The Vernon Canadians senior mens team of the Okanagan Senior Amateur Hockey League, win leagues, Willougby Cup.
1960 - The Vernon Canadians senior mens team
1961 - The Vernon Canadians senior mens team of
the Okanagan Senior Amateur Hockey League, win
leagues, Willougby Cup.
- Later in the year the Vernon Canadians and the
OSAHL folded. A noteable player emerged from that
team , whom many Vernon Jr. A hockey fans will
recognize, was Norman "Odie" Lowe Jr.
Odie would, after retiring from senior hockey,
became a long time coach of the Vernon Jr. A
teams(1961 to 1973).
-
Vernon Junior Canadians begin play in the
newly formed Okanagan-Mainline Junior Hockey
League