The Ice Age Returns This Weekend
By Gerry Foster
It has been a beautifully hot summer in the Boundary area but that will soon be replaced by the next ice age. This Friday at 7:00 p.m. the Grand Forks Border Bruins begin their 44th season in the KIJHL when they host the 100 Mile House Wranglers. This marks the Wranglers very first appearance in Grand Forks.
The ice event continues on Saturday and Sunday with games at 7:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. respectively. Friday the Canada-US hockey rivalry continues when the Spokane Braves arrive to challenge the Bruins. This season-launching hockey troika wraps up with the Sunday matinee versus the Rebels of Castlegar.
Several returning players from last year including Michael Rand, Tucker Brown, Coleton Dawson and Reid Robertson will be joined by a number of new additions to the roster. The team will be led by new Head Coach and GM Brad Snyder.
The Kootenay International Junior Hockey League is the largest Junior B league west of Southern Ontario. Many believe it is also the best. It certainly was that last season when the Beaver Valley Nitehawks won the Keystone Cup, emblematic of junior B hockey supremacy across the 4 western provinces and Northern Ontario.
The Bruins play a 52 game regular season schedule which winds up on February 15th. Be there at the Jack Goddard Memorial Arena for the arrival of the Ice Age, and three fast-moving, exciting games in 43 hours.
