Two CIHL teams will battle for the Coy Cup Senior AA hockey championships in Kitimat, March 7-11

The two finalists in the Central Interior Hockey League playoff finals, will meet again in the battle for the Coy Cup, emblematic of the B.C. Senior AA hockey championship in Kitimat next week. The acknowledged top four top senior AA hockey teams in B.C. will begin pursuit of the revered Coy Cup, March 7-11. Taking part as hosts, will be the defending champion Kitimat Ice Demons, which last week repeated as champions of the Central Interior Hockey League, defeating the Terrace River Kings two straight, 7-3 and 8-1 in the best of three CIHL final. The Demons will begin defense of the cup on Tuesday night at 8.00 p.m. in an appropriate way, pitting themselves against last year’s finalists and runners-up, the Vancouver Island representatives, the North Island Capitals from Port Hardy. Capitals have made the finals in each of the past two Coy Cup competitions, but exited the tournament in the finals both times, first to the East Kootenay Royals in Houston two years ago and again last year, as the Demons’ final victims on their home ice. This year the Capitals have worked hard to improve and amalgamated with the Mid-Island Blazers, from Campbell River, to put forward a very strong Vancouver Island team for the Coy Cup. Also competing for the Coy Cup will be the Fort St. John Flyers of the North Peace Hockey league and The Terrace River Kings. These two teams will start the competition off at 5.00 p.m. on Tuesday in Tamitik Arena. All games will be in Tamitik. The Fort St. John Flyers qualified for the tournament last week-end, by winning a best-of-three playoff with the CIHL regular season champions, the Houston Luckies, which had taken part in the Cup competition in each of the past two years. They will be absent this year, losing two straight in Fort St. John. There will be a six-game round robin series, with two games each night Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, with the top team in the round robin advancing to Saturday’s final, with a bye. The second and third place teams will play off in a sudden-victory semi-final and the winner will advance to the final, Saturday. One of the more prestigious hockey trophies in B.C., the Coy Cup was donated to the B.C. Amateur Hockey Association by Colonel Coy of the 50th Gordon Highlanders (now the 16th Scottish) of Victoria, B.C. and has been emblematic of supremacy in senior hockey since that time. The elderly cup has traveled the province with the first winners listed as the Vancouver Rowing Club in 1912. Since then winners have included such well remembered teams as the B.B. Hockey Club, Nelson Cubs, Enderby, Prince George, Vernon and the Lumby Flying Frenchmen, with the Coy Cup residing for various times in Kimberly, Merritt, Bralorne, Nanaimo, Trail, New Westminster, Kamloops, Vancouver (the Carlings, in 1958) Summerland, numerous times in Quesnel and Powell River, Coquitlam, the North Shore, Burnaby, Victoria, Abbotsford, Revelstoke, Penticton, Sicamous, Fort St. James, East Kootenay and last year in Kitimat. Hockey B.C. senior director, Bob James says he is looking forward to a great competition in Kitimat, the second CIHL city to host the tournament. Referee in chief for the Coy Cup will be Mark Capewell. Mike Steponavicius, head coach of the Kitimat Ice Demons says, “A repeat performance of last year’s win would be welcome, but it will be hard earned if it happens at all. The teams competing last year and this year are good representatives of the high quality of senior hockey in B.C. and just the fact that the Cup has been around for so long with so many different winners, shows how difficult it is to repeat. “However, it’s not an impossible task…if you look back you’ll see the Quesnel Kangaroos won the cup eight out of nine years between 1981 ands 1990. It’s something aspire to. Our boys had a disappointing start to the season and some key injuries caused us to drop some early games that made it difficult for us. But we’ve been riding a decent undefeated streak, going back to the start of December, including four straight playoff games. So I like to think we could be peaking at the right time” “ “But there are no easy games in the Coy Cup and mistakes will cost you…so your best is the only thing you can give. Injuries are also a factor you have to expect. Last year we lost a defenseman, Dave Venman, in the first game, a centre, Trent Bossence in game four and a goaltender, Brett Vilness, out with a badly injured hand. He had to watch from the stands as Jamie Moran played the final with no backup dressed,” he added. “So we are looking to keep everyone healthy this time around,” he said. The chairman of the Kitimat Coy Cup Committee said the organization has been working very hard since the fall to stage the competition. “Now it’s here, so we have to hope we have done everything right and look forward to a great exhibition of hockey skills. I can’t thank the volunteers enough, as well as the sponsors, who have backed the tournament in good style.”