Early history: 1966–1980

The Kootenay International Junior Hockey League was founded in 1966 as the West Kootenay Junior Hockey League. Five teams joined the league in its first year and started play in the 1969–70 season. They included the Trail Jr. Smoke Eaters, the Nelson Plaza Oilers, the Castlegar Apollos, the Grand Forks Border Bruins, and the Rossland Warriors. The Smoke Eaters won the inaugural league championship, advancing to the provincial championship. The next year, Castlegar would withdraw from the league, leaving only four teams. In 1971–1972, the Spokane Valley Kings and Cranbrook Colts joined the league, raising the number of teams to six, and incorporating an American team for the first time. Furthermore, the Nelson Plaza Oilers were renamed the Nelson Leafs. For 1972–73, the league was rebranded the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League. In this season, the Kimberley Knights joined the league, while the Grand Forks Border Bruins took a leave of absence. In 1973–74 the league expanded again, incorporating a Fernie-based team. The league did not expand for two years after this point, during a period dominated by the Colts. The next expansion occurred in 1976–77, when the Creston Clippers and the Castlegar Rebels joined the league, and the Rebels won the league championship in their debut season. Columbia Valley joined in 1978–79 season, thus bringing the league to a total of 10 teams, an all-time high.

1980–1990

In the 1981–82 season, Fernie would withdraw from the league, while the Elk Valley Raiders (Sparwood) would join in their place. The following year, the Beaver Valley Nitehawks would join, bringing the league to a total of 12 teams. Creston would withdraw from the league in 1985, and Nelson, Elk Valley and Grand Forks would do the same in 1986. Elk Valley and Grand Forks would return the next year and Nelson in 1989. The 1980s were largely dominated by the Cranbrook Colts with a 6 championship winning streak.

1990–2000

In 1990, the Rocky Mountain Junior Hockey League was formed, creating a level of competition between the two geographic rival leagues. Cranbrook and Kimberley would depart the league in 1991, while the Golden Rockets would enter. The Rossland Warriors would return to the league the following season after a lengthy absence. In 1993–94, the KIJHL gained two new teams in the form of the North Okanagan Kings and the Revelstoke Grizzlies. North Okanagan won the league title in their first year. The following year, Elk Valley and Nelson would depart the league, while the Sicamous Eagles would join. The Eagles, too, won the league in their debut season. In 1996–97, the Castlegar Rebels relocated to Osoyoos, who played one season under the Rebels name, before being renamed the Heat. Castlegar was granted an expansion franchise in 1998–99, who was named the Rebels. In 1999–2000, the Nelson Leafs rejoined the KIJHL, winning the title in their first season back, and the Rossland Warriors relocated for a single season to Summerland. The 1999–2000 Summerland Warriors had the distinction of never having won a game, finishing their only season with a record of 0-45-0, conceding 485 goals in 45 games.

2000–2010

The 2000–01 season saw the folding of the Summerland Warriors and the creation of the Creston Valley Thunder Cats. In 2001–02, the league was split from two to three divisions, the Neil Murdoch, Eddie Mountain, and Okanagan/Shushwap. Along with the division re-alignment, the North Okanagan Kings relocated to Enderby, becoming the Enderby Ice Kings. The Osoyoos Heat took on the name the Osoyoos Storm, and an expansion franchise was granted to Summerland, which took the name Summerland Sting. 2001–02 also saw the presence of the KIJHL's most accomplished alumnus, Shea Weber, who played for the league champions Sicamous Eagles for this single season. In 2002–03, the Princeton Posse joined the league, becoming the furthest west team in the KIJHL, and the Enderby Ice Kings folded after one season. In 2004–05, the Fernie Ghostriders joined the league from the North American Hockey League, and the following year the Golden Rockets were renamed the Golden Xtreme. They were renamed again the following year, this time becoming the Golden Jets. Also, 2006–07 saw the demise of the Osoyoos Storm, who moved to Kamloops Storm, while retaining the Storm name. In 2007–08, the league was divided into two conferences, which were furthermore split into two divisions each, dropping the Okanagan Shushwap, while creating the Eddie Mountain Conference, East and West Divisions, and likewise with the Neil Murdoch Conference. The Golden Xtreme was again renamed, this time reverting to the Rockets name. Furthermore, the Chase Chiefs joined the league in 2007–08, while the Fernie Ghostriders would capture the league title. There were no team changes in 2008–09, and the Nelson Leafs would capture the league title. In 2009–10, however, the Summerland Sting were forced to relocate to nearby Penticton, taking the name Penticton Lakers. Furthermore, an expansion team was granted to Armstrong, and the North Okanagan Knights were founded.

2010–2020

In the 2010–11 season, the Osoyoos Coyotes were formed, and won the league title in their debut season, while the Chase Chiefs relocated to Rutland, Kelowna to become the Kelowna Chiefs. The following year, two expansion franchises were granted to Chase and Summerland, and the Chase Heat and Summerland Steam were formed. The 2012–13 season saw no team changes, while the Castlegar Rebels won the league title. The following year, 2013–14, the Penticton Lakers were forced into relocation to 100 Mile House due to low ticket sales, which stemmed from playing in the neighbouring arena to that of the Jr. A Penticton Vees, whose national success offered difficult competition. The new team was branded the 100 Mile House Wranglers. The following year again saw no team changes, and the Kimberley Dynamiters won the league title. In 2015–16, the Grand Forks Border Bruins made the playoffs for the first time in 19 years, a provincial Jr. B record and the 100 Mile House Wranglers won the Keystone Cup; the Cyclone Taylor Cup and the KIJHL Championship in their third only season against the previous year's champion, the Dynamiters. The 2016–17 season marks the KIJHL's 50th anniversary, with the Creston Valley Thunder Cats hosting the Cyclone Taylor Cup. Prior to the 2019–20 KIJHL season, the Okanagan Division was renamed the Bill Ohlhausen Division along with the KIJHL Championship renamed the Teck Cup for sponsorship reasons.

2020-present

The Teck Cup not awarded in 2020 due to the league suspended operations amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Jeff Dubois was later named the new commissioner. In June 2023, following the British Columbia Hockey League's decision to leave Hockey Canada sanctioning, the KIJHL applied for Junior A status from BC Hockey, on July 25, 2023, BC Hockey announced that three BC Junior B leagues, the KIJHL, PJHL, and VIJHL, were being promoted to Junior A under a new Tier 2 status starting in the 2023–24 season. BC Hockey is evaluating their Junior A Tier 2 program and will be selecting teams from all three leagues to be promoted to Junior A Tier 1 under a new league to replace the BCHL. This also marks the return to BC Junior A for five KIJHL franchises: the Castlegar Rebels, Creston Valley Thunder, Kimberley Dynamiters, Nelson Leafs, and Fernie Ghostriders, since the Rocky Mountain Junior Hockey League (RMJHL) ceased operations in 1999. The Spokane Braves also returned to the KIJHL for the 2023–24 hockey season for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic that shortened the KIJHL 2019–20 season, ending their nearly four season hiatus from the KIJHL due to travel restrictions from international travel. The 2023–24 hockey season also raised the limit of 20-year-old players from five to six players per team. The last Junior "B" player transaction from the KIJHL occurred on July 24, 2023, with a defenceman traded from the Grand Forks Border Bruins of the KIJHL to the Regina Capitals of the PJHL (Prairie Junior Hockey League) in Saskatchewan for future considerations.

In 2023, governing body BC Hockey announced plans to restructure its junior hockey framework following the departure of its only Junior A league.^[1] 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.^[2] The league expected the evaluations to be completed during the 2024—25 season.^[3]

On March 22, 2024, it was announced that the Summerland Steam franchise has been sold and relocated to Williams Lake for the 2024-25 season, where they will now be known as the Mustangs and play out of the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Centre.^[4]

On 31 March 2024, it was announced that the Merritt Centennials of the BCHL would join the KIJHL under new ownership beginning in the 2024–25 season as part of the Bill Ohlhausen Division. According to the announcement, the team would keep the same name and continue to play out of the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena under a 5-year lease.^[5][6][7]

In April 2024 the North Okanagan Knights franchise was announced to have been sold to a Quesnel -based ownership group where they would be rebranded as the Quesnel River Rush, with these changes the league is expected to re-align the Okanagan/Shuswap conference to create a more balanced divisional format. These changes will also see the league expand fromm 44-games per team to 48

Teams

More information Division, Team ...

Division	Team	City	Arena	Founded	Joined	Head Coach	Captain
Kootenay Conference
Eddie Mountain	Columbia Valley Rockies	Invermere, BC	Eddie Mountain Memorial Arena	1978		Tayler Sincennes (2023)	Vacant
	Creston Valley Thunder Cats	Creston, BC	Johnny Bucyk Arena	1992	2000	Geordie Wudrick (2024)	Vacant
	Fernie Ghostriders	Fernie, BC	Fernie Memorial Arena	1991	2004	Ty Valin (2021)	Taylor Haggerty
	Golden Rockets	Golden, BC	Golden Arena	1991		Jared Houseman (2024)	Vacant
	Kimberley Dynamiters	Kimberley, BC	Kimberley Civic Centre	1972	1972–1990; 2001–present	Derek Stuart (2016)	Carson Cleland
Neil Murdoch	Beaver Valley Nitehawks	Fruitvale, BC	Beaver Valley Arena	1981		Terry Jones (1996)	Vacant
	Castlegar Rebels	Castlegar, BC	Castlegar Community Complex	1976	1976–1996; 1998–present	Nick Headrick (2023)	Reid Gerrand
	Grand Forks Border Bruins	Grand Forks, BC	Jack Goddard Memorial Arena	1969		Dave Hnatiuk (2021)	Vacant
	Nelson Leafs	Nelson, BC	Nelson Community Complex	1968	1968–1994; 1999–present	Briar McNaney (2023)	Leighton Partington
	Spokane Braves	Spokane, WA	Eagles Ice Arena	1971	1971–2020; 2023–present	Michael Bay (2024)	Vacant
Okanagan/Shuswap Conference
Doug Birks	100 Mile House Wranglers	100 Mile House, BC	South Cariboo Recreation Centre	2013		Levi Stuart (2024)	Kaden Ernst
	Chase Heat	Chase, BC	Art Holding Memorial Arena	2011		Vacant	Vacant
	Kamloops Storm	Kamloops, BC	McArthur Island Sports & Events Centre	2006		Jan Ludvig (2023)	Vacant
	Revelstoke Grizzlies	Revelstoke, BC	Revelstoke Forum	1993		Jiri Novak (2023)	Brady Schwab
	Sicamous Eagles	Sicamous, BC	Sicamous District Recreation Centre	1994		Nick Deschenes (2021)	Vacant
	Williams Lake Mustangs	Willaims Lake, BC	Cariboo Memorial Recreation Center	2011 (Summerland)		Tyrel Lucas (2024)	Vacant
	Quesnel River Rush	Quesnel	Quesnel Arena	2009 (North Okanagan)		Dale Hladun (2024)	Vacant
Bill Ohlhausen	Kelowna Chiefs	Kelowna, BC	Rutland Arena	2010		Travers Rebman (2021)	Jacob Shtaif
	Merritt Centennials	Merritt, BC	Nicola Valley Memorial Arena	1961	2024	Wes McLeod (2024)	Vacant
	Osoyoos Coyotes	Osoyoos, BC	Osoyoos Sunbowl Arena	2010		Ken Law (2022)	Vacant
	Princeton Posse	Princeton, BC	Princeton District Multipurpose Arena	2002		Vacant	Vacant

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