Osoyoos is one step closer to again having a junior hockey franchise.
The Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) has approved an application to set up a Junior B team in Osoyoos.
Submitted by John Kapusty of Kaleden, Randy Bedard of Williams Lake and Roy Schultz of Penticton, the application to launch an Osoyoos franchise for the 2010-2011 season was given the league’s blessing on April 26 during a meeting of the league’s board of governors in Castlegar.
“It’s really, really reassuring for the Osoyoos-Oliver market,” Kapusty said.
He added that bringing a KIJHL team back to Osoyoos is not a done deal as his three-man company, Osoyoos Junior Hockey Inc., is still in “preliminary negotiations” with the Town of Osoyoos for a lease of the Sun Bowl Arena.
Gerald Davis, director of recreation and leisure services for the Town of Osoyoos, said the lease on arena usage has to be approved by council but a framework for such a lease has already been established from past dealings with the KIJHL.
The Town has to consider insurance, rates for practices and games, advertising costs and whether or not there will be a beer garden, Davis said.
He added that he’ll do what he can to facilitate an agreement.
“We’ll work with them because we want to make sure that we get this in place,” Davis said.
The lease will likely be long-term and Davis is excited about the possibilities.
“It’ll be a benefit for everybody,” he said. “It’s awesome, it’s fantastic.”
Kapusty said an Osoyoos team would also have to become a member of BC Hockey, the KIJHL’s governing body.
A membership application will be sent to BC Hockey this week, Kapusty said, and he hopes for final approval from the organization by the time it meets for an annual general meeting this June.
Kapusty said 75 per cent of the KIJHL’s member teams had to be in favour of allowing Osoyoos to have a franchise.
The franchise fee Kapusty’s company had to pay to the league was $25,000 and $10,000 in league fees will have to be paid each year.
Osoyoos is one of only two communities granted new franchises this year.
Armstrong was granted a franchise this winter which is set to launch during the 2009-2010 season.
The league has been absent from Osoyoos for three years since the Osoyoos Storm left town to play in Kamloops in 2006.
The Storm had been in Osoyoos for 10 years under various names including the Rebels and the Heat.
Owner Barry Dewar decided to move the team after what he said were difficult dealings with the Town over the team’s tenancy in the Sun Bowl Arena and because of declining numbers of fans at games.
Kapusty said, however, that Dewar was supportive of his company’s application.
Bill Ohlhausen, president of the league, said the application for an Osoyoos team received approval because it will help encourage more competition in the league’s Okanagan division.
“It’s going to help out the Okanagan,” he said. “It’s going to make it much easier for the Okanagan teams to play.”
There are going to be a total of seven teams in the league’s Okanagan division next season and the entire league will have a total of 18 teams by the time Osoyoos’s franchise is in place.
By Karen Knelsen and Paul Everest
Osoyooos Times
