The bus carrying the Kimberley Dynamiters to the Cyclone Taylor Cup in Richmond leaves on Tuesday, with the Dynamiter’s first game scheduled for Thursday at 4:30 p.m. against the Delta Ice Hawks.
Game two is Friday at 8:30 p.m. (Mountain Time) versus the Richmond Sockeyes, and the final round robin game is Saturday, April 14 at 4:30 p.m against the Campbell River Storm.
You can watch all the games on a webcast. Just go to www.cyclonetaylercup.ca
The Cyclone Taylor Cup is the British Columbia Provincial Junior B Hockey Championship. The annual tournament is held amongst the champions of British Columbia’s three Junior B Hockey Leagues, as well as a host team. Those three leagues are the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League, the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League and the Pacific Junior Hockey League.
The Kimberley Dynamiters have never won the Cyclone Taylor Cup, although they did make it to the final in 2015. That Cup was won by the Campbell River Storm. The Kimberley Knights Junior B team won the cup in 1981.
In the past, winners of the Cyclone Taylor Cup have gone on to the Keystone Cup, the Western Canadian championship. However, this year, both Alberta and British Columbia have opted not to send teams to the championship, so these will be the last games of the season for the Dynamiters.
Cyclone Taylor was one of the earliest professional hockey players. He played professionally for the Portage Lakes Hockey Club, the Ottawa Hockey Club and the Vancouver Millionaires (later named the Maroons) from 1905 to 1923. Acknowledged as one of the first stars of hockey, Taylor was one of the most prolific scorers of his era. He won several scoring championships, and won the Stanley Cup twice, once in 1909 with Ottawa and again in 1915 with Vancouver. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Famein 1947.