Here the list of competitors and schedule for this year’s Tier 2 BC Bantam Provincial Championships.

Host, Cranbrook, East Kootenay District

Format: 9 Teams, two divisions, A division with 4 teams (play three round robin games), B Division with 5 teams (play four round robin games), top two from each division play semi, winners advance to gold medal game, losers play for bronze.

As in all Tier 2 provincial playoffs, two teams from the Lower Mainland advance.

This year the Vancouver Spirit A1 come in as PCAHA league champion, winning the league banner with a 3-2 win over North Shore in the round robin format. The Spirt lost their final game 4-3 to Vancouver T-Birds A2 but advanced on the head to head vs NSWC. They finished fourth in league play with a record of 11-7-2. North Shore finished in first place in regular season PCAHA Flight 2 play, posting a 15-3-2 record. NSWC finished the PCAHA playoffs with the same 2-0-1 record as the Spirit but place second due to head to head loss.

The Fort St John Knights of Columbus play in the 4 division, 25 team Edmonton Bantam AA Hockey League, along with the Dawson Creek Canucks and Alberta teams from northern Alberta and the Edmonton area.

They finished 5th in their division with a record of 11-15-5, 25 points back of first place Dawson Creek Canucks, 24-4-3 – who will play in the BC Tier 3 championships (which they won last year).

The host Cranbrook HPC Hornets also play mainly in Alberta, in the 17 team AA South Central Alberta Hockey League.

The Hornets won the peewee division of the league last year, and this year finished third in regular season in their eight team division with a record of 24-7-2. Playoffs are still underway in the league.

West Kelowna and Greater Trail both play in the Okanagan Mainline League Tier 2 division. West Kelowna finished the regular season in first place with a record of 10-3-0. Greater Trail finished in second place with a 6-4-3 record.

The Vanderhoof Bears play in the Northwest District MHA, a Tier 3 league, but have declared Tier 2 status for the provincials, along with the league’s Midget Smithers Storm. The Bears finished their regular season with a 14-1-1 record. Other teams in the league include Smithers, Kitimat, Terrace and Prince Rupert.