Guest article by BCHLNetwork Chilliwack Chiefs writer Eric Clarke
This season marks 10 years since the Chilliwack Bruins relocated to Victoria to become the Royals. Even though the Bruins were only part of the Western Hockey League for five seasons, they had an impact still felt to this day as alumni are still featured on National Hockey League teams.
With this article, I’ll look at the history of the Bruins and the continuing legacy that was left behind after the relocation to Victoia.
The start
The beginning of the Chilliwack Bruins didn’t start well. The original plan was to have the Tri-City Americans, which were owned by Brian Burke, Glen Sather, and Darryl Porter, moved to Chilliwack. The relocation wasn’t approved by the WHL and Chilliwack was awarded an expansion franchise.
Burke, Sather, and Porter sold their stakes in the Ams to become franchise owners alongside Moray Keith and Jim Bond. Both Keith and Bond are currently part of the ownership of the BC Hockey League’s Chilliwack Chiefs, which relocated to Langley in 2006 to make way for the WHL club.
The new Chilliwack WHL team couldn’t use the Chiefs name because it was already in use by Spokane. As such, the WHL franchise went back in history and pulled the Bruins name from Chilliwack’s junior A team in the 1970s.
The Bruins hired Jim Hiller as their first head coach and drafted Ryan Howse with their historic first WHL Bantam Draft pick. The Bruins named Josh Aspenlind as the first captain in franchise history.
The Bruins first season established an instant rivalry with the Vancouver Giants, who were located just an hour away at the Pacific Coliseum. The Bruins finished 2006-07 with a 25-40-5-2 record and matched up against the G-Men in the first round of the playoffs. Vancouver walloped the Bruins four games to one and went on to win its first Memorial Cup.
The decline
Following the inaugural season, the Bruins named defenseman Nick Holden as captain and improved slightly by adding three more wins than the previous season, finishing with a 28-35-4-5 record. The Bruins matched up again with the Giants in the playoffs only to be swept by their rivals to the west.
The Bruins missed the playoffs in 2008-09 and let go general manager Darrell May and Hiller from their positions. Chilliwack also lost its captain 26 games into the season after Jadon Potter went head-first into the boards, ending his hockey career. The Bruins also brought in Marc Habscheid as their new head coach and general manager.
In 2009-10, the Bruins improved drastically as their record was 32-33-2-5. However, attendance at Prospera Centre declined significantly. The Bruins matched up against the Tri-City Americans in the first round of the WHL playoffs, losing four games to two.
The Bruins had their best season in 2010-11, finishing with a winning record for the first time. They went 33-31-4-4 and faced Spokane in the opening round of the playoffs. Chilliwack fought hard but ultimately fell in five games
The move to Victoria
Following the loss to the Chiefs, rumors swirled that the WHL hoped to place a team in Victoria following the departure of the ECHL’s Salmon Kings and before the American Hockey League moved into BC’s capital.
Keith and Bond, alongside Willie Mitchell, who was playing for the Los Angeles Kings at the time, and baseball’s Justin Morneau of the Minnesota Twins, attempted to keep the team in Chilliwack. They put in an offer to take over the stakes of Burke, Sather, and Porter but were rejected by the WHL’s governors.
The Bruins were subsequently sold to RG Properties and moved to Victoria to become the Royals.
The Bruins legacy
Draft Picks
- Oscar Moller (2006-08): drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in 2007
- Mark Santorelli (2006-08): drafted by the Nashville Predators in 2007
- Ryan Howse (2007-11): drafted by the Calgary Flames in 2009
- Roman Horak (2009-11): drafted by the New York Rangers in 2009
- Kevin Sundher (2008-11): drafted by the Buffalo Sabers in 2010
- Tyler Stahl (2009-11): drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes in 2010
- Dylan McKinlay (2009-11): drafted by the Minnesota Wild in 2010
Bruins in the NHL
Holden went undrafted but made his NHL debut with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2010-11. He has played eight full seasons with Colorado, the New York Rangers, Boston, and most recently Vegas. Holden was traded last month to Ottawa.
Horak played close to a full season with the Calgary Flames in 2011-12. He also got into 20 Flames games in 2012-13 and one game in 2013-14. Horak also played a pair of games with the Edmonton Oilers in 2013-14 before leaving for a Russian club in the Kontinental Hockey League.
Manning bounced between Philadelphia and the American Hockey League before becoming a regular on the Flyers blueline in 2015-16. Manning played three seasons in the City of Brotherly Love. He also spent time with Chicago and Edmonton before not playing during the 2020-21 season.
Meanwhile, Moller played 87 games for the Kings between 2008-11, scoring a dozen goals and 26 points before continuing his career in Sweden.
Community impact
The Chilliwack Bruins alumni still help fund the Pediatrics Centre at Chilliwack General Hospital. Since the Bruins left, the BCHL moved back in and saw the return of the Chiefs.
The Chiefs have done a fantastic job continuing the legacy carved out when they were first in the BCHL and carrying forward the legacy the Bruins left behind. From time to time, there are still Bruins jerseys being worn at Chilliwack Chiefs games plus other bits of the merchandise seen around the Fraser Valley community.
