The Kootenay Ice (officially stylized as ICE) were a Canadian major junior ice hockey team based in Cranbrook, British Columbia, competing in the Western Hockey League (WHL) and playing its home games at Western Financial Place. The franchise, which began as the Edmonton Ice before moving to Cranbrook in 1998, was owned by Ed Chynoweth from 1995 until it was sold to Winnipeg-based company 50 Below Sports and Entertainment in 2017. The team won three WHL championships and one Memorial Cup title as Canadian junior champions. Despite the club's on-ice success, the Ice moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba in 2019, where they were known as the Winnipeg Ice.
History The Ice franchise began play in 1996 as the Edmonton Ice. The club was founded by Ed Chynoweth after he left his position as the Western Hockey League's president. Chynoweth moved the Ice to Cranbrook in 1998 after two dismal seasons in Edmonton. The move to Cranbrook resulted in the folding of the successful local Junior A Cranbrook Colts and ultimately the entire Rocky Mountain Junior Hockey League as the remaining five RMJHL franchises from the Kootenays dropped to the Junior B Kootenay International Junior Hockey League within years of the Ice coming to the region.
The Kootenay Ice found significant on-ice success in their early years. The team won WHL championships in 2000 and 2002, along with the Memorial Cup in 2002 to become Canadian junior champions. The 2002 Ice team was inducted into the BC Hockey Hall of Fame in 2022. The Ice added a regular season title in 2004–05 and a third playoff championship in 2011. The latter title came under the direction of Jeff Chynoweth after Ed Chynoweth died in 2008.
In 2017, the Chynoweth family sold the team to Winnipeg-based 50 Below Sports + Entertainment Inc. The company's owners, Greg Fettes and Matt Cockell, were installed as the team's governor and president, respectively. A new logo was unveiled on May 1, 2017. The team's on-ice success diminished after their third championship, with the Ice winning only one playoff series after 2011 and missing the playoffs altogether for four straight seasons between 2015 and 2019. Operating in the league's second-smallest market, attendance became an issue and the league raised questions about the team's long-term viability in Cranbrook.
On January 29, 2019, the Ice announced that the team would relocate to Winnipeg after the 2018–19 season. The Winnipeg Ice began play in the 2019–20 season. In June 2023, after ownership failed to build a suitable arena in Winnipeg, the team was again sold and relocated to Wenatchee, Washington, where they became the Wenatchee Wild.
WHL Championship finals 1999–2000: Won, 4–2 vs. Spokane Chiefs 2001–02: Won, 4–2 vs. Red Deer Rebels 2010–11: Won, 4–1 vs. Portland Winterhawks
Memorial Cup finals
2002: Won, 6–3 vs. Victoriaville Tigres
Season-by-season record
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against Season GP W L T OTL GF GA Points Finish Playoffs 1998–99 72 30 35 7 — 245 276 67 4th Central Lost Eastern Conference quarterfinal 1999–2000 72 44 14 11 3 275 200 102 2nd Central Won Championship 2000–01 72 45 17 4 6 286 213 100 2nd Central Lost Eastern Conference semifinal 2001–02 72 38 27 7 0 276 223 83 2nd B.C. Won ChampionshipWon Memorial Cup 2002–03 72 36 25 6 5 234 202 83 3rd B.C. Lost Western Conference semifinal 2003–04 72 32 30 7 3 183 200 74 4th B.C. Lost Western Conference quarterfinal 2004–05 72 47 15 7 3 218 137 104 1st B.C. Lost Western Conference final Season GP W L OTL SOL GF GA Points Finish Playoffs 2005–06 72 45 23 1 3 233 177 94 3rd B.C. Lost Western Conference quarterfinal 2006–07 72 49 17 3 3 267 189 104 2nd Central Lost Eastern Conference quarterfinal 2007–08 72 42 22 5 3 229 214 92 4th Central Lost Eastern Conference semifinal 2008–09 72 35 29 2 6 220 224 78 3rd Central Lost Eastern Conference quarterfinal 2009–10 72 43 24 3 2 252 215 91 2nd Central Lost Eastern Conference quarterfinal 2010–11 72 46 21 1 4 272 218 97 3rd Central Won Championship 2011–12 72 36 26 6 4 222 201 82 4th Central Lost Eastern Conference quarterfinal 2012–13 72 35 35 2 0 203 221 72 5th Central Lost Eastern Conference quarterfinal 2013–14 72 39 28 2 3 235 209 83 4th Central Lost Eastern Conference semifinal 2014–15 72 37 31 1 3 245 248 78 4th Central Lost Eastern Conference quarterfinal 2015–16 72 12 53 6 1 155 319 31 6th Central Did not qualify 2016–17 72 14 46 10 2 177 335 40 6th Central Did not qualify 2017–18 72 27 38 5 2 215 275 61 4th Central Did not qualify 2018–19 68 13 45 7 3 181 324 36 6th Central Did not qualify
NHL alumni
Riley Armstrong Dean Arsene Matt Berlin Dan Blackburn Zdenek Blatny Mike Comrie Adam Cracknell Nigel Dawes Cody Eakin Brennan Evans Cale Fleury Kris Foucault Matt Fraser Jeff Glass Mike Green Stanislav Gron Jason Jaffray Peyton Krebs Carson Lambos Nathan Lieuwen Ben Maxwell Steve McCarthy Ryan McGill Brayden McNabb Michael Milne Duncan Milroy John Negrin Luke Philp Noah Philp Tomas Plihal Roman Polak Max Reinhart Sam Reinhart Aaron Rome Ryan Russell Mackenzie Skapski Jarret Stoll Brett Sutter Marek Svatos Jaroslav Svoboda Rinat Valiev Matt Walker Kyle Wanvig Craig Weller Jeremy Yablonski
See also List of ice hockey teams in British Columbia
References
External links Kootenay Ice website