Beaver Valley Nitehawks
| Beaver Valley Nitehawks | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| City | Fruitvale, British Columbia |
| League | Kootenay International Junior Hockey League |
| Conference | Kootenay |
| Division | Neil Murdoch |
| Founded | 1981–82 |
| Home arena | Beaver Valley Arena |
| Colours | Royal Blue, Orange and White |
| General manager |
 Terry Jones |
| Head coach |
Terry Jones |
| Website | bvnitehawks.com |
| Franchise history | |
| 1981-present | Beaver Valley Nitehawks |
The Beaver Valley Nitehawks are a junior 'B' ice hockey team based in Fruitvale, British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Neil Murdoch Division of the Kootenay Conference of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL). The Nitehawks play their home games at Beaver Valley Arena. Dennis Bedin is the team's president and Terry Jones is the general manager and coach. They are captained by defenceman Archie Mckinnon.
The Nitehawks joined the league in 1981 as an expansion team. In its KIJHL history the team has won the Keystone Cup once in 2014, the Cyclone Taylor Cup three times, in 1997, 2001 & 2014 and have won the KIJHL Championship seven times, in 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2012 & 2014. They won nine division playoff titles as a member of the Neil Murdoch Division from 1996-2014; one conference playoff title as a member of the Kootenay Conference from 2007-2014.
The Nitehawks have retired three players' jerseys in their team history—Rocky Dickson (2), Barrett Jackman (6) and Adam Deadmarsh (12).
The idea of starting a junior hockey team in Fruitvale was born when Shirley Levesque, manager of the Beaver Valley Midgets, and Darrell Dickson, their coach, hosted a Beaver Valley Minor Hockey Tournament. During this tournament they noticed people from the valley, who had never before been inside the 10-year-old building, coming to games at six in the morning to watch the young talent. This was a good indication that there were many local hockey fans just waiting for some exciting and entertaining hockey; Darrell suggested to Shirley that they start a junior team, and the work began.
First they had to convince the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League that there were enough young hockey players in the area to man another junior team. This was not an easy task, as many KIJHL teams at the time were situated within a half-hour of Fruitvale, and a new team might cause them to lose players they had counted on—but on the other hand it was also appealing to them: they knew that great rivalries would begin, bringing new fans to their arenas. Since BVMH was one of the strongest minor hockey programs around at the time, it seemed fitting they should have their own junior team to go with it.
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