Following a strong return to the ice, the Lake Cowichan Appollos have joined up with three other teams to become the West Coast Senior Hockey League (WCSHL) for the 2025-26 hockey season.
"We're all quite excited about having a league," said team president Ross Forrest. "It's been quite some time."
Forrest explained that while the Appollos, the Nanaimo Steelmen, and the Powell River Regals played for the McCallum Cup last season, four teams are required to be considered an official league under BC Hockey. The new league was able to form thanks to the addition of the Hope Ice Breakers.
The creation of the WCSHL means a more structured regular season and standard playoff format, along with other benefits to come for fans such as a website with stats, schedules, and helpful information to keep up to date on the league and teams, Forrest explained.
The Appollos revived the historic and iconic Lake Cowichan franchise last season. They played a truncated season against the Regals and Steelmen, with the Regals winning the McCallum Cup. Lake Cowichan was second and Nanaimo was third.
The revival brought a lot of excitement about senior AA hockey back to the Cowichan Lake region.
"The first season went extremely well, way better than we expected," Forrest said. "The crowds were great. The fans bought into it. We really did very well with attendance. Right from our first game we had 500 fans and kept going from there."
The team was made up of many former professional, semi-pro, and junior players both well known to the community and beyond.
"I don't think people realized how good of hockey senior men's AA is," Forrest said. "It really is good hockey."
Even before their first game, the Appollos committed to be being a visible part of, and giving back to the Cowichan Lake community both on their own and with partners.
"We did a charity benefit game along with the Kraken that went extremely well and we raised $7,000 for the people that needed it, which was great," Forrest said.
The event was dubbed the 'Community Cup Challenge' and the Appollos are looking to continue the tradition with the Kraken.
"We hope to do another one of those this year to benefit someone in need," he said. "We're excited about that."
The ice is in at the Cowichan Lake Sports Arena and the team is looking at a September start.
"Most of our players are coming back," Forrest said. "There's only one or two that won't be playing this year."
That means fans will get to watch most, if not all of last year's biggest stars again this season.
The 2024-25 Appollos team award winners included: Keenan Eddy, who earned the Dale (Duke) Weaver Community Service award and the Forrest Family Top Forward award; Caleb Franklin, who won the Coaches award; Ty Rennie with the Blair Caldwell Top Goaltender award; Brendan Hogg won the Russ Edgar Seventh Man award; and Colten Thompson took the Brian Lundberg MVP Award.
Braden Pears and Drayson Pears both earned the Eddy Family Top Defenceman award.
