_{Photo: Roger Tepper, Edge Photography}What is the RBC Cup? 

Simply put, it’s the national Jr. “A” hockey championship. Now a Hockey Canada event, it runs for 10 days every May. It’s become a professionally run event with a budget that exceeds $500,000, nearly all of which has to be generated by the host committee.

The event’s host city has its team in the tournament, along with the champions from the four Jr. “A” regions:

• Pacific (BC and Alberta – 32 teams, 16 in each province)
• West (Saskatchewan and Manitoba – 23 teams, 12 in Saskatchewan and 11 in Manitoba)
• Ontario (three leagues – 41 teams)
• East (Eastern Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes -  three leagues, 42 teams)

The competition began in the 1970-71 season, when the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association reconfigured Junior “A” hockey into two tiers, Major Junior and Jr. “A” (also known as Tier 2). The competition was known as the Centennial Cup until the 1995-96 season, when the Royal Bank of Canada became its title sponsor.

Originally, the championship was decided in a best-of-seven series between the top teams from Eastern and Western Canada. The first Centennial Cup went to the Red Deer Rustlers who dispatched the Charlottetown Abbies in six games.

From 1979 through 1981, a round robin tournament decided the championship. Then it reverted to the best-of-seven format for three years. Finally in 1983 the championship settled into the current format that includes the host team and four regional champs.

The first BC team to win the Centennial Cup was the Penticton Knight group in 1986. The Knights defeated the host Cole Harbour Colts, 7-4.  During the 25-year history of the Centennial Cup, it was held just once in BC. That tournament was especially memorable to local fans because of the thrilling 6-5 overtime victory by the host Vernon Lakers over the heavily-favoured New Westminster Royals.

Actually, the Lakers appeared in four straight Centennial Cup tournaments from 1989 through 1992, winning back-to-back in 1990 and 1991.

The now Vernon Vipers won the first year that the competition was known as the RBC Cup, in 1996. Then, a powerhouse Viper squad won in 1999. Two more wins in 2009 and 2010 cemented Vernon’s reputation as the top Jr. “A” franchise in the country.

Over the years, the championship has been hosted by 36 different Canadian communities, but only four times in BC (Vernon, Nanaimo, Prince George, and Victoria) and just once in the Okanagan. It’s about time the RBC Cup came back to the Okanagan hotbed of hockey!