Origin of the CIHL
Around 1996, four guys started talking about Senior Hockey in Fort St. James and about organizing a team. Those four people were Reo Martin, Rob McDougall, Jazz Rossa, and Terry Rysz and there efforts directly contributed to the evolution of the league you see today.
The first season the Fort St. James team raised enough money to fly a Powell River team up for a couple of games. They then continued to raise funds and eventually went to Powell River to play in a couple games. The next season, in 1997, Mackenzie, Quesnel and Williams Lake formed teams and came together with Fort St. James to form the Central Interior Hockey League (CIHL).
Since the CIHL was formed a number of teams have joined and left the league. One of the original teams, Williams Lake, rejoined the league in the 2003-2004 season after a few year hiatus. The Burns Lake Braves dropped out of the league at he end of the 2004-2005 season. Two new teams, the Hazelton Wolverines and the Omenica Ice joined the league for the 2006/2007 season, which also saw the splitting of the league into two divisions. In the 1998-1999 season 100 Mile House joined the league, eventually leaving the league for a few years before rejoining the league in the 2004-2005 season. Burns Lake joined the league in the 1999-2000 season. Most recently Kitimat (2002-2003), Houston (2002-2003), Smithers (2003-2004), and Terrace (2004-2005) have joined the league, bringing the total to eight teams as of the 2004-2005 season.
Hazelton and Omineca (based out of Vanderhoof) joined the league for the 2006-07 season. For the 2008-09 season the league addd the Prince Rupert Rampage, they replaced the 100 Mile House Bears who had withdrawn from the league