Cash Anderson has been money for his old team in a new city.
The 20-year-old from Armstrong has been named winner of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League Doug Birks Division's Most Sportsmanlike Player, as the league handed out its regular-season hardware prior to the start of the playoffs Friday, Feb. 28.
Anderson led the Quesnel River Rush 鈥� formerly the North Okanagan Knights, who relocated to the Cariboo for the 2024-25 season 鈥� in points with 24 goals and 31 assists, and did so playing a disciplined style game. He had just 14 minutes in penalties.
Joining Anderson from the Knights in making the move to Quesnel were Richard Burden, Gage Parrell, Adam Valach, and Ian George. They helped the team finish third in the Birks Division with a record of 19-19-3-3, seven points behind their first-round playoff opponents, the Kamloops Storm. The best-of-seven series begins Friday and Saturday in Kamloops.
Vernon's Tyler Burke helped pace the Grand Forks Border Bruins to the league's President's Cup as regular-season champions.
Burke finished second in team scoring with 33-39-72 for the Bruins, who went 33-6-4-1. Grand Forks will play the Castlegar Rebels in a best-of-seven Neil Murdoch Division semifinal.
Maguire Nicholson of Vernon, and Grayson Williamson of Armstrong, helped the Sicamous Eagles reach the post-season.
The Birds (22-16-6-0) finished fourth in the Bill Ohlhausen Division, and will take on the division-winning Princeton Posse in the opening round.
Nicholson, a forward, appeared in 32 games for Sicamous, finishing with 10-19-29, and 134 penalty minutes (PIMS). Williamson played in 40 games as a member of the Eagle's defence. He had one goal and three points to go along with 49 PIMS.
In the Lower Mainland, Vernon's Nicholas Noren led the Richmond Sockeyes in scoring with 88 points, including a team-high 33 goals. The Sockeyes finished second in their division and are currently tied 2-2 in a divisional semifinal with the White Rock Whalers. Noren has 2+1 through the first four games.
Cole Gartner of Vernon has played in one post-season game for Richmond after picking up eight assists in 30 games played. Charlie Swartz had 6-15 in 22 regular-season games with the Fish.
Jayden Attwood of Vernon spent the year with the expansion Coastal Tsunami of Gibsons, on the Sunshine Coast. The team missed the playoffs in its first year, finishing at 19-27-1-1 for seventh place in its division.
Attwood, a defenceman, scored twice and added five assists in 39 games played.
For the first time since the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) and the Pacific Junior Hockey League (PJHL) transitioned to Junior A Tier 2, their respective league champions will square off in a best-of-five series for the Mowat Cup in April.
The PJHL Aldergrove Kodiaks went 0-48 in the 2024-25 regular season.
The PJHL champion will host Games 1 and 2 of the 2025 Mowat Cup championship before the series shifts to the KIJHL champion for the remaining contests, including Games 4 and 5 if necessary.
