Williams Lake applies to join junior hockey league

A former hockey player from Williams Lake, B.C. is leading the charge bring a junior team back to the city after an absence of nearly seven years.

"I think our little city here needs it," said ex-Williams Lake defencemanRob Sandrock.

Sandrock played junior hockey for the now-defunct Williams Lake Mustangsand later went on to a 16-year pro hockey career that included stints with teamsin Germany, Austria and Northern Ireland.

He's hoping to the KootenayInternational Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) will expand and grant his hometown a team. An application wassubmitted to the leagueon Dec.1, 2016.

"[Williams Lake] has been in the news recently [in] some not so positive light," said Sandrock. "If we can get some positive role models in Williams Lake and maybe get some youth headed down a different path, I think it'll be a good opportunity for everybody involved."

Sandrock says a hockeyteam would be something that the community could rally around.

"We don't have a whole lot of entertainment here in Williams Lake," he said.

The league's membership committee will share the application withthe 20 other teams in the KIJHL who willthen vote on granting Williams Lake a new team.

The date for thatvote has not yet been determined, butSandrock says he hopes to hear from the league by the end of January.

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"They sent in very, very good applications and I'm sure they could handle a membership," saidKIJHL presidentBill Ohlhausen.

Ohlhausen says the league is concerned about overextending itselfgeographically. The league's teams are located as far west as Princeton, B.C. and as far east as Fernie, B.C. The KIJHL's most southerly team is found in Spokane, Wash.

Williams Lake is located 92 kilometres northwest of 100 Mile House, B.C., the league's most northerly team.

The KIJHL is worried that continually stretching that footprint will strain teams' travel budgets.

"We want to make sure all teams are financially stable if we do come into the league," said Sandrock.

Williams Lake hosted junior-level hockey between 1980 and 1995 and then again between 2002 and 2007.

The city's most recent hockey team the Williams Lake Timberwolvesof the British Columbia Hockey League were suspended from that league in 2010.

With files from Daybreak Kamloops

To hear the audio, click the left-hand link: Williams Lake applies to junior hockey league