The Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) have announced a name change for the Okanagan Division, in honour of Bill Ohlhausen.
“Three of the four divisions of the KIJHL have been named after pillars of the KIJHL. The only one missing was the Okanagan Division. Bill served as president of our league for 16 years I believe and many other years in other capacities. In my opinion, renaming the Okanagan Division the Bill Olhausen Division recognizes the fourth pillar of true builders of our great league. It’s a very proud moment for all of us to recognize Bill in such a way,” said Tom Bachynski, president of the 100 Mile House Wranglers of the Doug Birks Division, which shares the same conference (Okanagan) as the Bill Ohlhausen Division.
While the Wranglers are not part of the Bill Olhausen Division, they do share a rivalry with some of the teams, such as the Osoyoos Coyotes and Kelowna Chiefs.
“Bill’s put his time in with this league. He’s been with us a long time and he bleeds the colours of the KIJHL. He truly loved being part of our league,” said Dale Hladun, head coach and general manager of the 100 Mile House Wranglers. “He did a lot of hard work when the league was trying to grow.”
Hladun mentioned that Ohlhausen hung out with the franchise when they went on their championship run during the 2015-16 season.
“I know he really enjoyed hanging with us when we went on our run, being involved with us.”
Ohlhausen was the president of the KIJHL from 2002 to 2018 and largely responsible to see the Junior B league grow into a 20-league team and expanding to the Okanagan region.
He began his involvement in the league back in 1996, volunteering with his wife, Mary. The Ohlhausen’s also worked on setting up a media program to reach news outlets in B.C. They also started compiling stats of the league’s players and teams and created a program.