It was a move that was finalized amid the WHL’s two conference championship series, possibly ceding the spotlight to the action on the ice.
The sale of the Kootenay Ice was ratified by the WHL board of governors on Thursday, a decision that denotes the end – at least for now – of the long and storied history of the Chynoweth family in major junior hockey’s western-most loop.
Jeff Chynoweth, the Ice’s now-former governor and general manager, will stay on as a hockey operations consultant to new owners Greg Fettes and Matt Cockell for the next year. However, the sale marks the first time in 45 years that a member of the family isn’t a holding a front-facing position within the league.
“I don’t think people should forget the legacy of the Chynoweth family and how much the Chynoweth family has meant to the Western Hockey League,” Tri-City Americans governor and general manager Bob Tory said. “It’s a tremendous commitment they’ve made.”
Jeff, his mother Linda, and brother Dean had owned and operated the team in one of the CHL’s tiniest markets since the patriarch, Ed, passed away in 2008 at age 66 due to kidney cancer. Former NHLers Scott and Rob Niedermayer owned part of the Ice from December 1998 until the Chynoweths bought them out a year ago.
Ed, the posthumous Hockey Hall of Fame inductee and former league president, was first granted an expansion team in Edmonton in 1995 and moved it to Cranbrook, B.C., in 1998. During the family’s run, the team won three WHL titles (renamed the Ed Chynoweth Cup in 2007) and the 2002 Memorial Cup. Before the last two rebuilding seasons, the Ice finished above the .500 mark 16 straight times and had a record 17 consecutive post-season appearances.
But the Ice have struggle at the gate for years and Linda, at age 73, had been pushing to sell for the last half decade.
“The biggest thing for my mom was it was just time. No regrets,” said Jeff, who hasn’t ruled out joining another team one day.
“It’s been great to my family – obviously, my dad and my brother. There’s nothing better than the Western Hockey League. It’s something that I’m going to miss … but it’s time.”
It was Ed who left his post as WHL president, a position he’d held since 1972 to found the Ice organization.
His name is revered in league circles. Appropriately, in the words of Bruce Hamilton, Ed is the “founding father” of the WHL – and even CHL – as it appears today.
Hamilton, the governor and general manager of the Kelowna Rockets, is the chairman of the league’s board of governors. He’s in his second stint in a position he assumed each time from Ed. Hamilton credits Ed as the man responsible for forging a partnership between the WHL, OHL and QMJHL, and instituting an education package for players
It was Ed who granted Hamilton an expansion franchise in Tacoma, Wash., in 1991, which Hamilton moved to Kelowna four years later. Hamilton and the other owners saw the work he did behind the scenes to keep some franchises afloat that were surviving month to month. He developed policies that new owners would have to abide by.
“The legacy primarily was built by Ed. He made the league a credible entity,” Seattle Thunderbirds governor and general manager Russ Farwell said. “It was kind of a rag-tag group initially. He really gave it structure and polish. He really had vision for the league.”
But more than drafting paperwork, Ed also developed people – notably an extensive list of executives who’ve spent considerable time in the league. They all received counsel from him.
Two of those were Farwell and Kelly McCrimmon, the owner of the Brandon Wheat Kings. McCrimmon was also the team’s coach and general manager before he signed on as the assistant GM of the NHL expansion Vegas Golden Knights last August.
Farwell and McCrimmon are two of the executives who would become mentors to Ed’s sons.
Farwell managed the Medicine Hat Tigers from 1982 to 1988, winning two Memorial Cup championships at the end of his run. Dean captained the team to victory and would play 241 NHL games. He went on to coach in Swift Current and most recently in 2015-16 with the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage. Jeff was on the marketing side then and lived with Farwell.
McCrimmon, then the Wheat Kings assistant coach and director of marketing for the building that operated the team, was Jeff’s boss.
The apple didn’t fall far from the tree when it came to Jeff and Ed.
“He put himself in a lot of situations to learn,” McCrimmon said of Jeff. “When I worked with him, I thought he was going to be a general manager in the Western league at some point. Of course, it played out when it was with their own franchise. Very intelligent, organized, detailed guy in terms of how he runs his team.”
Jeff had five jobs with WHL teams, including having the distinction of being the first employee in Spokane and Red Deer, before becoming his dad’s first hire with the Ice.
His time with his father in Edmonton and Cranbrook, naturally, meant the world to him.
“I learned everything – in life, not just in sports,” Jeff said. “I was lucky enough to work for my best friend for 13 years.”
Jeff has thought about his father since the agreement to sell the team was announced in March. Undoubtedly, there were things his dad would have done differently, he said.
Tory has thought about it, too, but from a different perspective.
He was hired by the Chynoweth family in 1995 to be the assistant GM of the Ice, a position he held until 2001 when he moved on to the Americans.
His time in Cranbrook is filled with great memories. He met his wife, Audrey, there. He recalls the RCMP escort the team bus received after winning a WHL championship in only the fourth season of existence.
But, most importantly, he got to work with Ed, who became one of his hockey role models.
“From Day 1 they enabled and encouraged their employees to be best they could and to be hardworking and loyal,” Tory said. “That message came right from the top. Ed was a very loyal man and a very proud man. Those virtues were passed down to Jeff.”
So, the Chynoweths may not have a prominent place in the league anymore. But, to Tory, they still do.
“It’s different, but from my standpoint Ed’s still with us,” he said. “His wisdom has touched many of the general managers in this league.”
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