A new Junior 'B' Hockey League has set up shop in Manitoba. The CRJHL or Capital Region Junior Hockey League is an offshoot of the Keystone Junior Hockey League. It consists of five teams from the KJHL, the St. Malo Warriors, Selkirk Fishermen, North Winnipeg Satelites, Lundar Falcons and the Arborg Ice Dawgs.

Secretary/Treasurer Grant Heather is an official with the CRJHL and he talks about the reasons behind the formation of the new league.

"Given the current climate, difficulty in getting and maintaining sponsors, along with players wanting less travel and having more time to work and attend school," says Heather. "It bore a need for teams to look at various options."

The five teams started play last Friday and Heather says expansion isn't something that they're ruling out.

"It benefits the league but it also benefits the players," says Heather. "Junior 'b' hockey is geared for players 16 all the way to 21. That's the nice thing about Junior 'B' is that you can have 21-year olds play. Whereas the MJHL you can only have up to 20-year olds and they're even reducing the number of 20-year olds a team can carry. Expanding would provide more opportunities for kids to continue playing junior hockey."

Last night saw St. Malo defeat North Winnipeg 5-3.

From 1981-87, Portage la Prairie had a junior 'B' team that played in the Manitoba Junior 'B' Hockey League and they were also named the Portage Terriers. The team existed alongside the junior 'A' version of the Portage Terriers which has been going strong in the MJHL for over 50 years and has roots going back to 1942.