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Nanaimo Clippers hockey team sold to new ownership group

BCHL board unanimously approves sale of team to Northern Lights Hockey Canada LLC
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Nanaimo Clippers players celebrate a goal in a playoff game earlier this spring at Frank Crane Arena. (Black Press Media file photo)

A new ownership group will steer the ship for the Nanaimo Clippers.

According to a press release, the B.C. Hockey League’s board of governors has approved a sale from former owner Wes Mussio to Northern Lights Hockey Canada LLC, headed by Brad Kwong, an investment professional with a hockey background both as a player and as an executive.

Kwong is a former captain of Harvard University’s NCAA hockey team and also heads the ownership group of the U.S. Hockey League’s Dubuque Fighting Saints. He also previously served as the USHL board of governors’ chairperson, the press release stated.

“As a Calgarian who spent his summers in B.C., I’m excited to spend a great deal of time on the Island, but I’m more excited about the opportunity to work with our staff and the Nanaimo community to establish the Nanaimo Clippers as one of the preeminent junior hockey franchises in North America,” Kwong said in the press release. “We have a proven track record in Dubuque implementing a strategy that brings major league processes to the junior ranks. An integral element of that process requires investing in the local community to make the team, the city’s team.”

The BCHL board approved the sale unanimously and Northern Lights Hockey Canada will assume control of the team immediately, the press release said.

“The Nanaimo Clippers are one of the league’s most storied franchises,” said Graham Fraser, BCHL board chairperson, in the press release. “With their rich tradition already in place and a new ownership group coming in, we are excited to see what’s in store for them in the coming years.”

The Clippers are coming off their 50th anniversary where they made it to the Fred Page Cup, losing the BCHL finals series 4-0 to the Penticton Vees.

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