NANAIMO — Months of speculation are officially over with a new owner for the Nanaimo Clippers.
The British Columbia Hockey League’s board of governors announced Tuesday, June 28, an investment group led by Brad Kwong has purchased the team and will take over operations immediately.
The group comprises of Kwong along with two friends and fellow Harvard alumnus. Kwong has been involved in ownership of the Dubuque Fighting Saints in they returned to the USHL in 2010 and is looking to translate successes there into the Harbour City.
“Create a platform where players can come and develop as elite talents and grow as hockey players but also as citizens and students,” Kwong told NanaimoNewsNOW.
Kwong played four years for Harvard’s hockey program between 1981 and 1985, captaining the team as a senior, and is the son of Norman “Normie” Kwong, a star CFL running back in Calgary and Edmonton in the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s.
His two partners are Joe Carrabino, a classmate of Kwong’s at Harvard and an all-American basketball player and Brett Berraket, a roommate of Kwong’s at Harvard business school.
The league got on the group’s radar through its track record of sending players to the NCAA to further their hockey development and education.
A process to purchase a team in the BCHL, informally started around four years ago, picked up steam around 12 months back, when the Clippers were announced as being for sale.
“As I looked at the landscape…I had been tracking the BCHL and what they had been doing the past five or six years and found the league was doing some great things, the leadership had great ideas and a plan to elevate themselves,” Kwong said.
For the short term at least, nothing will change with a team which went on a 12-0 run through the 2022 BCHL Playoffs before falling in the league final.
Kwong said he’s excited to work with the existing staff, including coach Colin Birkas, to move the team one step forward next season. He said he saw first hand while attending a recent playoff game the passion for the team and the platform his group has to launch from.
“We’ve got some ideas but we want to make sure we are respectful of the Canadian hockey audience versus what we may do in Iowa which is not necessarily a traditional hockey audience.”
He added while they’re obviously focused on the on-ice product being as good as it can, the off-ice entertainment value for fans and families is equally as important.
Kwong will be in Nanaimo in July for an event to meet with supporters and sponsors.
“We’ve very much understanding the community makes the success of a team and we want to be part of the community, hopefully give back a tremendous amount not only in time, but financially in donations and with the entertainment.”
The new ownership group takes over from Wes Mussio who purchased the team in 2017.
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