Sockeyes beat the Outlaws 3-1

The Richmond Sockeyes increased their Tom Shaw Conference lead by two points as they defeated the Mission City Outlaws 3-1. John Wesley tied the game for the Sockeyes on a penalty shot goal and Mac Colasimone had the game winner.

John Wesley penalty shot goal to tie the game 1-1.

Mac Colasimone game winner for the Sockeyes.

Gorgeous goal with a nice feed from Wesley to Bissett to put the game out of reach.

Sockeyes get a 3-1 victory over the Steelers

The Richmond Sockeyes defeated the Grandview Steelers 3-1 in the last game before the Christmas Break. Ayden MacDonald continued his rookie scoring lead and Liam Lawson had the game winning goal for Richmond as they took over first place in the Tom Shaw Conference.

Ayden MacDonald opens the scoring for the Sockeyes against the Steelers.

Liam Lawson scores the game winning goal for Richmond.

Dominic Centis puts it away for Richmond as they defeat Grandview 3-1.

Sockeyes defeat Steelers 6-1

The Richmond Sockeyes probably played their best game of the entire season against the Grandview Steelers. The team played a very good game executing their offensive and defensive system perfectly. Ayden MacDonald scored two goals including the game-winner in the 6-1 victory over the Steelers.

Big hit in the first period between Jacob Mills and Jordan Andrews.

Ayden MacDonalds opens the scoring against the Grandview Steelers.

Ayden MacDonald scores his second on the night off a turnover.

Jake Wozney scores a late goal in the first to give Richmond the 3-1 lead.

Nice save by Kootenay Alder scrambling back into the net.

John Wesley makes  a nice pass over to Justin White and he buries it for the 4-1 lead.

Daniel Oakley gets a goal with just 12 seconds left in the game for the 6-1 win.

Sockeyes ground Pilots 6-3

The Richmond Sockeyes defeated the Abbotsford Pilots by a 6-3 score Friday December the 13th. Matt Bissett had the first three Sockeyes goals in just his second game back from injury.

Bissetts first of three goals on the night.

Matthew Bissetts hat-trick goal for the Sockeyes.

Justin White increases the lead for the Sockeyes against the Pilots.

Ayden MacDonald continues to lead the Sockeyes in scoring this year.

John Wesley puts up another highlight reel goal for the Sockeyes before the game ended.

Sockeyes defeat the Panthers 2-0

Richmond defeated the Port Moody Panthers 2-0 on December 12th 2013. Jordan Andrews had the game winner and Kootenay Alder had a 26 save shutout.

Kootenay Alder made one of his 26 saves in this highlight.

Jordan Andrews gets the game-winner for the Richmond Sockeyes. This was the teddy bear toss goal as well.

Ayden MacDonald scored this beautiful goal to seal the deal for the Sockeyes.

Sockeyes versus Abbotsford Pilots 4-2 Win

John Wesley opens the scoring for Richmond against the Pilots

Liam Lawson gives the Sockeyes a 2-1 lead against the Abbotsford Pilots

Dominic Centis gets the game-winner for the Sockeyes

Wesley gets his second of the game against the Pilots

Gorgeous Goal

This was a gorgeous goal by John Wesley a couple of weeks ago against the Ridge Meadows Flames just 7 seconds after their last goal tying the game 3-3.

Sockeyes Videos against Mission City Outlaws November 30th

Derek Hughes and Holden Wilkerson fighting in the third period.

Liam Lawson scoring for Richmond.

Lawson Getting his second goal of the game.

Jake Wozney with a gorgeous shot high glove for Richmond.

Jake Wozney hat-trick goal.

Video celebrations from the Keystone Cup victory

These are a few of the videos taken from The Sockeyes 5-2 Keystone Cup Gold Medal win versus the Saskatoon Royals

A View from the Stands: The Richmond Sockeyes 40th Year – A Season to Remember

The Richmond Sockeyes Junior Hockey Club played their first season in 1972-1973 and the franchise has been a positive feature in the Richmond sports community for four decades. The Sockeyes have also been one of the most consistently excellent junior hockey programs in all of British Columbia. Originally a Junior B franchise, the Sockeyes also competed as a Junior A hockey club in the PAC-A and BCJHL leagues from 1974 to 1990. The Sockeyes won British Columbia Junior A championship titles in 1977, 1979 and 1987. In 1987 the team also won the Centennial Cup (now the RBC Cup), awarded to the best Junior A team in Canada. In 1990, the Sockeyes moved back to Junior B and have been a model of excellence in the Pacific Junior Hockey League (PJHL) for over two decades. The Richmond Sockeyes celebrated their 40-year legacy of excellence by winning the PJHL, B.C. and Western Canadian championship titles again in 2012-2013.

After a very talented Sockeyes team was upset in the second round of the PJHL playoffs in 2011-2012, the franchise entered this season having lost 14 regular players from their roster, including three of their top four scorers, and their head coach Judd Lambert. With the full support of the ownership group, dedicated general manager Richard Petrowsky went to work trying to build another deep roster of talented junior hockey players.

After hiring new head coach Aaron Wilbur in the spring, the GM and coaching staff went to work, adding key players and filling out the roster. With an outstanding leadership group in place, including returning 20-year olds Jeremy Hamaguchi, Rudi Thorsteinson, Scott Wessa, Matt Wagner, team captain Sam Chichak and younger, emerging leaders in Dean Allison, Dominic Centis, Kootenay Alder and the speedy Daniel Tate, the team carefully looked to add talented players, but just as importantly, the right kind of people. The Richmond Sockeyes are always on the lookout for skilled hockey players, but more importantly, they strive to build their team with responsible young men with a strong work ethic and a selfless, team-first attitude. They added some highly skilled players from Major Midget, including scorers Daniel Lange and Danton Heinen, hard working center Justin White, power forward Brett Higham and promising D-men Trevor Lima and Derek Hughes. Other rookies included clever forward Liam Lawson and smooth skating defenceman Jordan Andrews.

The Sockeyes got off to a quick start and once again established themselves as one of the better teams in the competitive PJHL, but they appeared to be a couple of players behind the talented Delta Ice Hawks and Abbotsford Pilots, who led the two divisions of the ten team league early in the season. As is the case every year, the GM quietly went about tinkering with the roster, looking to add key pieces to the puzzle. Injuries, depth issues and player movement all require the GM to be on his toes until the January 10 trade deadline each year. For the second season in a row, the Sockeyes lost one of their talented goaltenders when young star Peyton Lee was added to the WHL Vancouver Giants roster full time. Enter William Latimer, who at 6’4”, joined returning starter Kootenay Alder and formed one of the biggest and best goaltending tandems in the league. Other key additions included smooth skating defender and classy Adam Nishi, a Richmond Minor Hockey product who returned from Junior A in Alberta. Promising defender and former Notre Dame Hound and Major Midget player Trevor Stack joined the team and versatile forward Stephen Campbell and rangy d-man Eben Norman came in separate trades with the North Delta Devils. The biggest addition saw the return of Jake Roder, the Sockeyes leading scorer from the 2010-2011 season. Roder agreed to take a semester off his studies at the University of Victoria and he rejoined the team in late December.

All of the other teams in the PJHL were also improving and clearly the Delta Ice Hawks, Abbotsford Pilots and Aldergrove Kodiaks had built rosters designed to win the PJHL title. Despite a 32-8-4 record, Richmond lost four of their final six regular season games and played inconsistently at times during the season. However, the Sockeyes captured first place overall with a win in their last game of the regular season to ensure home ice advantage in the playoffs and this proved to be crucial. Unlike most teams, the Sockeyes used four lines and six defencemen consistently and enjoyed balanced scoring throughout the regular season. Strong two-way center Dean Allison played consistently all season and he led the team in scoring (4th in league scoring), while rookies Daniel Lange (1st in league goals) and Denton Heinen rounded out the top three, while Sam Chichak and Daniel Tate also enjoyed their most productive seasons. The all 21-year old “Red Line” of Hamaguchi, Thorsteinson and Roder had a fairly quiet regular season, but were becoming increasingly dominant as the playoffs neared.

Facing the gritty and determined North Delta Devils in the first round, the Sockeyes 4-0 sweep was deceptive. The series included an overtime victory on a huge goal by Trevor Lima and a couple of very tough games, but their depth and solid goaltending from Kootenay Alder proved to be too much for the Devils. The Sockeyes then faced the defending league champions and very fast and physical Delta Ice Hawks in the second round. After dropping the first game on home ice, the Sockeyes took a 3-1 series lead before losing two in a row, forcing a Game 7 against the Hawks for the second time in three years. To ease the tension and regroup after back-to-back losses, the veterans organized a players-only team barbecue at Jake Roder’s home two days before Game 7. After two straight wins, the tenacious and hard hitting Hawks seemed to have the advantage and came out flying in Game 7 in front of the biggest crowd in years at Minoru Arena. However, the Sockeyes stayed calm, fired home three goals in the first period and cruised to a 5-1 victory. The phrase (and Twitter hashtag) “must be the barbecue, #MustBeTheBBQ” became a rallying call for the team and the refocused players went on to sweep the Aldergrove Kodiaks in four games to capture the PJHL championship. Dean Allison again led the team (and league) in playoff scoring with 20 points, including an impressive 13 goals in 15 hard fought games. The Red Line was beginning to rumble, combining for 46 points in the playoffs while Lange, Heinen and Tate continued to score consistently. The Sockeyes powerplay was also heating up and both units, anchored by Dominic Centis and Adam Nishi, were a serious threat to score while the PK groups became increasing aggressive, nullifying the opponents scoring chances.

The Sockeyes traveled to Comox from April 11-14 to compete for the Cyclone Taylor Cup against the champions from the Vancouver Island (VIJHL) and Kootenay/Okanagan (KIJHL) leagues. They continued their calm and confident play and defeated the Victoria Cougars 5-2, Comox Valley Glacier Kings 6-2 and edged the gritty Castlegar Rebels 3-2 in the round robin games before facing off against Victoria again for the B.C. championship title. The talented Cougars were the heavy pre-tournament favourites after compiling an amazing 45-1-2 record in the regular season while outscoring their Island opponents by over 200 goals. Victoria started well in the final and held a 1-0 lead into the second period, but again, the Sockeyes never got rattled and they continued to press and play with confidence. They scored four goals in the second period and went on to win 4-1. It was the Sockeyes’ first provincial championship since 2009 and fifth Cyclone Taylor Cup (second most all time – Cranbrook Colts - 7). Jake Roder was named tournament MVP while he, Lange and Allison finished one-two-three in Cup scoring and the Red Line notched 16 points in four games. However, it was the depth of Sockeyes that proved to be the difference and the team also got tremendous contributions from William Latimer, Liam Lawson, Justin White, Scott Wessa, Matt Wagner and Trevor Lima.

After four tough games in four days in Comox, the team had only a couple of days of rest before flying to Winnipeg and boarding a team bus to St. Malo, Manitoba to represent British Columbia at the 2013 Keystone Cup – the Western Canadian Junior B Championships. Facing a daunting travel and game schedule that included six games in four days, the Sockeyes proved to be the class of the tournament. They went 5-0 in the round robin and outscored the provincial championship teams from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario by a total of 39-10. They faced the Saskatoon Royals for a second time in the final on Sunday, April 21. After a fast paced first period that ended 0-0, the Sockeyes depth and focused, persistent play once again led to some quick goals and a 3-0 lead after two. The big Saskatoon team battled hard in the final frame, but the Sockeyes held on for a 5-2 win and their second Keystone Cup championship in franchise history. The Sockeyes depth was again a big factor in their success in the grueling schedule as valuable contributions from Jordan Andrews, Derek Hughes, Bret Higham, William Latimer and affiliate player Austin Adamson proved crucial. The Red Line torched the tournament and MVP Rudi Thorsteinson scored an incredible 11 goals in 6 games (after scoring 7 in the regular season). Thorsteinson led the tournament in scoring with 16 points while he, Roder and Hamaguchi combined for an amazing 39 points. Super rookies Heinen and Lange also notched five goals apiece while veteran Stephen Campbell scored four. Allison and Chichak played exemplary two-way hockey, typically shutting down the other teams top forwards. All of the teams at the Keystone Cup had some very talented players, but the Sockeyes two deadly powerplay units, stellar penalty killing and their ability to roll four lines and play both goaltenders separated them from the other provincial champions. In total, 19 different Sockeyes notched at least a point in the tournament, and every player contributed with key shot blocks, face-off wins and strong, team-first play.

The Richmond Sockeyes 40th season was a huge success and the 2012-2013 team will be remembered among the best in the proud history of the franchise. Their nine-month journey began in late August and ended in late April. Their overall record was 54-11-4, their playoff record was an incredible 22-3 and the team concluded their season on a 15-game winning streak while competing against the very best teams from B.C. and across western Canada. The team leaders were all positive people and tremendous role models and every player on the roster contributed to the group’s success. Like all championship teams, they found a way to put the team’s success ahead of individual goals. Over the course of a long season, there are always ups and downs, injuries and key turning points. The roster moves by GM Richard Petrowsky and incredible preparation of head coach Aaron Wilbur were instrumental. The addition of assistant coaches Rajan Sidhu and then Ronnie Paterson late in the regular season, were very positive and timely additions to the group. The dedication and care of the training and support staff are always critical to a team’s success, especially in a long playoff run, and Cam Smith was tireless. Finally, the players getting together for a barbecue before Game 7 against the Delta Ice Hawks saw them evolve from a talented group of hockey players into something both rare and special – a cohesive team bonded by love and an unwavering desire to genuinely sacrifice for one another.

The Richmond Sockeyes owners speak to the sense of family that permeates the organization. The ownership group includes the very first Sockeyes captain Doug Paterson, former Sockeyes star goaltender Ron Paterson, former Sockeyes star defenceman Bruce Mathers, former Sockeyes head coach Maurice Lambert and passionate hockey man and business professional Barry Watson. They are a dedicated, caring and passionate group who can be seen at most league games and were present every step of the way on the difficult journey to the PJHL, Cyclone Taylor Cup and Keystone Cup championships. Similarly, throughout the playoffs, messages of support poured in from former Sockeyes and Alumni, including the Vancouver Canucks’ Jason Garrison. Current players soon realize they are part of something special, part of something bigger than themselves. They understand that playing for the Richmond Sockeyes is an honour and they have a responsibility to play with all their heart, for the franchise, for the team, and, most importantly, for one another. Congratulations to every member of the 2012-2013 Richmond Sockeyes. PJHL, British Columbia and Western Canadian champions today and friends and Sockeyes forever.

2013 Keystone Cup

5-3 over Alberta (Okotoks Bisons)
9-1 over Hosts (St. Malo Warriors)
10-2 over Saskatchewan (Saskatoon Royals)
7-3 over Ontario (Northern Hawks)
9-1 over Manitoba (Peguis Juniors)
5-2 FINAL over Saskatoon Royals

Sockeyes are National champions with 5-2 win over Saskatoon

          VS.             

For the second time in five years the Richmond Sockeyes are your Keystone Cup National champions. Richmond won the Keystone Cup by defeating the Saskatchewan Representative Saskatoon Royals out of the Prairie Junior Hockey league by a 5-2 score. 

Richmond came into this game with the possibility of doing what only Vermilion Tigers(2), Kinistino Tigers(3), Columbia Valley Rockies(2), Lloydminster Bandits(2) and Assiniboai Southern Rebels(2) winning more than one Keystone Cup. In 2009 Richmond defeated the K & A Wolverines in double OT to win the cup, this time a strong second period gave Richmond the 5-2 win.

Richmond was a perfect 5-0 in the round robin and continued to show their offensive dominance. In the tournament Richmond was able to outscore its opponents 44-12 and outshoot them 264-125. Those are absolutely incredible stats for any team. The Sockeyes have also been tied or leading a game for 860 minutes of hockey in 900 minutes. The only times that the Sockeyes were down since game 6 of the Tom Shaw Final was in game 1 of Cyclone to Victoria, gold medal game against Victoria, and briefly to Saskatoon Royals and Thunder Bay Northern Hawks. 

The Saskatoon Royals wanted revenge after a crushing 10-2 defeat at the hands of the Sockeyes earlier iin the round robin. The Royals started this game off much better as for the first time all tournament the Sockeyes were held without a goal in a period. Both sides would head to the dressing rooms tied 0-0 with Richmond barely ending in shots 15-13. Royals goalie Jay Hudon who was named the tournaments best goalie was playing fantastic in this game, had it not been for him the Sockeyes would have destroyed Saskatoon. 

The second period was a completely different game for both teams, Saskatoon lost some of the drive they had and only registered 4 shots while the Sockeyes were able to take 24 shots and score 3 goals for a 3-0 lead into the second period. The game was tense at times and Sockeyes AP Austin Adamson gave Richmond a breath of fresh air opening the scoring at 6:09 of the second period. The puck came to him out front off a nice centering feed from Rudi Thorsteinson and Adamson buried it. This goal for Adamson added to the already succesful time he has had with Richmond. he first played with Richmond against the Delta Ice Hawks amd has looked solid ever since. Danton Heinen would score his fourth goal of the tournament in stunning fashion as he put the puck right through a defenders legs and sent a gorgeous backhand behind Hudon to give Richmond some separation. Before the period was out with just over a minute left, 20 year old Jake Roder got on the board with a superb tip through Hudon's legs for the 3-0 lead. Richmond was in full control knowing they just need another good 20 minutes of hockey to become champions.  

Richmond played a very defensive third period just trying to get the clock to run out and they executed that perfectly. Rudi Thorsteinson extended the lead to 4 at 1:28 of the third period as Richmond kept pressing. Kootenay Alder who was 4-0 in the tournament had a good game making 29 saves in the win. He wasn't beaten until 6:53 of the third period when Saskatoon's Nathan Allen got the puck behind him. Danton Heinen added one more to extend his goals to five in the tournament. In a desperate attempt to get back into the game the Royals played with six skaters for the final six minutes of play trying to get their offence going. They did manage to score by jamming the puck in with just 1:04 remaining but that only made it 5-2. 

Time would slowly tick away as the players were just waiting to clear onto the ice for the celebration. Time ran down to 0.0 and the Richmond Sockeyes were National champions defeating Saskatoon 5-2. They surrounded Kootenay Alder in utter jubilation as they can say there is no better Junior B team in Canada. 

Jake Roder was named player of the game for his efforts getting the game-winning goal and an assist. Hayden Cameron was the player of the game for Saskatoon. As the celebration changed to handshakes the teams lined up on the blueline for the tournament awards. Richmond would receive three of them as Rudi Thorsteinson won the tournaments leading scorer and tournament mvp with 11 goals and 5 assists, while the Richmond Sockeyes were the most sportsmanlike team. 

After things had settled the St. Malo hosts brought in the Keystone Cup and laid it onto the table awaiting Sam Chichak. Chichak came over and raised it high into the air and the Sockeyes celebrated their teams second national title. 

Richmond's record was mighty this year only 11 games, here is their record in the 2012-2013 hockey season. Regular season 32-8-0-4, Playoffs 12-3, Cyclone Taylor Cup 4-0, Keystone Cup 6-0, Total 54-11-0-5

A huge congratulations for this year has to go to all the people in this organization that made things run so proficiently and smoothly all season. Starting from the top with oweners, Doug Paterson, Bruce Mathers, Maurice Lambert, Barry Watson and assistant coach and owner Ronnie Paterson. Richard Petrowsky the Sockeyes GM works tirelessly to build this team, and he deserves a huge amount of gratitude The coaching staff or Aaron Wilbur and late addition Rajan Sidhu. The trainer Cam Smith, statistician Craig, videographer Brian. Volunteer staff Tina O'connor, Mas Morimoto, and all the volunteers and workers for the proud Junior B franchise. This organization could not be run without all of you. Thank you all so much and congratulations the the 2012/2013 Tom Shaw regular season champions, PJHL regular season champions, Tom Shaw Conference champions, PJHL champions, Cyclone Taylor Cup champions and Keystone Cup champions.

2013 Keystone Cup team statistics.

PLAYER STATISTICS

#	PLAYER NAME	P	GP	G	A	PTS	P/G	PP	SH	GW	PIM
15	Rudi Thorsteinson	F	6	11	5	16	2.7	4	0	0	2
9	Danton Heinen	F	6	5	7	12	2.0	0	0	0	2
24	Jake Roder	F	6	4	8	12	2.0	2	0	0	4
19	Daniell Lange	F	6	5	6	11	1.8	1	0	0	2
8	Jeremy Hamaguchi	F	6	4	7	11	1.8	0	0	0	0
42	Stephen Campbell	F	6	4	2	6	1.0	1	0	0	4
16	Liam Lawson	F	6	2	3	5	0.8	0	0	0	0
18	Sam Chichak	F	6	1	4	5	0.8	1	0	0	4
6	Adam Nishi	D	5	0	5	5	1.0	0	0	0	0
4	Dominic Centis	D	4	2	2	4	1.0	1	0	0	6
26	Scott Wessa	D	6	1	3	4	0.7	0	0	0	32
5	Matthew Wagner	D	6	0	4	4	0.7	0	0	0	31
21	Dean Allison	F	6	2	1	3	0.5	0	0	0	4
23	Justin White	F	6	1	2	3	0.5	0	0	0	2
27	Jordan Andrews	D	5	1	2	3	0.6	0	0	0	4
17	Austin Adamson	F	6	1	1	2	0.3	0	0	0	2
3	Eben Norman	D	5	0	1	1	0.2	0	0	0	20
22	Daniel Tait	F	4	0	1	1	0.3	0	0	0	2
7	Derek Hughes	D	2	0	1	1	0.5	0	0	0	0
10	Trevor Lima	D	3	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	2
44	Bret Higham	F	2	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0
11	Trevor Stack	D	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0
	TEAM TOTALS			44	65	109	-	10	0	-	123

GOALIE STATISTICS

#	GOALIE	GP	W	L	T	G	A	PIM	SO	MP	GA	GAA	SH	SA	SV%
1	William Latimer	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	120	2	1.00	39	37	.949
29	Kootenay Alder	4	4	0	0	0	0	2	0	240	10	2.50	90	80	.889

8-1 win gives the Sockeyes a perfect round robin tournament.

                 VS.                

What more can you say about the Richmond Sockeyes? 14 straight wins, 4-0 at the Cyclone Taylor Cup and now 5-0 in the Keystone Cup round robin. Richmond is absolutely on fire and that continued tonight beating the Manitoba representative Peguis Juniors 8-1.

Richmond came into this game already knowing that they had clinched a spot in the gold medal game, but pride was on the line. At the other end of the ice this was a must win for the Peguis Juniors, they had to win to make the Gold Medal game. They would not win this game though as they would be defeated by the Sockeyes on this night. 

From the opening faceoff to the end of the game the Sockeyes dominated both offensively and defensively. They did this without most of their starters. In for the game was Derek Hughes, Bret Higham and William Latimer. Adam Nishi, Dominic Centis and Daniel Tait were out. Kootenay Alder was also resting in the game.

William Latimer had a big game in net, he is now 3-0 in the Cyclone and Keystone Cup games that he has played. In this game he made a number of big saves keeping it close early on and he stopped 22 of 23. At one point he hugged and tapped his posts for saving him in the third period. 

The Sockeyes player was Danton Heinen who has been playing top notch hockey for months now. He had a goal and an assist in the game. He should have been credited for another one but for some reason it was given to Jordan Andrews.

The game did get a bit out of hand in the second with numerous penalties on both sides of the ice. But after the second it all ended and they played very respectable hockey.

What a tournament Rudi Thorsteinson has had, he added another two goals and an assist to his tournament leading 10 goals and 4 assists for 14 points. He also had a couple moments of hilarity as he nearly fell once on the corner of the boards, and then did fall stepping out of the players bench. The whole crowd cheered and jeered him on when it happened. A brief moment of hilarity.

Goal scorers for Richmond were Danton Heinen, Liam Lawson, Daniell Lange, Jordan ANdrews(Heinens goal), Jake Roder, Stephen Campbell and Rudi Thorsteinson(2). Jeremy Hamaguchi added three assists as well.

Sockeyes have outshot their opponents 225-108 and outscored them 39-10 in five games.

Tomorrow will be the game for all the marbles though as the Richmond Sockeyes will look to make it 15 straight wins and win their franchises second Keystone Cup. The Gold Medal game goes at 1:00 PM Central time and 11AM Pacific time. You can tune in on Fast Hockey for a video broadcast and we will be constantly updating the game via twitter https://twitter.com/R_Sockeyes