Contents of the RMHA News page are stories and photos submitted by coaches, managers and parents of players
They are posted in order that they were submitted i.e. newest at top of page, oldest at the bottom of the page.
RMHA would like to recognize the achievements of all its players.
RMHA's Warren Lees Picked by Vancouver Giants in 2005 WHL Bantam Draft
RMHA's Jeff May Drafted 151st Overall by Detroit Red Wings in 2005 NHL Draft
RMHA Players Selected for Vancouver Rangers Team
Richmond Minor is proud to be a sponsoring Association of the Major Midget League. Our Zone Team, the Vancouver Central Rangers, draws from Richmond, South Delta and Vancouver. We would like to congratulate all the Richmond players who tried out for the team, but especially Warren Lees, Sean Thorsteinson and Kurt Kramer who have been selected to the team this year. The home game time for the Vancouver Central Rangers is Saturdays at 2:45-5:15 pm Forum (RIC), and their schedule is posted on the Ice Schedule section of out website. You will also be able to watch the Vancouver Rangers, and several other Major Midget teams at the Richmond International Midget tournament during the Christmas break. Come watch some outstanding hockey!
The Richmond Atom A1 Blues defeated the Seafair Islanders 2-1 in overtime to take the Seafair Icebreaker Tournament Championship. The Blues went 2-1 in round robin play, and then beat South Delta 5-3 to advance to the final. In the final game, Seafair notched the first goal, but Richmond drew even at one apiece. The game ended in a tie, and a four on four overtime period did not solve the deadlock, so the teams went to a five-man shootout, with Richmond coming out on top. The Blues also won the Skills Competition with Carter Popoff, Cody Nass, Travis Ingram, George Eliopoulos and Adam Cronier representing the team admirably. Congratulations, Blues!
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RMHA Scholarships Awarded June 2005
RMHA congratulates the following graduating Midget players who were awarded Scholarships and Awards of Merit: Brendan Phillips, Guginjit Sander, Nicholas Folk, Sho Matsushita, Tim Li, Christopher Clarke, David Mo, Amritpal Kahlon, Adam Dunfee, Chris Breen, Benjamin Hockley, Isaac McKitrick, Mark Meloche, Zach Kelm, Bradley Whitehead, Andy Hundhal, Michael Taylor, Amil Hirji, Vladimir Choi.
A total of $9000 was awarded to assist these players with their future academic and hockey endeavors. Thanks goes out to all the volunteers that participated in our very successful Midget International Tournament and the Midget/Bantam C Tournament . It is their tournament surpluses that contribute to the RMHA Scholarship fund.
AJ Sander Coaches his 1000th Game
AJ Sander nears his 25th year of coaching with Richmond Minor Hockey and reached his 1000th game on Tuesday, November 29. Rick Alder, President RMHA, congratulates AJ on behalf of the Association and all of the players who have had to pleasure of having AJ as a coach.
Congratulations!
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Atom Richmond Fury Reaches Finals
The Richmond Fury made it to the final game of the Vancouver T-Birds Atom Tournament held at Canlan Burnaby 8 Rinks after Christmas. The Fury needed to win their final round robin game by 5 goals to make it into the playoffs, and ended up winning 6-0 over the Vancouver Minor C2 team. Then the Fury managed to win their next two playoff games. First was an exciting 4-3 victory over the previously undefeated Burnaby Minor Terminators, followed by another slim 4-3 victory over the previously undefeated Burnaby Minor Bulldogs.
Bantam C3 Richmond Raiders Win North Cowichan Christmas Tournament
Despite missing Steven Stewart, Jimmy Fabro and Austin Nikolai due to illness or injury, the Raiders, with PeeWee call-up Nick Arnold, went undefeated in the round robin pool, beating Lake Cowichan 11-0, Fuller Lake 5-4, and Duncan (White) 4-2. Captain Sunny Dhaliwal, Sebastion Delmas, Alex Bro, Brian Bauer, Harpreet Kahlon and Matt Arnold all contributed with goals during the round robin play. Game MVP’s include Michael Louie, Brian Bauer and Sunny Dhaliwal.
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The Raiders then won an exciting semifinal game against Duncan (Red). The game ended in regulation time tied at 4 thanks to a late game penalty shot stop by goalie Allen Hoegler. A shootout followed, with Richmond winning 3 goals to 2. Hoegler was selected game MVP.
The final was against an undefeated Juan De Fuca team with Richmond winning 7-3. The Raiders, including D-Men Edmund Leahy, Martin Sakamoto, Vahag Petrosian and Matthew Bains did an excellent job in shutting down the high scoring Juan de Fuca team. Centre Sebastian Delmas led the team with four goals and was selected game MVP.
Coaches Ed Arnold and Jerry Bains were pleased to see the rigors of playing in the top tier of the President's league Bantam C division pay off in the teams great result in this very competitive Vancouver Island tournament. They commend the players for representing Richmond well both on and off the ice.
Richmond Thunder are NVMHA Atom C Tournament Champions
Congratulations to the Richmond Atom C6 Thunder who won this years North Vancouver Minor Hockey Association Atom C Tournament against 13 other highly competitive teams from the Lower Mainland. The tournament was held at Canlan Ice Rink and the Richmond Thunder played 7 games over 4 days with 6 wins, 1 tie and no losses.
The gold medal game was played between the Richmond Thunder battling for the top honours against another Richmond team, the Richmond Atom C2 Rockets. It was a very exciting game for the many family members and friends who were on hand to cheer on their Richmond heroes.
Congratulations to all players for a job well done.
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Click on Photos to view larger image
Going into the tournament, the Fury were a team that had a record of 5 wins, 4 losses, and 1 tie in league play. Through hard work and determined team play, the Fury caught momentum at the right time and reeled off 3 wins and 1 tie in the 4 games prior to the tournament chamionship game. In the championship game, the Fury lost steam as they played their third game of the day, and fell 7-2 to a very solid Cloverdale Avalanche team.
Fury team captain Andrew Fleming finished the tournament as the top goal scorer with 19 goals and 2 assists. Goalie Kyle Bower had stellar performances, finishing with a record of 4-2-1 with 2 shutouts, a GAA of 3.43, and a 84.3 save percentages. Both players were named gamealong with defensemen Tyler Chan and Jordan Narsaiya, and forward Colin Naylor. Way to go Fury!
MVP's.
Midget and Juvenile Scholarship Tournament
RMHA is pleased to be able to host PCAHA Midget and Juvenile Scholarship games this season.
The PCAHA Midget Scholarship Games are held to promote the ideals of scholastic achievement and sportsmanship, combined with participation in minor hockey at the Midget level, and to recognize the talents of graduating Midget players in both the educational and athletic fields. Players are nominated by their teams, and are selected based on having a C+ or better average, sportsmanship as demonstrated by acceptable penalty minutes, as well as hockey performance as demonstrated in a selection camp.
This year, RMHA is proud to have had our Midget AAA coach, Maurice Hamlin selected as one of the Midget Scholarship team coaches.
In addition, RMHA is proud of its Midget players selected to the Greater Vancouver Conference Avalanche team. From the Midget AAA team: Melanie Jue (#10 Defence), Spencer MacLean (#9 Forward), Scott May (#5 Defence), Robert Savage (#19 Forward) and Jonathan Warner (#11 Forward). From the Midget B1 team: Andrew Higo (#7 Forward), Jordan Jung (#12 Forward), and Matthew Neufeld (#2 Defence).
The players will play a series of games during Midget Scholarship week, January 14 to 21, 2006, and have the opportunity to win scholarships in the process. RMHA is hosting a game on Monday, January 16, 2006 at 7:00 - 10:00 pm Stadium. RMHA will also be hosting a Juvenile Scholarship game on Sunday, January 29, 2006 at 5:15 - 8:15 pm Stadium. We will circulate more information about this game as it becomes available. We'd encourage you to attend and support our RMHA players by attending these games, and you will enjoy some fabulous hockey at the same time!
PeeWee AAA Player Makes it to Skills Competition
RMHA is pleased to congratulate Anthony Ast, from our PeeWee AAA team, who was selected as one of only two finalists, representing the Lower Mainland region, in the recent Atom Skills Competition held during the World Junior Hockey Championships. Anthony, who is of Atom age, was chosen to play on our PeeWee AAA team this year. Congratulations, Anthony!
RMHA Bantam AAA Player Selected to Play at B.C. Winter Games
RMHA is pleased to congratulate David Dotan from our Bantam AAA team, who was recently selected to the Under-16 Zone 4 (Fraser River/Delta) hockey team, which will play at the upcoming B.C. Winter Games, February 23 - 26, 2006 in Trail, B.C.
We wish David all the very best at the B.C. Winter Games!
Referee Duncan Brow Selected by BCAHA
RMHA would like to congratulate Duncan Brow, one of our Referees, who was selected by BC Hockey to the "We Stand on Guard for Thee" Event during the Vancouver Canucks versus Colorado Avalanche game on Nov. 10, 2005. Associations were asked to nominate worthy Officials, and RMHA nominated Duncan. Our Referee-In-Chief, Simon Hunt, noted that "Duncan would be an excellent candidate for this event, and deserving, as he is helping RMHA by volunteering in shadowing new officials, and he also participated in our on ice new officials session recently." As part of his award, Duncan was on the ice for the pre-game warm-up and then got to watch the game with a guest in a luxury suite.
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CONGRATULATIONS to the FINAL FOUR Championship Playoffs Qualifying Teams!
RMHA would like to congratulate the following teams who qualify in the top four teams of their division and are battling for the opportunity to go to Provincials. A job well done!
Atom A1 Blues coached by Ron Popoff, Travis Phillips, Bob Chamberlain and Luc Cronier, who have qualified for the Final Four, defeating NSWC A2 in the Four Point Series. Good job, Blues!
PeeWee B1 team coached by Ryan Windsor and Rob Kozak, defeated Coquitlam B1 by scores of 7-2 and 7-0 to advance to the Final Four. Good Luck Hitmen!
Midget B1 Rowdymen team coached by Jim Schuck, Jason Kirby and Peter Stecher return to the Final Four for a second year, having won Provincials in 2004-5. Best of luck, Rowdymen!
Juvenile AAA1 team coached by dynamic duo, AJ Sander and TJ Sander and their entourage of assistants. Good wishes, Juveniles!
Click on Photo to view larger image
Click on Photo to view larger image
Click on Photo to view larger image
Click on Photo to view larger image
RMHA Goalie Makes Under 18 Female Hockey Team
Katie Kling, from Midget C2 "A Team", coached by Fritz Verhoeven and Bruce Phillips was selected to the "Under 18 Female Hockey" Team for the Fraser Delta Zone 4 team that participated in the BC Winter Games in Trail, February 23 - 26, 2006. The Delta Zone 4 team finished in 4th place, losing the Bronze medal game 5-2. Katie played well during the tournament, and although it was a bit disappointing, she and the rest of her teammates should be proud that they were there! In the photo, Katie is the goalie on the right side with the bandana.
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The Vipers coached by Phil Carriere, Tom Johnston and Trevor Bakken went into the game with a 6-2-2 playoff lead and were confident of a win against a team they had beaten before. But even with two highlight reel goals by Stephen Watanabe and Brodie Jung the Snakes could not find the magic answer to 5 potters from a big Burnaby team. It was a hard played, clean and fair game. Well done to all the Vipers, Coaches, Manager Judy Mah and of course their many fans. See you next season! GoGoVipers!
Richmond Atom C3 Vipers Go Down to Burnaby C4 in Championship Game
Goalie Allen Hoegler stopped seven breakaways to give the Bantam C3 Raiders the edge 5-2 over Richmond Bantam C1 Rebels in the PCAHA President’s Gold Group playoff division championship banner game at Richmond Ice Centre last Saturday. The Bantam C1’s Grady Blue opened the scoring on a breakaway midway into the first, assisted by Imran Sumar, but the Raiders came back shortly when Alex Bro fed the five hole after Matthew Bains had trapped the puck in at the point. The C1 continued to press and Blue scored again off of a scramble to end the period up 2-1. The second period saw continuous end-to-end action until the Raider’s
Harpreet Kahlon flipped in a rebound after the Rebel’s goalie had make four valiant point blank stops off of Kahlon and his linemates Sebastian Delmas and Sunny Dhaliwal. The second period ended tied setting a stage for an intense third period. In the third, the two evenly matched teams continued to battle, with both goaltenders making big stops. Finally Kahlon jammed in a loose puck to put the Raiders up 3-2 with about 10 minutes left. With plenty of time to score, the C1 Rebels kept up the pressure, but Kahlon soon fed Sunny Dhaliwal to put the Raiders ahead by two and then with about four minutes left Bro sent Austin Nikolai in on the fly. Nikolai quickly cut across the defense right to left and rifled a wrist shot back against the play to beat the C1’s goalie high on the glove side. The Rebel’s kept coming but were frustrated as the Raider’s Brain Bauer, Matthew Arnold, Jimmy Fabbro and Vahag Petrosian turned up the back-checking and fore-checking intensity. Meanwhile, the Raider’s defense of Steven Stewart, Martin Sakamoto, Matthew Bains, Edmund Leahy and Mike Louie combined to shutdown the Rebel’s breakaway specialists for the last half of the game.
Coaches Ed Arnold, Jerry Baines and Dave Sakamoto were pleased to see the three intense final week practices pay off in execution in the banner game with the team completing well rehearsed passing plays and defensive positioning. Coach Arnold was proud to see his team which had gone 8-15-2 before Christmas step it up to go 16-8-3 through strong team play in the later half of the season; peaking during the play-offs with a 6-2-1 record.
Richmond Bantam B1 Blues win Silver at Abbotsford Tournament
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The Bantam B1 Blues went undefeated in five games until reaching the Gold Medal game at the Abbotsford Bantam B Tournament on March 22 to 25. Coached by Chad Ekren, Steven Yip and Brian Hass, the Bantam B1 roster includes: Ryan McConaghy, Brandon Yip, Matt Richardson, Dustyn Kuzak, Riley Hass, Jesse Bigras, Chris Matthew, Riley Henderson, Dustin Ruth, Linden Picken, Chris Ekren, Adam Wickham, Travis Quinn, Michael Gentile, David Merlo, Brandon Harwood and Steven Thaker.
Great job, Blues!
Richmond Atom A1 Blues Capture Bronze
The Atom A1 Blues Captured the Bronze Medal in the Nanaimo Tournament on March 17-19th, by defeating Juan de Fuca 4-3 in overtime.
