All in all it was an unbelievable season for the Richmond Sockeyes despite this being a "rebuilding" year. Richmond won the Division, league regular season and PIJHL championship and were one win away from making the Provincial Title. Richmond will now look ahead to the 2011-2012 season in which they will look to have the same and even more success.
What essentially was a meaningless game to the Sockeyes at the Cyclone Taylor cup, the Sockeyes were shutout 3-0 by the Osoyoss Coyotes. They had thoughts of gold on their mind but could only see bronze after going 1-2-0 in the round robin and failed to qualify for the gold medal game.
Richmond flew home today to hang up their gear for the last time and close the Sockeyes dressing rooms. They compiled a spectacular 37-5-4 regular season record for 78 points, and first in the league. They had a series sweep of the North Delta Devils, a terrific game 7 showdown with Delta Ice Hawks and a quick 4 game sweep to win the PIJHL championship against the Abbotsford Pilots.
Aaron Oakley came in as the permanent no. 1 goalie around late october and played unbeleivable in net only losing three games all year. Captain Patrick Hunter who had played with four PIJHL franchises settled into a role as captain and led his team to glory in the PIJHL.
What looks promising for this well run organization is that there is only one player who cannot play next year due to age restrictions, Eli Wiebe. He is a 20 year old and cannot return but he left his mark on the team. Wiebe scored the PIJHL championship winning goal against Abbotsford in March and put and end to an illustrious time playing hockey, finishing third on team scoring in the regular season with 42 points. Wiebe collected his 50th goal in the final game of the regular season when he scored a hat-trick, a fitting end to his hockey.
Richmond Sockeyes are set up very well to make a significant push in the post-season next year, depending on who will and wont return. But without a doubt the Sockeyes will once again want to be right back in the mix to win that provincial title and head to the Keystone Cup.
We would like to thank the entire organization for everything they have done, all their hard work and dedication to make this season run so smoothly. From ownership to coaching staff, to the players, fans, volunteers and eveyone behind the scenes, we thank you for a wonderful 2010-2011 season that brought so much success.
See you next September for more exciting PIJHL hockey.
Cheers!
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