A new era for minor hockey is on the horizon in Richmond.
A proposal to merge Richmond Minor and Seafair has been approved by members of both associations following four days of voting that culminated on Sunday afternoon. The new association will be launched in time for the 2018-19 season. It will be the largest in the Pacific Coast Amateur Hockey Association and second biggest in B.C. with over 1,200 players.
Preliminary numbers indicate 67 percent of Seafair members approved of the merger, while 60 percent of Richmond Minor members were also in favour.
Informal talks began in the spring of 2016 and a merger committee was formed last fall, paving the way for this weekend’s vote. A new board of directors (five from each association) was also created. Now they have the green light to proceed full speed ahead.
“Right now I’m a little bit numb,” admitted Seafair president Nigel Shackles who is in his 21st season serving on the executive. “We have sort of been chasing this thing for quite a while and we have always been chasing a good relationship too. This is the outcome of that. When you actually sit down and count the votes it comes to fruition.
“It also means a lot of work to put this new association together so it’s a mixture of relief, feeling the end of something, the end of the process to get to this point and all the work and all the discussions of how to get over those emotional hurdles.”
Expiring professional contracts provided a window of opportunity to bring forward the merger possibility once again as both associations deal with minor hockey’s ever-changing competitive landscape that now includes school academies and future regional rep leagues run by B.C. Hockey.
Attempts to merge the associations in the past never progressed far. However, there was a sense this time that something special could be created by bringing the strengths of both organizations together.
“The community decided to put the community first,” said Trevor Northrup, who has sat on the merger committee for the past 13 months. “It’s been a longtime coming and, although there is a small portion that is not happy with it, this is for the future of hockey and the future of the sport in our community. Both presidents (Richmond Minor's Carolyn Hart and Shackles) have done a great job of bringing the two associations together.”
“It’s always been the right thing to do but now there are some underlining factors in minor sport in general today that are triggering and emphasizing that you have to get this done,” added Shawn Hill, another member of the seven volunteers who served on the merger committee. “I think people have started to see this.”
Naming and branding of the new association will be discussed and finalized by its board of directors in the coming weeks.
