The Pacific Junior Hockey League club announced it has relieved first-year head coach Steve Robinson. The decision was made shortly before the Sockeyes’ 6-5 double overtime victory over the Delta Ice Hawks on Thursday night. They then proceeded to prevail at games in Abbotsford (5-2) on Friday and Grandview (6-2) Sunday to extend their win streak to eight games. Richmond now sits with an 18-5-2 record — good enough for second place in the Tom Shaw Conference.
The team’s ownership group has not been comfortable with Robinson also coaching Seafair’s Bantam A1 team that is currently ranked No. 1 in the province.
The juggling act resulted in Robinson arriving to Minoru Arenas shortly before face-off on Thursday. He was coaching the Bantams’ game earlier in the afternoon at the Victoria Racquet Club Tournament. That’s when the decision was made and assistant Brett Reusch stepped in to serve as acting head coach.
He was joined for the weekend wins by Sockeyes co-owner Ronnie Paterson who was previously behind the bench back in 2013. The club is expected to name Robinson’s permanent replacement sometime this week. Richmond visits the Surrey Knights on Thursday.
“It comes down to philosophical differences,” said Sockeyes co-owner Doug Paterson. “Steve is a great guy and has been moderately successful as our coach too. We are getting right near where we want to be and added three new players. But we can’t have our coach arriving three minutes before a 7 p.m. game which happens to be our biggest of the season.
“It’s something we haven’t been comfortable with since we learned Steve would also be coaching the Bantam team after we had hired him. We were hoping he would let it go. It’s just too much of a conflict.
“This is a big season for us. I think we are right there with Delta as one of the best two teams in the league and, of course, we are hosting the provincials (in April).”
Paterson added there was a “very good” chance Robinson would have remained head coach had he stepped away from the Bantam program at some point. His loyalty to Seafair and minor hockey players isn’t surprising given his long and successful run with the association. He was in charge of the Midget A1 team too until this season.
The Sockeyes have his replacement in mind. It won’t be Judd Lambert who stepped down at the end of last season after guiding Richmond for nine of the last 10 years.
Icing….
Captain Tyler Andrews concluded the wild affair against Delta, completing his hat trick with a second overtime power play goal. The Sockeyes now have the edge in the Tunnel Cup season series over the league-leading Ice Hawks. The fourth and final game will be played Jan. 30 in Ladner.
Noah Wozney led the way against the Steelers with two goals and one assist.
