The rich history of the Richmond Ravens Midget Girls Hockey Team was on full display Monday night at the Richmond Ice Centre.
The program held its 12th annual alumni game — attracting 16 players for a night of laughter and catching up with old teammates.
The game featured three 25 minute clock- running periods and the teams were a mixture of past and present players who have all played under longtime coach AJ Sander.
“We have a player out here tonight from every one of my teams except for the very first year,” explained Sander. “We did it a little closer to Christmas than we normally do because we had three league games over the past week right up until Sunday or it would have been an even bigger turnout. We mix the teams up to make it fun for the current girls too.”
Another tradition is the players and parents bringing donations for the Richmond Food Bank.
“It’s our way of giving back to the community. Our captains will go to the food bank on Boxing Day or the day. We do it after Christmas because that’s when they need donations even more.”
Sander’s decorated run with the Ravens included winning the program’s fifth provincial title last spring. Friday’s 6-1 win over Surrey was his 500th behind the team’s bench.
Richmond is off to an outstanding start — taking a league best 10-1-0 record into the holiday break. The Ravens will also be hosting the 2020 provincial championships in March.
