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Richmond Sockeyes a new season and a new Coach Brien Gemmell

Published 2:30 PDT, Thu July 2, 2026

Richmond Sockeyes Junior Hockey Club

Richmond Sockeyes a new season and a new Coach Brien Gemmell

BY FLORENCE GORDON

Doug Paterson, President of the Richmond Sockeyes, dropped by the Richmond Sentinel’s office with the new coach, a new in-house announcer, returning management team and even a hockey player sharing with us a whole lot of enthusiasm for the upcoming year.

RS: Brien, looking at your resume, you've got a long history of developing and coaching young hockey players. The Sock- eyes also have a historically long history, 1972 being their inaugural year. How important was it to you personally to be selected to come and coach this storied franchise?

BG: To be able to coach one of the most iconic Junior A franchises in BC hockey is a real honour for sure. And the opportunity to come here and work with this group, like Will Kemp, Matthew Stewart, our group of trainers and medical team, as well as Doug Patterson and the ownership group, to try and bring a championship back to Richmond was too good to pass up, and I'm looking forward to that opportunity.

RS: What is it that excites you about this team outside of its history and obviously the personnel that supports the franchise? As I said, you've been in the game a long time. You've seen a lot. What does a Brien Gimmel’s team look like, or what do you want the fans to notice in the upcoming season?

BG: I think that it’s a given that we're going to work hard, develop good character and play competitive hockey. We compete every night, whether we're winning or whether we're behind, right to the final buzzer, and fans are going to see the dedication. The players, too, will want to meet the challenges that we expect them to handle throughout the season.

I guess it kind of goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway, when young men get to this level of hockey, obviously they have talent, but perseverance and being resilient are also very important. They have to be able to control their emotions. The game's a roller coaster, and that applies throughout the whole season, and we need the players to understand that they're here to compete and keep themselves in check.

RS: You're sculpting and building young men in the sport and in character. For example, I’ve seen firsthand that the sockeyes are structured to dedicate their time to what's going on off the ice within the community.

BG: They have a big presence off the ice as good citizens in the community, and that is a valuable character-building quality for any hockey player, whether playing for the Sockeyes or graduating to the next level. How they conduct themselves in the community is a reflection on the organization and the team as a whole.

RS: Brien, you’re a coach with a lot of experience. Has your philosophy changed? Have you seen things change compared to a decade ago?

BG: I think the best way I can put it is that you’re not operating a construction site; that mentality doesn't work anymore. Players fill many different roles on a team, and that's just a fact of being on a team. You have players that are scorers, you have players that are checkers, you have players that play a role in penalty-killing or power-play roles. My main thing is that when I talk to a player, it’s usually “this is what I need you to do, this is why I need you to do it, this is how it benefits you, and this is how it benefits the team.”

RS: I guess part of the journey and the challenge that’s really important to instill in them is getting a player to buy into the theory that developing a winning attitude or formula in the dressing room transfers onto the ice?

BG: That’s true; it’s part of making sure that everyone's a part of the process. If you have a third and fourth liner that's part of a penalty kill or part of the checking line that's trying to stop the other team's best players from scoring, you build that incentive in the locker room, so that way everyone's involved in the process. But they all have to feel like they're part of the process and have a role in a meaningful way for the team to be effective, not just on the ice, but off the ice, too.

RS: Brien, you seem to be a guy who is an example of do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life. After all these years, what still gets your juices flowing?

BG: I love practice. I get excited to practice with the players, helping them to be better. I love going to the rink, and I love the atmosphere of the practices. Talking to the kids, seeing how their day is going, and laying out the expectations for them and show- ing them what it takes to compete not just on the ice but in life, too.

Doug Paterson, the President and Owner, the new In-house announcer Chris Dinnell and Gavin Dakpano, a Sockeye hockey player, joined the discussion at this point, and the conversation carried on about the future of the team while the management team supported them off camera. If you want to watch the video interview in full, please go to www.richmondsentinel.ca/videos