Sports
Each Richmond Sockeye player is expected to sell at least 10 tickets to the annual alumni game to help support scholarships issued to graduating players each year. The current Pacific Junior Hockey League Sockeyes edged the alumni team 6-5 in overtime in the 2018 game Saturday at Minoru Arenas.
Photo by Don Fennell
Sockeyes alumni give back $236,000 in scholarships
By Don Fennell
Published 11:56 PST, Wed January 24, 2018
Being a Richmond Sockeye extends well beyond
playing hockey. In many ways, it’s a belief manifested in several forms not the
least of which is giving back.
That attitude is engrained in the team’s
culture, and noticeably practiced and promoted by alumni. Each year they
support the current players through such initiatives as an alumni game, a
smoker fundraiser and a golf tournament generating funds for a scholarship
program. Since it began over a decade ago, more than $236,000 has been awarded
to graduating players to assist with the post-secondary studies.
“We feel education is so paramount,” says
Doug Paterson, a team owner and president of the Sockeye alumni. “Anything we
can do to help our players get to the next level, or get as much education as
possible, is important. In my day (he played for the original team in 1972) there
wasn’t a lot of us that went on to post-secondary, but today kids have a
greater opportunity. If we can give them a little encouragement that’s great.”
The scholarship also aligns with Paterson’s
personal philosophy that “in life we need to pull together.”
To help instill that message, Paterson asks
each of the current Sockeyes to sell at least 10 tickets to the club’s annual
alumni game.
“The more we can do collectively the better
the results are,” he says. “When you’ve got a bunch of guys on the same page,
and willing to make sacrifices where necessary, you can flourish. It’s not just
about developing as a hockey player, but how you turn out as individual after
the Sockeyes. I like to think the majority are better human beings for being
part of our program. You can’t put a price on that.”
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