Last season saw the Sockeyes fall short of advancing to the league final, finishing the regular season with a record of 32 wins, 11 losses, 3 overtime losses along with 2 shootout losses while managing 244 goals in the campaign.

Moving forward, they have their sights set on surpassing that record as the league has elevated their status to Junior A Tier One, along with six other teams. This decision of the powers at be, is a positive move to grow the league while promoting local talent. 

Changes for any sport organization doesn’t come easy as we recently witnessed with the Vancouver Canucks, and in addition to this great news next season will bring new excitement with the recent hiring of a new coach for the Richmond Sockeyes.

Stepping behind the bench in his new role as coach is Scott Hewson, who brings a wealth of knowledge and talent and he looks forward to leading the team in the next chapter of the Sockeyes. 

Scott is taking the next step in his career coming over from the Canadian Sport School Hockey League (CSSHL) coaching in North Vancouver the past three seasons as the U18 North Shore Warriors Prep Coach.

Prior to that he spent two seasons with the North West Hawks that saw him win the inaugural U17 Division Championship. 

Scott started playing minor hockey for North Vancouver at the early age of Pee Wee advancing each year until he finished his second year at the Midget level, now referred to as "U18" (which stands for "Under-18".) This new designation was implemented by Hockey Canada to be more inclusive to align with international practices. 

In an interview with Scott, I found it ironic that he remembers his first minor hockey coach who was Norm Nichol. Norm taught him the competitive part of the game and ironically Scott ended up coaching Norm’s son at the academy.

Following his time in the Midget hockey league, Scott was invited to the Penticton Panthers camp in 1995 by Enio Sacilotto who was the GM and coach at the time. This name is synonymous with the hockey world and he was Scott’s coach who also became a mentor for Scott in his career. 

Scott played three seasons with the Panthers which earned him a scholarship to play at Bowling Green State University in the NCAA which resulted in playing four seasons and 137 games.

From there his career saw him advance to play in the East Coast Hockey League for Pensacola Ice Pilots for the 2002-2003 season before moving on the following season to play for the Baton Rouge Ice Fish. 

Scott mentioned that today’s game is much faster but today’s players don’t watch the play-by-play hockey live on television as in the past thanks to the ever-changing technology offering highlights of the games. As a coach, you have to teach the players everything that a team has to do together to create these highlighted moments in a game.

Scott shared his phylosophy that coaches have to be proactive and evolve, learning new systems. He noted that the game continues to change while one still needs to respect that the traditional core structure remains in tact—namely being competitive, dedicated, a good teammate and having a good work ethic. 

As a coach you have to give the players the opportunity to advance and learn from their mistakes and this includes developing the structure that they can work within to achieve becoming a top player.

Scott’s number one focus at practice is having a strong sense to compete, and second to that is, to develop good practice habits, followed by being prepared, and knowing your practice plans in advance. 

Like every Sockeyes' off-season, we take some time to reflect on the long history of the club. Last week we shared the idea of the new project now underway to document our season-by-season record. A record that has certainly been due in large part to the support we have received from the Richmond community. 

The Richmond Sockeyes’ first season, produced a team led by captain and today’s owner, Doug Patterson in 1972-73 with the inaugural game held on Oct. 2, 1972. That day, the Sockeyes were matched up against the then, White Rock Rangers, known today as, White Rock Whalers after several name change over the years. 

Looking back over the club's 2,386 regular season games our winning percentage stands at an amazing .648 mark over that time period. Considering that, for a team that annually changes its roster substantially as players graduate, move on to the university or are drafted to play pro hockey or many other endeavours, this is a good record of accomplishment.

The ability to attract young, emerging Junior hockey players is what contributes to maintaining that level of success. To that end, even more importantly, the club's goal throughout its history has always been to provide a positive experience for every member of the Richmond Sockeyes. In a recent video produced for the Sockeyes every testimonial filmed, every former player said “they treated me like family”.

Concluding this article with a final history note, we can count seventeen first place finishes as part of our record and hopefully can add an eighteenth top ranking next season as we enter the new Tier One PJHL in 2025/26.