Richmond Sockeyes hockey club raises thousands in Ray Sawada’s honour
Posted November 17, 2023 4:14 pm.
Last Updated November 17, 2023 4:19 pm.
Close to 1,200 people turned out to help a local hockey team pay tribute to one of their own Thursday.
The Richmond Sockeyes Junior A hockey club held a jersey retirement ceremony for friend and teammate Ray Sawada after the 38-year-old died while playing a hockey game in April.
“It hit the Sockeyes family extremely hard … We brought him out to say a speech to our players. Three or four weeks later he was gone,” said Club president Doug Patterson.
“It (the ceremony) was just so vibrant.”
Sawada was a former star player for the Sockeyes before a stint in the NHL with the Dallas Stars. He was also a firefighter for the City of Burnaby.
Members of Burnaby and Richmond fire, Richmond minor hockey, Sockeyes alumni, and members of Sawada’s rec league team all gathered to watch number 27 be raised to the rafters of Minoru arena.
“There’s a lot of people who wanted to be there,” Paterson said.
“We had pockets from all over. We knew it would be a big crowd, I figured about 900-950 people. We were close to 1200.”
The ceremony began with an honour guard and bagpipe ceremony before the banner was hoisted.
Patterson remembers Sawada as a dedicated member of the hockey community who loved working with young lacrosse and hockey players.
The Burnaby Firefighters also donated $27,000 dollars in Sawada’s name to go towards a hockey scholarship. Patterson says it will be $1,000 a year for 27 years, with plans to expand in the future.
“We will carry on his legacy. He will always be remembered.”
With files from Cole Schisler
