THE Rockridge secondary hockey team, playing in their first-ever season, won the B.C. High School Hockey League Tier 3 Championship April 21, knocking off Howe Sound secondary 4-2 in the championship game played at Planet Ice Coquitlam.
In the feisty final - the teams combined for 85 penalty minutes - the Ravens went up 3-0 in the second period and then held on, with the post, crossbar and goalie Sam Gray all making important saves to hold off hard-charging Howe Sound. Trevor Buchan led the way for Rockridge with a pair of goals in the final.
The win completed an undefeated season in Tier 3 for the Ravens that saw them notch regular season wins over Archbishop Carney, Whistler and Howe Sound to make the final.
The BCHSHL, created in 2010, is a non-contact league that offers high school players of all skill levels in grades 1012 the chance to play games representing their schools. The league is affiliated with B.C. Hockey and Hockey Canada and is not run by B.C. School Sports, the organization in charge of most high school sport in B.C.
The Rockridge team was spearheaded by teacher-coach Kenneth Kim who did a lot of the groundwork while also navigating the teacher restrictions arising from their job action and contract dispute.
"I had fellow teachers who were interested in helping out, but when our local association decided to take the lead and stop all extra-curricular activities, it scared them away," said Kim in a email to the North Shore News, noting that parents stepped in to help out and the students took charge as well. "I wanted to give this group of students a chance to compete. They were excited and you could tell by the way they helped out to make this team theirs. They submitted ideas for the logo, jersey designs, pregame warmup, marketing the team, helping find scorekeepers, and even who should play with who."
Kim said he was happy with all the help from the students, except for filling out the lineup card.
"I nixed (that) right away," he said.
The team even enlisted the help of the coach's seven-year-old son Owen.
"He filled the bottles, picked up the pucks, and opened the gates for the boys," said Kim. "He could barely see above the boards and the gates were heavy and sticky. He was fantastic."
