Richmond Sockeyes

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Richmond Sockeyes

City	Richmond, British Columbia
League	Pacific International Junior Hockey League
Founded	1970s
Home Arena	Richmond Arena
Colours	Red, Black, and White

The Richmond Sockeyes were a Tier II Junior "A" ice hockey team from Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. They were a part of the British Columbia Hockey League. They currently exist as a Junior "B" team in the Pacific International Junior Hockey League

[edit] History

Founded in the Pacific Coast Junior Hockey League in the 1970s. As PCJHL Champions, the Sockeyes defeated the BCJHL Champions in 1977 and 1979 for the Mowat Cup as British Columbia Junior "A" hockey champions. In 1977 the Sockeyes lost out to the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League's Prince Albert Raiders for the Abbott Cup as Western Canadian Champions after winning the Doyle Cup as Alberta/BC Champions.

In 1979, the PCJHL merged with the BCJHL and along with it came the Richmond Sockeyes. From 1979 until 1990, the Sockeyes finished first place in the league 3 times and won the league in 1987. After winning the league, they defeated the Peace Cariboo Junior Hockey League's Quesnel Millionaires 2-games-to-none to win the Mowat Cup. Then they defeated the Red Deer Rustlers of the Alberta Junior Hockey League for the Doyle Cup 4-games-to-3. They moved on from there to beat the Humboldt Broncos of the SJHL to win the Abbott Cup and to earn a birth to the Centennial Cup.

They started out the National title beating the Dartmouth Fuel Kids of the Metro Valley Junior Hockey League 7-3. They then lost out to the Host Humboldt Broncos 6-1. They pulled themselves together in the final game of the Round Robin to defeat the Central Junior A Hockey League's Pembroke Lumber Kings 4-1. The next day, Richmond and Pembroke squared off again, resulting in a 9-3 victory for the Sockeyes. This set up a Humboldt-Richmond final, their ninth game against each other in less than a month. The Richmond Sockeyes came out strong and pulled off a 5-2 victory to clinch their only National title.

In 1990, the town of Chilliwack, British Columbia bought the franchise rights to the team and created the Chilliwack Chiefs to make up for the the Chilliwack Eagles ownership moving to Ladner, British Columbia. The Sockeyes reformed in the Junior "B" Pacific International Junior Hockey League.

[edit] Season-by-Season Record

Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

Season	GP	W	L	T	OTL	GF	GA	Points	Finish	Playoffs
1977-78	48	41	5	2	-	353	140	84	1st PJHL	Won League
1978-79	48	39	9	0	-	377	191	78	1st PJHL	Won League, Won Mowat Cup, Won Doyle Cup
1979-80	66	30	35	1	-	320	327	61	4th BCJHL Coastal	Lost Semi-final
1980-81	42	33	9	0	-	271	167	66	2nd BCJHL Coastal	Lost 1st Round
1981-82	48	23	25	0	-	255	282	46	4th BCJHL Coastal	Lost Quarter-final
1982-83	56	21	33	2	-	265	314	44	5th BCJHL Coastal	DNQ
1983-84	50	29	20	1	-	293	243	59	3rd BCJHL Coastal	Lost Quarter-final
1984-85	52	31	19	2	-	342	279	64	2nd BCJHL Coastal	Lost Quarter-final
1985-86	52	39	13	0	-	367	200	76	1st BCJHL Coastal	Lost Final
1986-87	52	38	14	0	-	347	192	76	1st BCJHL Coastal	Won League, Won Mowat Cup, Won Doyle Cup, Won Abbott Cup, Won Centennial Cup
1987-88	52	34	16	2	-	325	216	70	1st BCJHL Coastal	Lost Final
1988-89	60	33	27	0	-	325	289	66	4th BCJHL Coastal	Lost Quarter-final
1989-90	60	33	27	0	-	325	289	66	5th BCJHL Coastal	Lost Quarter-final Round Robin