Dear HMI BC team,

I trust that you all had a wonderful and fulfilling Christmas Season and New Year’s celebration!  Lorraine and I were quite busy over the holidays, travelling to Saskatchewan just before Christmas and then to Victoria on the 27th to be with our family on New Years.  The roads on the mountain passes were not always the best, but we trusted in the Lord and drove carefully!

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I have been home a bit more than usual in the last few months, which has been good.  There have been a few occasions when I did need to travel, such as a long drive up to northern BC (about 12 hours on the road!) to speak to a church group in Smithers on a Sunday morning, and also when I spoke at churches in Merritt and in Oliver.

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I am glad to see that the chapel program in 100 Mile House has started this fall, with new Chaplain Andrew Giesbrecht.  Please be praying for Andrew as he is in the initial formation of this new ministry.  I would ask you to pray for all the chapel programs that are running across the province, as young people are being exposed to the love and mercy of Jesus.

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In early November, I had an opportunity to participate in the Remembrance Day Ceremony as the chaplain of the West Kelowna Fire Department.  This is just one more opportunity to actively be a part of my community as a follower of Christ.  It was very meaningful to stand with other Firefighters and honour those who have fought for Canada in war.

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Later in November, a few Hockey Ministries people gathered in Chilliwack to put the finishing touches on a 3 year process of starting a new summer hockey camp.  This will be another camp in addition to the existing summer camp we have had going in Williams Lake.  The Chilliwack meeting was very exciting, and I believe that the Lord will do wonderful things through this new camp.  The committee was very focused on doing whatever it takes to see the camp succeed.

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Also, I recently had an opportunity to visit with Summerland Steam chaplain Rick Gay as well as the Merritt Centennials chaplain Dave McCauley.  Rick has done a great job in Summerland with the hockey club there and Dave has served the Centennials in Merritt forever. (almost, not quite…..)  Please be praying for these two as they continue to serve Jesus where they are called.  I also had a chance to have a short visit with two hockey buddies and chapel supporters Kolby Barnstable and Jayson Zilke, and their good friend James Reimer, a goaltender with the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League.  It was great to meet James, who is a devoted disciple of Jesus.

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In December, I was in charge of an annual event around the West Kelowna Warriors hockey club – the 6th Annual Christmas Hamper Drive. WIth the help of the Warriors ownership and fans, we were able to put together 60 Christmas Hampers for needy families in West Kelowna.  It was so good to assemble the hampers with the team, to speak to them and lead them in prayer.  The Christmas Hamper Drive is an outreach of the Chaplaincy Program of the Warriors Hockey Club.  As well, in December I offered a personally digitally engraved copy of the New Testament to both the Kelowna Chiefs and the West Kelowna Warriors.  A good number signed up for them and so in January I will be distributing them.  I am excited about this opportunity to have the Gospel in the hands of these players and coaches.

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I am really looking forward with anticipation what the Lord has in store in 2017.  He is faithful, whether the road is level and relaxed or rocky, steep and difficult.

Again, I trust that your Christmas and New Years holiday was as meaningful and wonderful as Lorraine’s and mine was.

• -safe travels through the winter
• -New Testaments to the Warriors and Chiefs
• -new summer hockey camp in Chilliwack
• -new chapel program in 100 Mile House
• -the many chapel programs that are running this season
• -for the families who received Warriors Christmas Hampers

All for Jesus,

Don Richmond

Hockey Ministries International

Pacific Region

Happy summertime to the HMI Pacific team!

 You would think that in the first part of July, hockey would be completely shut down for at least a few months; but that is not the case.  Between physical workouts, summer hockey camp and traveling to see chaplains and coaches, hockey certainly doesn’t shut down.  It will be a bit quiet for a couple of days and then … bam!  It’s all systems go.

Here is what I have been up to since my last newsletter…

May and June have been a blur for me…. but I have felt the Lord’s presence with me wherever I have gone, just as the verse in Joshua 1 says.  As I mentioned in my March/April newsletter, the West Kelowna Warriors Jr. A club (one of the clubs where I serve as chaplain) went on a huge playoff run starting in the first week of March.  By the end of April they were still  going strong and had won the Interior Division of the BC Hockey League (BCHL) and later also won the 2016 BCHL Fred Page Cup as BCHL league champions.  This was no small feat, in that they were not ranked in the top 20 in Canada all year and had to defeat top ranked teams all along the way.  That was where the Warriors stood when I finished my last newsletter at the end of April.

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From the BCHL league championship they travelled to Estevan, SK to participate in the Western Canada Cup, and I was allowed to travel with them.  In Estevan as BCHL champions, they joined the Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba champions and also the host Estevan Bruins in tournament play.  It was here in Estevan that I held a 4th playoff chapel for the team and while there met up with HMI staff member John Bechtold and Briercrest Hockey Coach (and ex-HMI staff member) Jamie Ramer.  While in Estevan, our team hotel treated us absolutely terrific, and I discovered that the manager was a wonderful Christian lady!  I attended her church on Sunday morning.  The WCC was a tense time; an unreal tournament, with the mighty Warriors prevailing in the final and winning the 2016 Western Canada Cup championship. (WCC)

After the WCC, we spent a few days in Saskatoon, SK preparing for the final challenge of the year: the Royal Bank Cup (RBC) National Championship tournament in Lloydminster, AB, which began on May 8th.  I must say that Head Coach Rylan Ferster and the entire coaching staff was very good to me, allowing me to have free access to themselves and the players.

I was pleased to help the team out,  assisting in setting up the dressing room in just the right way for games and actually making two trips to Regina and one to Edmonton for players and coaches.  This RBC tournament featured the 5 remaining teams in Canada; Carleton Place (Ottawa) and Trenton Ontario, Brooks, Alberta, West Kelowna, BC and the host team from Lloydminster.  It was here that I held a 5th and final chapel of the playoffs, making a total of 15 Warriors chapels for the entire season.  What a week it was!  Rattling nerves and tension filled the arena, and on the final weekend, the Warriors were still in the hunt.  In one of the semi-finals on Saturday, the Warriors won 4-1 against Brooks which put them in the RBC championship final.  After Lloydminster won the other semi-final game against Trenton, the final was set for the next evening.  There were now just 2 teams left in Canada: the tournament host team Lloydminster Bobcats with their anticipated packed out home crowd against the West Kelowna Warriors.  The tension and pressure were almost crazy unbearable… !  You can’t believe how many people who wouldn’t ordinarily speak about God, asked for prayer that day!  The next evening the game was televised on TSN.  I didn’t sit down for a minute of that final game….. and when it was all over, West Kelowna was victorious by a 4-0 score, and were handed the Royal Bank Cup as the 2016 Canadian Junior A Champions!  The Warriors season was exhausting but worthwhile, lasting not only 58 regular season games, but also 35 playoff games for a total of 93 games played during the year!  The Warriors playoff run lasted two and a half months and we finished with the Triple Crown of Canadian Junior A Hockey…. the Fred Page BCHL Cup, the Western Canada Cup and the Royal Bank Cup National Championship Cup!  Wooo hooo!

We finally arrived back home very early in the morning on Tuesday May 24, twenty-seven days after we left for Estevan.  (I am so grateful for my wife Lorraine, who stood with me all the way and never once complained that I wasn’t home.)  Ready to meet us as we approached West Kelowna at 2:15 a.m. was an escort of four RCMP cars with lights flashing, leading us to our home arena where 150 fans were camped out!  The party really started then!  I am so thankful to the Lord and very honoured to be able to serve in this chaplaincy ministry, win or lose. I will be going into my 17th season as a chaplain, and this past year was the first time I was chaplain for a national championship club.  Believe me, it doesn’t come around very often!  I am also glad that I was able to have so many chapels and meaningful prayers with the players.  All those chapel prayers will not be lost or forgotten.

Coming home meant that I could take a few days off and recharge my batteries just a bit. (It actually took slightly longer that I thought it would…!) The very next weekend the Warriors held their 4th Annual Alumni weekend, and it was good to be with so many of the old Warriors there.

In the middle part of June, I took Lorraine, (I didn’t want to travel without her after my playoff marathon trip…!) and drove to Parksville on Vancouver Island and then on to Port Alberni.  In Port Alberni I met Michael Kleyn, who is now the new chaplain of the Alberni Valley Bulldogs Jr. A club.  I also had a chance to meet with Ron Paulson, President of the Bulldogs and Kevin Willison, Head Coach.  They were very open to the chapel program.  Please be praying for Michael as he serves the Bulldogs this coming season.

We are now preparing for our 6th Annual Christian Hockey Camp in Williams Lake, which runs from July 17-22.  Please be praying about this camp ministry.  I will let you know how things go in my end of summer newsletter.  Also in the summer, my life is busy officiating at weddings.  These include many community weddings, as well as some hockey related ones.  I ask for your prayers for these wonderful opportunities to represent Jesus.

Finally, I would ask you to pray about the finances of this ministry, for myself personally and also for the two chapel programs that I run.  My costs are about $1000/season for chapels on each hockey club, the Warriors and also the Kelowna Jr. B Chiefs.  (although this year with 15 Warriors chapels, that number was more like $1500)  Additionally, I am also in need of personal donations to help my own salary finances through Hockey Ministries. If you know of anyone or feel that you could respond to this, please let me know.

Thank you for reading this rambling epistle today, I do trust that you have been encouraged by it.  You truly are a blessing and an encouragement to me.

• HMI Hockey Camp (Williams Lake – July 17-22)
• Many summer weddings
• For the new chaplain in Port Alberni
• For teams with new coaches
• For sponsorship of West Kelowna chapel program
• For sponsorship of Rutland chapel program
• For my own personal missionary support

All for Jesus,

Don Richmond

Hockey Ministries International

Pacific Region

I’m glad to be able to send you another quick update on the things that are going on in the HMI Pacific ministry world.  The first two month of 2016 have had some great adventures!  Here is a quick read of the latest……

In December, the BC Hockey League re-introduced their new and improved website, along with every team’s website in the league. While that is an awesome improvement, it had an impact on chaplaincy ministry with my team, the West Kelowna Warriors.  I have written a blog for a few years now called Chaplain’s Talk, and I was so pumped to be allowed to have it included on the Warriors website, but with the new website improvements from the league, Chaplain’s Talk no longer had a home.  I was a bit stumped, but the Lord wasn’t, for He is so very Faithful!  After a few conversations and prayers, Chaplain’s Talk is back on the Warriors website!  In fact, it is more visible that ever.  If you would like to check it out, just go to the website, http://www.westkelownawarriors.ca/ and you can find Chaplain’s Talk in a big box on the right hand column.  I am so thankful to the Lord for this improved opportunity to share my faith in Christ Jesus.

In late January, a Hockey Ministries supporter chatted with me and offered his Phoenix, AZ home to Lorraine and I, rent-free for 10 days!  What a wonderfully generous offer that was!  Well, it didn’t take a whole lot of convincing us, so on January 20 we flew to Phoenix. We had such a great time, touring not only the Phoenix area but up north to Sedona and the Grand Canyon.  I was able to visit a former Warriors player who regularly came to chapel, and who now plays for the Arizona State Sun Devils hockey club.  I attended his game and was able to have a good chat with him afterwards.

Lorraine and I connected with some good friends in Surprise AZ, who kindly took us to an Arizona Coyotes NHL game in Glendale.  One morning we had great brunch with Brent and Carly Gough and their little boy Greysin.  Brent is a former Assistant Coach of the West Kelowna Warriors who now runs a hockey program in Scottsdale.  We came home very refreshed, with fabulous memories of wonderful friends, beautiful desert walks, breathtaking mountains and much more.

I serve as the Chaplain of the Kelowna Chiefs Junior hockey club as well as the West Kelowna Warriors.  When I arrived home from Phoenix, I was able to go on a short road trip with the team when they played the 100 Mile House Wranglers. I love hockey road trips!  They are such an opportunity to connect with coaches, staff and players.  I am thankful to Chiefs Coaches Jason Tansem and Lenny Rampone for allowing me to be a part of that trip.

In early February, Lorraine and I planned and hosted a Warriors Coaches & leadership dinner at a local restaurant.  The event was well attended that night, attended by the team owner and his wife, the head coach and his girlfriend, the assistant coach and his wife, the director of business operations and his wife, the athletic therapist and his wife, the team photographer, and more.  We had a fabulous evening that night!  I truly feel that these are the kinds of things that I am called to do, to be an integral part of my hockey people’s real lives; to do far more than showing up at the arena for chapel time and then disappearing.  A huge part of chaplaincy is to build trusted relationships with people that we are showing Christ’s love to.

On February 19 in West Kelowna, we held our 7th Annual Warriors Faith Night. This home game night is a perfect time to celebrate the chapel program, as well as honour the Lord and the local Christian community.  The arena was filled with Christian people from around the area and the atmosphere that evening was absolutely electric.  Pastors from around the area were on the ice for a short game of boot hockey, three pastors sang the National Anthem, and then later we tossed prizes out into the crowd from the back of a pick-up truck!  This year’s Faith Night was one of the best ever!  That night carried with it the ‘aroma of Christ’. (2 Corinthians 2:15)

Late in February we held our annual Warriors Post -Game Awards Ceremony, where I was asked to present 2 Awards, the Humanitarian and the Chapel Program Award.  OF course, this is a huge honour to be included in such a meaningful post-game ceremony.

Finally, I am including a few pictures as I visit some of the HMI chaplains around BC as well as faithful people who consistently help me out along the way. In one picture you’ll see our Langley chaplain Jordan Bateman with UBC Thunderbirds chaplain Simon Gau and in another, the Trail chaplain Bruce Taylor with the Smoke Eaters Goaltender Bailey MacBurnie.  Also I am including a picture of long time friends and HMI Pacific supporters Mike and Sheila Davis from Trail.

To all you good people who throw your support in many ways behind this ministry…. thanks so very much for your prayers, your love and your giving.

All for Jesus,

Don Richmond

Hockey Ministries International

Pacific Region