A Richmond hockey coach will be coaching his 2,000th career game later this month.
Richmond Ravens Female U18 A1 coach AJ Sander will be facing the Tri-City Predators on Dec. 17 in Coquitlam – reaching a remarkable milestone in his extensive and successful coaching career that started 43 years ago.
“It’s kind of surreal that it’s been that many years and that many games now,” he told the Richmond News.
In fact, he's been in the game for so long that he’s coached the daughters of some of the players he coached in the minors.
Sander started as an assistant coach for the Richmond Minor Hockey Association in 1983, taking his first position as head coach in 1988 and coaching more than 1,000 games until 2007, when he joined the Richmond Ravens.
His teams have participated in the provincials 16 times and have won a total of 13 medals.
The competitiveness of the game isn’t the only thing Sander loves about coaching; it’s also the to chance to shape the development of young adult players who are in a pivotal stage in their lives.
Since joining the Ravens in 2007, he’s reached the provincial championship finals nine times and won the title five times with the club’s rep program – the last one being in 2018.
Next season, he’ll be looking to reach his 1,000th game milestone with the Ravens.
Sander’s Ravens were also awarded four silver medals and three bronze medals at the provincials, winning a bronze medal at the championship last season.
Like in everything in life, there’s ups and downs – the Ravens sailed through some rough waters in the past, missing the provincials twice.
“They were tough seasons,” said Sander. “The talent pool had changed a little bit, but those seasons made me more motivated to come back and right the ship.”
Another unique aspect that keeps him motivated is not having the same team every season but still trying to achieve the same goals.
“Each of these players only gets one opportunity as a team to win a provincial title,” he said.
In his last 18 seasons as Ravens coach, Sander has been recognized for various coaching awards, including being inducted into the Richmond Sports Wall of Fame in 2018 and awarded B.C. Hockey’s Fred Heslop minor hockey award in 2019.
Throughout his career, he has also won the Pacific Coast Amateur Hockey Association’s coach of the year award twice.
This season, Sander is focused on reaching the provincials once again – he's also looking forward to sticking around for a few more years and reaching at least the 20th season mark with the Ravens.
“I don't think anybody at any level has coached the same team as long as I have; so there's that motivation,” he said.
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