By Chris MacNeill
 

The Flames organization has undergone some major changes since the close of last season; one of those significant changes is the acquisition of new ownership.  After 25 years of being at the helm Ray and Sue Stonehouse have handed over the reins to a group of five new owners.  On behalf of all of the people involved over the years – Thank-you Ray and Sue, it has been a great journey filled and fueled at times by lots of emotions.  Our Ridge Meadows Flames are here for our community to enjoy because of the enormous hard work, dedication and passion given by you.  Throughout the years Ray and Sue have proven to be leaders with integrity and spirit within the Junior B League.

The Flames were the first to:

• To engage a DJ – Vito Natola.  Vito has been with the Flames since day one, at the North Shore Winter Club and when the Flames moved to Maple Ridge so did Vito.  Without a doubt he is the best announcer and DJ in the league!     

• To engage a singer to sing our National Anthem – Tara Crowther was the first person to sing the Anthem before every home game in our Junior B league.

• 1998 The Flames won all three titles- becoming the only Pacific International Junior Hockey League team to win a Western Canadian championship.

• 1998 The Flames went undefeated at the Westerns.

• To attend the Western Canadian Championships three times and come home with medals.

• The first Junior B team in our league to win a Bronze medal (which I might add that our own assistant coach Tavis Eaton scored the first goal towards attaining that medal)

• The first also to win the Silver and the Gold at the Western Championships level.

• To date The Flames have been the only organization in our league to bring home the Gold.

I have always wanted to write an article titled, Once A Flame Always A Flame because we have had people who played for the Flames at the North Shore Winter Club come out to watch their sons play for the Ridge Meadows Flames.  One player – Jason Bloom was quoted on November 3,2000 as saying, “My dad used to play for this team when they were in North Vancouver, back in the days when they were the North Shore Flames.  He was the first person to win The Most Valuable Defensemen Award and I won it last year, so I looked at the trophy and sure enough his name was there.” It just goes to show what an outstanding reputation the Flames Organization has held throughout time.  One player attending UBC was asked to create a picture of his life using something that depicted his most memorable achievements and although this person played for another team after leaving the Flames organization – it was the Flames Jersey that made the cut! 

It must have been difficult for Ray and Sue to pass the Flames Organization onto someone else however I do believe they did it for the right reasons and I do believe that our new owners had to have something that Ray saw as being exceptional in order for them to purchase the team. 

It gives me great pleasure to tell you that Ray has been appointed Vice President of the League and Sue with her amazing organizational skills will be the League Scheduler.