Story by: Cristina Sellers
Photos by: David Duchin and Cristina Sellers

Richardson Hockey hosted its annual banquet April 27 at Canyon Creek Country Club with players, coaches and families from the 2007-08 Varsity and Junior Varsity Richardson Rampage teams. The teams represent RISD and the Richardson community in the AT&T High School Hockey League. Both Rampage teams combined for 43 wins, 6 losses and 2 overtime losses making the most successful year ever for Richardson Hockey.

The Varsity team finished second in the Varsity Silver league and was a playoff and state tournament semifinalist. The Junior Varsity team finished second in the Junior Varsity Silver Eastern Conference and advanced to the Eastern Conference finals.

The Varsity team was coached by Jim Liebo, Michael Darbe and Steve Tucker. The players on the 2007-08 team were: Alex Aiello, Tyler Barrett, Trey Caldwell, Steven Duchin, Jonathan Fenton, Mikey Gattus, Gerame Green, Ben Haase, Preston Martinez, Carder McCoy, Reed Moore, Nick Sellers, Michael Spanos, Jonathan Von Spreecken, Clay Werner, Jason White, and Brandon Youngblood.

The Junior Varsity team was coached my Mike Steele, Chris Holton, Jacob Steele and Jonathan Beck. The players on the 2007-08 team were: JP Billingsley, Patrick Ford, Eric Flemister, Kyle Gabel, David Gwinn, Mason Harrington, Trent Hendricks, Alex Laric, Joel Mash, Sean Nance, David Rachuig, Wade Ray, Brian Rockwell, Will Seger, Eric Stollon, Justin Von Spreecken, Kyle Williams, and Michael Wren.

The five graduating seniors honored at the banquet were Steven Duchin, JJ Pearce; Preston Martinez, Berkner; Nick Sellers, JJ Pearce; Michael Spanos, JJ Pearce; and Clay Werner, Lake Highlands. Special awards were presented to Duchin for leadership and Sellers as scholar-athlete for their outstanding achievements on and off the ice. Sellers was also recently named to the Dallas Morning News All-Area Varsity Silver team.

The association will host an open house/skate on Sunday May 18 at 2 pm at the Ice Training Center, 200 Centennial Blvd, Richardson for all interested ice hockey players entering grades 8-12. Tryouts for the 2008-09 teams will be held in August. Visit the web site for more information about the teams and these upcoming events: www.richardsonhockey.org.

Submitted by Cristina Sellers, outgoing President of the Richardson Youth Hockey Association.