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Family foundation builds college futures off lost son's passion for hockey
The Jason Ritchie Foundation has given $1.6 million to students who play hockey since 2009.
Author: Bobby Lewis
LUTZ, Fla — Kiley Robles chuckled as she watched her golf ball dribble down the fairway. Her friends all smiled as Robles shrugged her shoulders.
Golf isn’t her sport.
Robles is a freshman studying health sciences at the University of Vermont. She also plays on the club hockey team in college. Neither might have been possible without the generosity of a family foundation.
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“This thing started very, very small. We went from raising $22,000 in our first year and this year to raising $316,000,” said Bob Ritchie, co-founder of the Jason Ritchie Hockey Foundation. “Cumulatively, since 2009, our little foundation has raised $1.6 million.”
The numbers are staggering for the decade-old foundation. In 2009, Bob and his wife, Donna, started the foundation after the death of their son.
“May 1, 2009,” Donna recalled, seated in front of a large banner bearing the foundation logo. “Jason was coming home from a hockey game. A single-car accident. We think he fell asleep.”
Jason Ritchie was 22 when he died. Now, an annual golf tournament established by the foundation draws so much money, that his passion for hockey is passed on in many ways.
“This is a cornerstone event,” Bob said from the back porch of the TPC Tampa Bay clubhouse, overlooking the 18th green. “It’s a legacy event for us. You see 40 sports legends come out here to donate their time and raise money. It really has become an anchor event for the foundation.”
The Ritchie Hockey Foundation aims to get kids interested in hockey or help them continue to play the game. It also establishes scholarships for hockey players to attend college. In ten years, the foundation has seen recipients go on to become pilots, a U.S. Marine and a female professional hockey player.
Dozens of professional athletes from across the NFL, MLB, and NHL gathered to play 18 holes in support of the Ritchie Hockey Foundation Friday morning.
“You know, it all goes back to hockey obviously and their story is a story that we want to be part of,” said former Tampa Bay Lightning captain and Stanley Cup champion Dave Andreychuk.
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He and another Lightning alumni, Brian Bradley, Adam Hall, Ruslan Fedotenko, and Jassen Cullimore, among others, were part of the hockey contingent who took part in the event. Past scholarship recipients played alongside Robles.
“I got to play with them last year,” said Cullimore, who played for the Lightning from 1997 to 2004. “I got to hear how important this is to them.”
The Ritchie Foundation has a partnership with the Tampa Bay Lightning. “Guide the Thunder” program, of which Cullimore serves as a coach.
Thursday night, the foundation hosted a baseball skills clinic at the University of Tampa. On Saturday, it will offer a free hockey clinic for kids in Wesley Chapel.
The main focus is scholarships and helping kids get to college.
“It’s just such a powerful message that I think it’s easy to see why so many people have gravitated towards it,” said Hall.
Robles agrees.
“It helped my family financially and just to know that I am a part of the Richie family now is amazing,” she said. “They will do anything for you.”
It’s what Jason would have wanted.
“We hope we’re doing Jason proud, more importantly, allowing the next generation to succeed,” said his dad with a smile.
Rozner: Why Hawks new goalie is more than an expensive insurance policy
Another lob wedge was preparing to come up short late Monday afternoon when the phone began to buzz.
The surprise isn't that the short game is dreadful, not given the terrible weather and course conditions the last few months. No need to blame operator error, not with excuses available and plentiful.
No, the surprise was that it didn't storm for a day, if you'll forgive the usual digression.
Perhaps equally shocking was the reason for all the alerts, emails and texts on what was looking like a quiet afternoon locally on the first day of NHL free agency.
The Blackhawks had signed a Vezina-worthy goaltender for one season and $5 million, the addition of Robin Lehner about as unexpected as they come.
With Corey Crawford entering the final year of his deal, that's $11 million in goal for the 2019-20 season.
Did not see that coming.
The Hawks won't have the most expensive net in the league next year, not with Carey Price at $10.5 million in Montreal and Sergei Bobrovsky signing with Florida for an extraordinary $10 million annually.
And when you think about it today, Crawford is cheap as a two-time Cup champ and $6 million, called expensive a few years ago and now a bargain -- relative to the league -- if Crawford were healthy and playing 60 games.
Still, it's a lot of cash invested in that spot, albeit the most important spot on the ice.
So as the foursome digested the news -- and beverages of various sorts -- we pondered the possibilities, none bigger than this:
What do the Hawks know about Crawford that they're not telling us?
If they know anything, they're not saying, but even if they don't it's a wise move because the last two years are a reminder that Crawford isn't likely to make it through a season, in which case they better have a legit option in net so they don't flush another season.
Furthermore, it's only a one-year deal on Lehner so it doesn't cause a future cap squeeze.
Should they have used that available cap space to further improve outside the goal? That's a fair question.
The answer is they probably would have had they found a short-term deal for a player they believed was better than what they have.
There also has to be mutual interest, and most of the older veteran scorers on cheaper and shorter deals went to teams they believe are more certain of returning to the postseason.
"We're in a good position with the cap," said GM Stan Bowman. "We have a pretty full roster now. Whether we start camp (this way) or tweak a few things, we've come a long way in the last month.
"We're a much, much better team and we're well positioned to have a good season. As far as money spent on goal, it's the most important position in the game.
"Looking back the last few years, it's been hard to weather the storm when injuries are part of the game.
"I feel comfortable going into next season, whether Corey Crawford's in net or Robin Lehner's in net. We have two high-end goaltenders, we've improved our defense and made changes up front.
"I'm very optimistic about where we're headed."
Best case is Crawford -- who should have won the Conn Smythe twice -- stays healthy and plays like he's capable. If that's the case, you have to like the Hawks' chances of getting back to the tournament.
If he's not the Crawford of old and is merely an old Crawford, then they have a No. 1 ready to go and that also gives them a real chance to have a good season.
It's more than an expensive insurance policy. It tells you there's real fear within the Hawks' front office that Crawford won't survive another season.
In that regard, Lehner makes plenty of sense on a one-year deal, regardless of what the Hawks know -- and might not be telling us.
