11/26/2025
Thank you to Canucks for Kids Fund, the Vancouver Canucks and the Aquilini family, who have generously donated $10000 to our team, and invited us to a game. They hosted a gabulous lunch for us at Marilena Cafe & Raw Bar!
Please watch the news tonight for the story.
Here’s a snippet from today’s Times Colonist (FB does not allow us to link directly to news outlets):
Gus Ascroft, general manager and co-founder of the club, said media reports about the theft sparked an outpouring of support and donations large and small, some from as far away as Gatineau, Quebec. The money was enough to replace the stolen gear and to cover three years of the club’s operating cost, Ascroft said.
Sean Tackaberry from Kirby’s Source for Sports, a sports equipment store in Saanich, is donating a set of junior goalie gear, and the store also reached out to Bauer, a hockey-equipment manufacturer, which has agreed to donate another set, Ascroft said.
In addition, the Canucks for Kids Fund is donating $10,000. Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini has arranged for the Ravens to meet some pro hockey players on Tuesday at Marilena, a restaurant in downtown Victoria owned by the Aquilini family, where the team will be served a free meal, Ascroft said. The Aquilini family also invited the team to see a Canucks home game in Vancouver next year, he said. “It’s been pretty awesome.”
With the extra money, Ascroft is hoping to expand the club and start a beginner’s program for youth with developmental disabilities.
“We’ve got lots of six-year-olds that are coming out who don’t know how to skate,” he said.
The club, founded in 2012, had to cap registration for its junior team for the first time this year due to increased demand.
On Sunday, the Juan De Fuca Recreation Centre was filled with cheers, whoops from supporters and players as the Ravens kicked off a fresh season on the ice. The locker room during the switch-out between the Ravens’ minor and adult teams was a mix of parents and grandparents helping to peel kids out of their hockey gear. The kids excitedly shared their exploits on the ice against the Rack-A-Tiers, also known as the Old Chiefs, and chattered about the rest of the day’s plans.
Barry Moore, who plays with the Rack-A-Tiers, fist bumped the kids as they walked down a hallway toward the exit.
Moore said his team has played against the Ravens for more than 15 years. “They were all just little kids [then] … we’ve been doing it long enough to see all the kids get older and improve,” he said.
Nick Pfiefer, a volunteer with the Ravens, said it’s important that there’s a space for people like his 26-year-old younger brother Michael to play hockey. The club acts as a support group for families that have children or adults who have high needs and require full-time supervision, like his brother, he said.
Olivia Trotter, another volunteer, said the Ravens and the teams the club plays against take care to include everyone in the game, regardless of skating ability. Those who are still learning to skate hang out near the goal, where other players will pass them the puck for them to try and score, she said. Trotter said the Ravens are excited to play next week against a group of firefighters who have formed a hockey team.
The Victoria Fire Fighters Association is expected to play against the Ravens on Nov. 3.
