Discover the spirit of Island Riptide Hockey

Learn about our passion for the game, our unique approach to player development, and the dedicated team that makes Island Riptide Hockey an unforgettable experience for young athletes in Victoria, British Columbia. 

Our unique approach to hockey development

What makes Island Riptide Hockey different? Head Coach Ty Miller focuses on finding the balance between disciplined hard work and the inherent fun of playing the game. We believe kids are often pressured to get too serious too soon. Our program prioritizes development while maintaining the joy of hockey. If 50% of our kids are still playing at age 60, we consider that a true success.

The passion behind Island Riptide Hockey

Island Riptide Hockey began with the vision of offering a high-quality, yet affordable, alternative for spring hockey. Our inaugural season with the 2013 team was incredibly successful, securing gold and silver in our first two tournaments, and even defeating a 2012 team in exhibition. Beyond the victories and lower fees, the most rewarding feedback was hearing that our players had the most fun they'd ever experienced playing hockey bonding with players they usually have competed against. That passion for fun and development continues to drive us.

Meet our Coach

Our Head Coach is Ty Miller. He grew up playing Minor Hockey on Vancouver Island until he left at age 15 to go play AAA U15 in Saskatchewan. He continued his journey through to playing Junior Hockey and being a part of hockey as a player or coach for over 40 years. Through his time, he was fortunate enough to be coached by some of the best, including Canadian Coach of the Year, Barry Archibald and the legend himself, Howie Meeker. He is known for his dynamic practices keeping the kids engaged while focusing on the details of each players skillset and hockey IQ. He is also known for his unique sense of humour often catching the kids off guard with his surprising questions and wit. Island Riptide hockey will always be about having fun through the hard work.

Team Staff

Head Coach, Ty Miller, relies on several other people and could not be successful without this group as they all provide incredible support to the Island Riptide. 

For the 2026 Season: 

Assistant Coaches: Tristan Hall, Gary Hui and Ted Friefeld. 

These coaches brought an incredible amount of experience and unique contributions to the success of our team.

Tristan focused on the details. The 'Why are we doing this' part of each drill and ensured the level of effort required was being met. He was also a large part of the motivation talks during our games and always kept the referees inline!

Gary was the thoughtful coach. Always looking at different approaches, line changes, strategies. An absolute necessity in tight games where we need to make a change. 

Ted was our goalie guru, focusing primarily on supporting our goaltenders. He brought a laid back attitude allowing players to feel comfortable with him. He was a big reason our goalies enjoyed attending our practices and helped them be ready for the season. 

In the background was Vic Gervais. A 15-year professional hockey player who has coached high level hockey for decades including being the Assistant coach for the Victoria Grizzlies in the BCHL.  He is the skills and special teams coach for the Island Spring Hockey teams.

The manager is Daniel Hutchinson. The real reason this program exists. He was the motion behind starting it up, managing communications, branding, ice time booking, exhibition games, tournaments, logo design, uniforms and a million other things to ensure we were successful. 

"My child's hockey IQ and skills have improved dramatically, and they love coming to practice!"

A delighted parent from our 2013 team