While he may now live halfway across the world, the little town of Collingwood will always have a special place in Raymond Sheffield’s heart.
For this week’s edition of People of Collingwood we spoke with Sheffield, 51, 2022 inductee to the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame.
Q: For how long did you live in Collingwood?
A: I was born and raised in Collingwood and lived there until I was 25.
Q: What schools did you attend growing up?
A: I attended Cameron Street Public School from kindergarten, then in later elementary years moved over to Mountain View Public School. I went to Collingwood Collegiate Institute for five years and Seneca College in Toronto after that.
Q: Can you talk about your experiences in hockey locally growing up? What attracted you to the sport, and when did you first start playing?
A: I started skating and playing hockey on outdoor rinks at the corners of Sixth and Oak Street and Sixth and Maple Street with all the other neighbourhood kids. That’s when I fell in love with it.
When I started school I would spend my time skating on the rink that was built at Cameron Street school. We skated at recess, lunch time, recess again, then we would go home and come back later to play a game.
I didn’t start playing in an organized league until I was about eight years old. I played for Goodyear, and it was atoms.
We lost the championship game and I think the urge to win and not lose again was what drew me in even further.
Q: Eventually, you moved on from Collingwood to Australia to play. When did that happen, and how did that come about?
A: I moved out west to Vancouver from 1995 to 2000. Prior to that while attending CCI, I became good friends with a girl from Australia.
In 2000, she asked me to move over there.
I was working at a hockey shop in Vancouver and it just so happened that they were building a new rink in Newcastle, Australia where she lived. They needed someone to run the pro shop, and she spoke to the people involved, and the next thing I knew, I was on a plane to Sydney.
It took a couple of years for a team to be established in the national league. I played for 13 years in that league.
I was assistant coach for a few years after I finished playing. I was also part of the staff for the Australian national team for about five years.
Q: Do you still play there?
A: I still play now but just locally or in tournaments with friends.
Q: How do you keep busy now?
A: Most of my time now is spent running my kids back and forth to the rink or coaching their teams in tournaments.
I’ve recently started doing announcing for the games and doing the colour commentary for the TV broadcasts. I really love it. I’ve always loved watching games so it kind of suits me.
Q: When you found out you were being inducted to the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame, how did you feel?
A: As a kid growing up in Collingwood, I remember going upstairs in the rink and always looking at the photos on the wall for people I knew. I never thought that I would, one day, be in one of those photos.
To describe the feeling of being inducted in to Collingwood’s Sports Hall of Fame for playing a sport that I love isn’t easy for me. I get teary thinking about it because Collingwood is where hockey began for me. It holds a deep, deep place in my heart.
Q: Do you ever miss living in Collingwood? If so, what do you miss about it?
A: I recently made the trip back home, and every time I do it makes me want to move back there. I did a lot of walking around, and when you’re away for a while, you really notice how beautiful it is.
I really miss that, I really miss the people and I really miss snow.
Q: Is there anything else you'd like people in Collingwood to know about you?
A: I would like thank everyone that supported me over the years. All the messages, the likes on Facebook, the phone calls – that’s why Collingwood is Collingwood.
I love it!
For our feature People of Collingwood, we’ll be speaking with interesting people who are either from or are contributing to the Collingwood community in some way, letting them tell their own stories in their own words. This feature will run on CollingwoodToday every weekend. If you’d like to nominate or suggest someone to be featured in People of Collingwood, email [email protected].
