HOME

Retired Numbers

Number: 37

Player: Richie Hargreaves

In a career spanning a quarter of a decade, Richie has done pretty much all you could do in British hockey. Beginning his career with the Cardiff Rage in the British Hockey League in 1997, Rich went on to play nearly a century of games in the Elite League for Basingstoke Bison, London Racers & Cardiff Devils. Richie also represented Great Britain after his 00/01 season where he led the EPIHL in scoring by British players whilst playing on the Isle of Wight. Richie also had a short stint in Canada playing for the Shelburne Wolves. In the 04/05 season which saw the NHL lockout occur, Richie iced alongside Scott Nichol and Eric Cairns who played 662 & 457 times respectively in the NHL.

After winning the EPIHL play-offs with the Slough Jets in the 07/08 season, Richie looked for a new challenge, and started putting the wheels in motion to bring hockey back to Bristol. After a season as player/coach in Oxford, the Bristol Pitbulls were founded. In the opening season, Richie amassed over three points per game, leading his new team to the ENL2 title in a side featuring current Pitbulls Steve Osman, Mike Hargreaves & John Dibble. Richie averaged over a point per game every year until 2016-17, including the 2014-15 season, where the Pitbulls won the NIHL2 West Conference and then doubled up by winning the play-offs.

After years of playing on the road in multiple different home rinks, Richie finally managed to get the Pitbulls a home in Bristol, for what is his last season as a player. As of this announcement, Rich has pulled on a Pitbulls jersey a record 308 times (11 more than brother Mike), scoring 141 goals (3rd all time), recording 304 assists (1st all time) & totalling 445 points (1st all time). Those who know Rich don’t need to be told he also leads the franchise in penalty minutes, having picked up 1100 of them. With a potential four more games to come, Richie has played 831 career games, scored 286 goals, notched up 571 assists and accumulated 2424 penalty minutes.