Music: {allcanada} RICHARDSON TAKES REIGNS FOR B-SENS

Friday, September 28, 2012

{allcanada} RICHARDSON TAKES REIGNS FOR B-SENS

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The Ottawa Citizen writes that Luke and Stephanie Richardson, who dealt so courageously with the suicide of their 14-year-old daughter, Daron, in Nov. 2010 and inspired a movement that continues to draw necessary attention to mental health awareness, are comfortably settling into a new chapter of their life. A mere slapshot away from their rented loft sits the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena, where Luke is beginning his professional head coaching career as the bench boss of the American Hockey League's Binghamton Senators, the top minor league affiliate of the Ottawa Senators. While National Hockey League fans are suffering from withdrawal, he says, "I don't have that same kind of disappointment because I've got some fresh minds to work with."

Meanwhile, the couple's 18-year-old daughter, Morgan, is only an hour down the road, attending the college of arts and sciences and playing hockey in her first semester at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. Call it a lucky coincidence. Morgan was accepted at Cornell several months before former Binghamton head coach Kurt Kleinendorst had stepped down, leaving the job vacant.

At the same time, the Richardsons remain close to their true home in Ottawa. Stephanie plans to make monthly trips back, catching up with family and friends and continuing to champion the Do It for Daron campaign.

"The family of the Sens made a big difference," she says of the move. "I don't know if it had been a different (organization), you would feel so embraced already. They really are family. Unfortunately, there's an NHL lockout, but that just means that all of our hockey friends are going to come down and see us and the B-Sens more. We rented a big place. We knew they would be coming."

There's also comfort in knowing that the Binghamton community is aware of the family's tragedy and fully supportive of D.I.F.D. initiatives.

Former Senators player Cody Bass, now in the Columbus Blue Jackets organization, was instrumental in the cause. "They did some things right away," Stephanie says. "Cody Bass was with Binghamton at the time and he had lived with us when he played in Ottawa. It was very challenging, obviously, for us, but also for Cody. And the community was incredible. They embraced him and they did a lot of awareness. It's pretty remarkable."

The Richardsons have been involved in previous mental health events in Binghamton and the team is considering a Do It For Daron night during a game this season.

The movement remains strong in Ottawa. Last week, a luncheon for parents to discuss childhood mental health issues drew a standing-room-only crowd of 600. The Ontario Hockey League has partnered with the cause. Plans are in place for a "Purple Power Section" — Daron's favourite colour — at the women's world championships at Scotiabank Place in April. The Ontario Women's Hockey Association will put a spotlight on mental health awareness when Ottawa hosts the provincial girls hockey championships next spring.

"We're also working on an initiative, that we hope to announce in November, that will help educate children internationally," Stephanie says. "It includes a major bank and a private donor in Toronto. That will be neat, because we have something to educate the kids right here (in Binghamton)."

That all helps explain why the couple is settling in here so easily.

"It all seems right," says Luke, wearing three purple D.I.F.D. Wristbands and sporting purple running shoes.

"Let's just hope the hockey falls into place."