Sheffield, Ray

BORN OCTOBER 26TH 1970 to Franklin and Jasmine in Collingwood Ontario Canada, the Sheffield family of Collingwood traces its ancestry there back six generations, and family members have been active in sports since they first arrived in the 1850s. He played minor hockey locally and in 1989 and ’90 he was a forward with the Collingwood Blues in the COJHL and the Creemore Chiefs in a league that features many ex-National Hockey League players.

He followed his girlfriend to Newcastle Australia in 2000 and, although the relationship eventually ended, his love affair with the city and the North Stars Ice Hockey Club endured. Sponsored by the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium as rink manager, he was a foundation player with the club when they entered the Australian Ice Hockey League in 2002.

He became club captain in 2003 and led the North Stars to their first championship that year. "Never thought I would be the champion of a country," he posted on the Sheffield-Lowe family website back home. "Cool, eh? Finished with 1 goal and 2 assists in the final".

Three more Cups followed in 2005, '06 and '08. He played in a total of 259 games for Newcastle, including 9 finals over 13 straight seasons — 2002 to ’14 — with 11 as captain. In that time, he averaged 0.64 points per game and captained more games than any other player in AIHL history. In 2015, the club retired Number 19 and raised his jersey at the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium before a capacity crowd.

In 2007, he was equipment manager for the National Senior Team in the IIHF World Championships Division II Group B tournament in Seoul, where the Mighty Roos won Silver. A player-assistant coach for Newcastle in 2010 and ’11, he represented Australia as Assistant Coach for the Division 1 World Championships in Poland in 2012, against South Korea, Netherlands, Lithuania, Poland and Roumania. The same year, he played with his club in the inaugural Trans Tasman Champions League.

In 2016, he returned to the North Stars as an Assistant Coach and won his fifth Goodall Cup. In 2017, he was still coach of the Club's Mites program. He married Belinda Callaway in 2007 and they have three children — Isaiah, Nathaniel and Monique.

The Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame in Ontario, Canada, welcomed Ray Sheffield as an enshrined member of Collingwood’s sporting history on Saturday, May 13, 2023.