Photo credit: RocketFAN

By Regan Bartel

Roy Lycar: 30 years as an usher

Rockets volunteer has passion for the team and giving back

Mar 12, 2024 | 8:00 AM

Without dedicated volunteers, junior hockey teams across Canada would have a hard time operating.

The Kelowna Rockets have some of the best, offering countless hours to help the game-night operation of the Western Hockey League franchise.

Roy Lycar has been an usher for 30 years, first starting when the team relocated from Tacoma, Washington to Kelowna, BC for the start of the 1995-96 season.

“I was looking for volunteer jobs in the community, and I wanted one where I could make an impact on people,” he told RocketFAN. “As the [Kelowna] Spartans left, the Rockets came to town. I put my name in right away, or my wife kicked me out of the house, and I love it. I love hockey. I played in high school, and I like getting to know the young players. They are always the same age. I only miss a game if there is a family get-together, but outside of that I don’t miss many.”

Lycar admits his usher duties have changed since the team moved from Memorial Arena on Ellis Street to Prospera Place on Water Street.

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“There [Memorial Arena] we had to kick people out,” Lycar said with a grin. “We were more security back then, as people would try to come through the side-doors to get in. The game was much different. All ten players would be fighting at the same time, and sometimes the goaltenders, but not as much now.”

Lycar had the privilege of being in the building in 1999 when a shiny and new Skyreach Place first opened its doors, with the Rockets beating the visiting Prince George Cougars.

“I remember the full houses for the first couple of years,” he added. “We need more fans to come out and support this team.

“I was also a volunteer at the 2004 Memorial Cup. I remember Kelly Guard and when the national anthem was sung, and all the fans yelled out ‘Guard’ when we stand on guard for thee. When the American anthem is sung and they [fans] yell out ‘Rockets’, those are the things I remember most.”

Lycar’s official title is ‘guest services’ and is one of between 24 and 26 volunteers that show up with a smile on their face for 34 home games during the regular season.

“I watch most of the game,” he said with his eyes lighting up. “Quite often I miss the goals because people are coming in, but I can see them on the big video screen on replay. I often tell people who are asking me a question, just wait a second, was it Andrew Cristall who scored again?,” he said with a chuckle.

Lycar has met so many great people over the years, allowing him to create a common bond with many who come to appreciate the Rockets as much as he does.

“If I miss a game, they ask me, where were you? I have a lot of good friends that have come and gone watching games. Plus, in the winter it gets me out of the house, and when I walk around town, I bump into people who ask me, where do I know you from? I tell them Rockets games, and it is a bit of a connection I have with even people I don’t know well.”

While connecting with seniors, he finds great joy in introducing new fans to Kelowna’s most popular team.

“I teach kids at Christian schools around Kelowna, and they love it,” he said. “They can tell me the names of the players because they interact with those students on player visits. It gets them interested in coming out to see the Rockets and two of my special education students were at a game for the first time with their families and loved it.”

Like any hockey fan, Lycar remembers the great teams over the bad ones.

“We had some great players that are now in the NHL, he said. “I try to follow a lot of them as much as possible. I remember [Dillon] Dube, [Leon] Driasaitl, and the captain of the Dallas Stars, Jamie Benn, which I have a big poster of him on the wall in my room.”

While offering his time to support and watch the team he admires, Lycar says there are some perks to the job.

“We have coffee and Timbits when we arrive on game nights at around 5:30 pm, he commented. “At the last game of the month, we all get pizza from Papa Johns, and we get to have dinner with the players this week. It is very nice that Anne-Marie Hamilton [Marketing Director and Game Day Operations] allows us to meet the team. Two or three [players] will sit at our table and we get to know more about their lives.”

When Lycar is asked who his favourite player is, he doesn’t hesitate with his answer.

“I like Andrew Cristall,” he says.

When it comes to the people he meets and greets, most are all-stars in his eyes.

“I get to meet the billets of the players and parents or grandparents that have flown in to watch the game.

“It is great volunteering for the Rockets. I hope I can do it for a few more years, as I am getting up there.”