A year and a half ago, Rylan Ferster coached the West Kelowna Warriors to its first-ever RBC Cup, emblematic of the Canadian junior A hockey championship.
Nearly three decades earlier, he was a key member of the Vernon Lakers team that won the same national title, then called the Centennial Cup.
As is often the case in sports, both victories were commemorated with irreplaceable and sentimental championship rings.
On Saturday, those rings were stolen when Ferster’s truck was broken into outside of his house near Kelowna General Hospital (KGH).
“It’s not common practice for me to leave them (in the truck), of course, that’s what everyone’s probably thinking,” Ferster told KelownaNow.
“I was showing them to a friend and I had forgotten them in there. They weren’t in sight, they were in the console.”
When his girlfriend first told Ferster about the break-in, he wasn’t too concerned about losing a couple of pairs of sunglasses, some change and other small stuff.
It hit him later in the day that he had left the rings in the truck and when he rushed out to check the truck, he realized they were gone.
Ferster says he already looked into a few ways to replace the 2016 Warriors ring, which may be possible, but that will prove a lot more difficult with the 1990 championship ring.
“I won it as a player in 1990 and that’s the one that’s really special because that’s the one that’s going to be really hard to replace,” said Ferster.
“The tough thing is that I promised one each to my daughters, I have twin daughters who are 12-years old and they both have picked one already that they get, so that’s the tough thing.”
It’s been a tough few days for Ferster, but he says the response from the community has been amazing and overwhelming.
He wanted to give a shout out to Global’s Klaudia Van Emmerik, who convinced a reluctant Ferster to go public with the story, as well as his very good friend Troy Mick whose post about the theft has been shared over a hundred times on Facebook.
If you have any information on the whereabouts of the ring or if you saw anything suspicious on Francis street near KGH on Saturday night, call the Kelowna RCMP.
Ferster says he's been too busy with the Warriors this week to think of an exact reward, but if anyone can help him get the rings back they will surely be compensated.
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