Richard Garvey has helped build the GCU Roller Hockey program into one of the most successful in the country as he enters his 5th year as head coach and now takes over operations. Garvey has eclipsed 100 career wins at the helm while guiding the Lopes to an NCRHA D1 National Championship in 2024 — in dramatic triple-overtime fashion - followed by national runner-up finishes each of the past twoyears. GCU’s D1 squad has won the Western Conference title in three of the past four years, while the program’s AA team, in just its second year of existence, has claimed back-to-back conference titles and its own national runner-up finish.
Garvey’s playing credentials in both ice and roller hockey are extensive. He grew up along the Canadian border in New York, earning two New York State Championships and an All-Northern selection on the ice, competing in the Empire State Games, and excelling collegiately at the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid — a career that later earned him Hall of Fame inductions at Ogdensburg Free Academy High School and North Country Community College. On the roller hockey side, Garvey played professionally in the Roller Hockey International and Major League Roller Hockey circuits for five years. He was part of Pro Beach Hockey’s three seasons on ESPN - winning a regular season title - and captured the North American Championship (NARCh) twice. Representing the United States nationally, Garvey won three World Championship gold medals with the U.S. Men’s National Roller Hockey Team between 2001 and 2005, added a Pan American Games gold medal in 2003, and most recently captained Team USA at the Masters World Championships in 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2023.
As a coach, Garvey’s impact on the sport extends far beyond the GCU campus. He coached the first U.S. Women’s National Roller Hockey Team from 2002 through 2005, winning a World Championship in 2003, and served as an assistant coach for Northeastern University’s NCAA Division I Women’s Ice Hockey program from 2000 through 2002. He’s also been a tour manager for the NHL’s “Hockey Rules” Ice and Inline Hockey Tour, and served as the first Rink Pro and Manager of Wayne Gretzky’s Roller Hockey Center in Irvine, California. Since 2011, Garvey has served as Director of Coaching and Player Development for the Ice Hockey Federation of Colombia, coaching both the men’s and women’s national teams and helping the federation win 21 combined international medals since 2014.
A Valley resident for more than two decades, Garvey is the father of two teenagers — Hope, a senior at Scottsdale Christian Academy, and RJ, a sophomore ice hockey player at Horizon High School.
