Ray Macias’ Return to Kamloops Brings His Blazers Journey Full Circle
By Colton Davies – Follow Colton on X
For Ray Macias, returning to Kamloops carried a weight he didn’t fully understand until he arrived. The former Blazers defenceman was back in town checking out the Blazers Alumni wall a few weeks ago.
“I knew I had to come here as soon as I saw the sneak peek. It means a lot to have my name up there,” said Macias. He felt drawn back and compelled to return and see the wall in person. To stand in the building, to see his name, and to reconnect with a chapter of his life that defined him.
Macias hadn’t seen the Sandman Centre since 2007. The upgraded concourse, the modernized feel, and the massive new Jumbotron all stood in stark contrast to the rink he once called home when it was the Interior Savings Centre and even Sport Mart Place. Walking through it again brought a rush of perspective, how much had changed, and how much truly hadn’t.
Macias spent five seasons with the Blazers, carving out a role as a dependable defenceman who could log minutes and contribute offensively. His final WHL season in 2006-07 stands as the best of his junior career, where he posted 30 goals and 40 assists for 70 points in 70 games, earning the most points among WHL defencemen. That total still ranks fourth all-time among defencemen in Blazers history.
Over his WHL career, Macias recorded 184 points in 280 games, numbers that tell only part of the story. What he remembers most vividly are the moments between games. The long bus trips, the exhaustion, the laughs, the conversations that stretched late into the night. Stories with teammates like Brock Nixon, Reid Jorgensen and Jusso Puustinen still stand out all these years later.
One memory, in particular, still makes him smile, sharing a bunk on the bus with Matt Kassian. At 6-foot-4 and over 240 pounds, Kassian’s presence made those overnight rides a unique experience for a defenceman who learned quickly how close WHL teammates truly become.
Those shared experiences, Macias reflected, were foundational. They taught resilience, accountability and how to be part of something bigger than yourself, lessons that carried forward long after his playing days ended. Macias retired from pro hockey following the 2014-15 season, where he played with the Utah Grizzlies of the ECHL. Macias also saw seven games of NHL action with the Colorado Avalanche, registering one assist.
Macias is now a coach for the Anaheim Jr. Ducks U18 AAA team, and passes along the same values he learned in Kamloops to the next generation of players. The standards. The habits. The understanding that success is built over time, not overnight.
For Macias, the visit was a reminder that Kamloops was never just a stop along the way. It was a chapter that helped shape who he became as a player, a coach, and a person.
