Retired Reaper Tributes - Jason Woolley

In this, the first installment of a series of tributes to retiring Reaper players, we wish a fond farewell to a veteran of the RHL wars, Jason Woolley.

Jason Woolley is as old as the RHL itself, and then some. He began play in RHL 1 splitting time between the Boston Bandits and the Spartans of Southern Calgary. He remained a Spartan until RHL 5 when he joined the Aviators, the team with whom he would spend the majority of his career. He remained with the Aviators until RHL 8 when he joined the San Jose Killer Bees partway into the season. RHL 8 marked a career high point for Jason Woolley. He set a career high in goals with 13 in that season, and a career high in playoff points with 7. RHL 8 also marked Jason Woolley's only RHL Kings Cup Championship, and the only one for the San Jose Killer Bees.

Jason continued moving around, splitting time three ways in RHL 9, between the Roadkill, Aviators, and Spectres. It marked his second tour with the Aviators, despite being only 30 games. The Spectres would be the team he ended the season with, although a first round knock out was a far cry from his championship the year before.

Woolley was a Saskatoon Fun Boy in RHL 10, a Tampa Bay Celtic Ray for both their years in existence (RHL 11 and 12), a member of the Wicked Ale in RHL 13 and then he became a member of the Airdrie T-Men in RHL 14. It would mark his first playoff appearance since RHL 10. RHL 15 was spent injured before joining the Capones and Thundercats in RHL 16. He finally joined the Guelph Reapers, his final team in his stellar RHL Career. He retired on several high notes. Despite not being wanted elsewhere in the RHL, the Reapers gave him a late season chance and he made use of it. Despite just playing in 9 games, Woolley netted 2 assists. The final points of his regular season career. For Woolley, it gave him 351 career points, hitting the 350 point mark before his career ended. But that was just the start for Woolley. He became a regular for the Reapers in the playoffs, and played in all 7 games netting 4 points. He ends his career with 35 career playoff points.

Woolley proved in his final games that older low rated players with experience can be quite useful. Jason ended his career with 6 points in 16 games as a Reaper, and a plus 2 on a weaker highly negative team. Those are stellar numbers for any defenseman, but especially one so far on the end of his career.

Woolley will be missed, as there remain fewer and fewer RHL original year players left.