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| Blades HC Dean Brockman speaks to the media at the SaskTel Centre. |
The Saskatoon Blades solidified their coaching ranks for the
foreseeable future.
On Thursday, the team announced head coach Dean Brockman and
assistant coaches Bryce Thoma and Ryan Keller have been signed to multi-year
contract extensions that run through to the end of the 2019-20 season. Assistant
coach Jerome Engele and goaltending coach Tim Cheveldae, who have been in their
roles for a number of seasons, will also return for another campaign.
Brockman, Thoma, Keller, Engele and Cheveldae all worked
together as a unit in their present roles for the first time last season.
Despite a large rash of injuries, they guided the Blades to a ninth overall
finish in the WHL’s Eastern Conference with a 28-35-7-2 record to sit five
points back of the Calgary Hitmen for the conference’s final playoff berth.
While the Blades failed to make the post-season for the
fourth year in a row, last season marked the closest the franchise has come to
earning a playoff berth since being purchased by Mike Priestner before the
start of the 2013-14 campaign. Priestner took over a club that faced a long
rebuild after hosting the Memorial Cup championship tournament in 2013 and also
loaded up to try and make a long playoff run in 2011, which ultimately ended in
the second round.
During a news conference held at the SaskTel Centre on
Thursday, Blades general manager Colin Priestner, who is Mike’s son, said it
was important for continuity to keep the current coaching staff together.
“It was just something that was just logical for me and our
management,” said Priestner. “It was just a trying season on all regards, and I
think they just showed throughout the year they got better and better.
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| Blades GM Colin Priestner announces the coach contract extensions. |
“It was a no-brainer for us. It was just a logical extension
of the work that they did last year, and we want to have these guys be a part
of what we are building in terms of building a championship team and a
championship type franchise.”
Brockman joined the Blades as an assistant coach before the
start of the 2014-15 season and moved up to head coach in June of 2016, when former
head coach Bob Woods moved on to be an assistant coach with the NHL’s Buffalo
Sabres. Woods is now an assistant head coach with the NHL’s Minnesota Wild.
Before joining the Blades, Brockman was best known for his
17 years in the junior A ranks working with the Humboldt Broncos from 1997 to
2014. He started as an assistant coach and assistant general manager before
becoming the head coach and general manager in 2004. During Brockman’s years in
Humboldt, the Broncos won the Royal Bank Cup for junior A supremacy in 2003 and
2008.
Brockman was pleased to see his contract get extended to run
in total for the next three seasons.
“I think it is big, because it tells your players that I am
going to be the guy that they are going to have to listen to over the next
couple of years,” said the 50-year-old veteran bench boss. “You just develop
that deeper rapport with them.
“For me and I think the organization, it was important just
to try and have some stability in this position.”
Brockman added to was key to have Thoma, 35, Keller, 33,
Engele, 66, and Cheveldae, 49, all back on the staff together for another
season.
“We have to be one unit,” said Brockman. “Having those guys
back, it is great.
“There is not a lot of awkwardness, because we know what
everybody is thinking. It is just everybody knows how to react to things.
Obviously, you tweak things throughout the year and see what you did wrong.
“You want to make them right. It is easier to do it with
guys that you know. When you don’t know the guys, there is always that stage
where you get through that awkwardness.”
Brockman plans to be consistent in his style.
“I’ve been a players’ coach all my life,” said Brockman. “I
think my players respect me as I respect them.
“That is something that you have to earn over time.
Hopefully last year, I’ve earned that from them. I certainly earned it the
other way.”
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| Blades HC Dean Brockman is ready for the season to start. |
With all the injuries that occurred last season, Priestner
was impressed with how Brockman and his staff keep the players positive and the
team moving forward.
“The hits just kept on coming, and they dealt with them
extremely well,” said Priestner. “I think the group that we had really jelled
together over the year.
“I think as an entire staff we came a long way from where we
started. We really wanted to reward these gentlemen for the work they did.”
The Blades open training camp on Saturday with player registration
at the SaskTel Centre, fitness testing at the Elite Pro Performance Centre and
ice sessions that run from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.
Camp continues
all day Sunday and Monday with scrimmages at the SaskTel Centre.
All on ice
sessions are open to the public.
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