Saturday, 18 April 2020

Bedard’s arrival will be a reward for Pats head coach Struch

Head coach Dave Struch mans the Pats bench on March 6.
    Finally, Dave Struch is going to get a break as a WHL head coach.
    Struch is currently holding down his second opportunity as a WHL head coach working behind the bench of the world’s oldest major junior hockey franchise in the Regina Pats. On June 28, 2018, Struch was promoted from Pats assistant coach and assistant general manager to head coach and assistant general manager.
    Normally, the opportunity would be seen as a golden one outside of the fact that Pats were about to enter a massive rebuild after hosting the CHL championship tournament – the Memorial Cup – in May of 2018.
    The storyline proved to be similar to when Struch took on his first WHL head coaching position in 2013-14, when he worked behind the bench of the Saskatoon Blades.
    Struch served as a Blades assistant coach for seven seasons from 2006 to 2013. On June 19, 2013, he was promoted from assistant coach to head coach.
    The Blades had just hosted the Memorial Cup in May of 2013 and were about to embark on a massive rebuild.
    On top of that, Jack Brodsky sold the team to Mike Priestner in early September of 2013. As a result of those factors, Struch lasted one season as head coach with Priestner and his management group electing to take the Blades in a different direction following the 2013-14 campaign.
Dave Struch give orders on the Pats bench as an AC on Jan. 7, 2017.
    In both situations, Struch was put in a situation where he had to utilize his existing players in a way that covered up each teams’ deficiencies as best as possible. That equalled to pushing an Imperial Star Destroyer from Star Wars uphill.
    The Blades were 16-51-2-3 in their one campaign with Struch as head coach.
    The Pats were 19-45-1-3 in 2018-19 in their first season with Struch as head coach. They showed some improvement going 21-34-6-2 before the remainder of this past season was called off due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
    In Regina, Struch is afforded a bigger lease on life as the Pats didn’t go through an ownership change when he became head coach. When he was the Pats assistant coach and assistant general manager, Struch worked beside John Paddock, who held the titles of head coach, general manager and vice-president of hockey operations.
    Paddock relinquished the role of head coach to Struch on June 28, 2018, while holding on to the roles of general manager and vice-president of hockey operations.
HC Dave Struch oversees action from the Pats bench on Feb. 5.
    Struch’s biggest break as a head coach came this past March 25 at the WHL Bantam Draft Lottery, when the Pats obtained the first overall selection in the WHL Bantam Draft that will be held in an online format on Wednesday.
    One day earlier, bantam hockey phenom Connor Bedard became the first player ever to be granted exceptional player status to play in the WHL on a full-time basis as a 15-year-old. The Pats have said they intend to select Bedard with that first overall pick.
    Bedard, who stands 5-foot-8 and weighs 165-pounds, played forward for West Vancouver Academy’s under-18 team this past season in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League piling up 43 goals and 41 assists for 84 points in 36 games.
    As Struch continues to guide the Pats fortunes on the ice during their rebuild, he will officially have a legitimate high-end star player to work with come Wednesday.
    During his one season as head coach of the Blades, Struch did have import winger Nikita Scherbak as an 18-year-old forward, but he was the only high-end player on that team. Scherbak would be selected in the first round and 26th overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.
    Ultimately, Scherbak proved more valuable to the Blades during their rebuild for the assets they gained in trading him to the Everett Silvertips.

    The Pats could potentially have Bedard for three or more seasons, which means he could be a key block for the team to build around.
    For Struch, he will have a more realistic shot to show how good of a coach he actually is.
    The Flin Flon, Man., product had always been one of the WHL’s good guys dating back to his time as a standout centre with the Blades over four seasons from 1988 to 1992. During that time, the Blades fell in the final as the host team of the 1989 Memorial Cup and fell in Game 7 of the WHL Championship series to the Kamloops Blazers in 1992. The Blazers went on to win that year’s Memorial Cup.
The rebuilding Pats celebrated a few wins under HC Dave Struch.
    As a coach, Struch is a bench boss that is a players’ coach, who remains energetic and positive even when times seem dark. He is also very competitive and players buy in when they see he is a good guy who has that competitive streak.
    He played a big role in helping the Blades post a 288-179-15-22 regular season record serving as an assistant coach for seven seasons. Struch joined the Pats at the start of the 2014-15 campaign as an assistant coach working on the bench with Paddock and was later given the role of assistant general manager.
    Together on the bench from 2014-18, the Pats posted a 165-89-21-13 regular season record over four seasons.
    Struch played a major role in helping the Pats achieve the success they did over that time that included a magical 2016-17 campaign that saw the Pats top the WHL regular season standings with a 52-12-7-1 record.
    The Pats advanced to the WHL championship series falling in six games to the Seattle Thunderbirds that season. That Regina side contained a host of stars that included the likes of Adam Brooks, Sam Steel, Dawson Leedahl, Connor Hobbs, Nick Henry, Austin Wagner, Josh Mahura, Filip Ahl, Jake Leschyshyn and Tyler Brown.
Dave Struch appears set to enjoy better times as the Pats head coach.
    Struch played a huge part in helping the Pats reach the final of the 2018 Memorial Cup tournament as the host side fell 3-0 to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champion Acadie-Bathurst Titan.
    The 49-year-old Struch hasn’t lost the magic touch behind the bench. As a WHL head coach, he has helped below average players become average or better than average players.
    When the Pats pick Bedard, Struch will get the chance to make a star player reach new heights as a person and player that athlete never thought were possible.
    Combined with some of the higher end younger talent the Pats have gained in their rebuild, the veteran bench boss will finally have a way more realistic shot to find success in the wins department as a head coach.

Hilltops swarm CJFL all-decade team on offence, other notes

Jared Andreychuk (#5) fires a pass downfield for the Hilltops in 2016.
    Having won nine of the last 10 Canadian Junior Football League titles including the last six in a row, it comes as no surprise that five members of the Saskatoon Hilltops were named to the circuit’s all-decade team on offence.
    The CJFL had been determining its all-decade team via a fan vote over the last four weeks for the period of years from 2010 to 2019. The Hilltops won three straight CJFL titles capturing the Canadian Bowl from 2010 to 2012 and the last six straight championships starting in 2014.
    On Saturday, the offensive members of the all-decade team were announced via the CJFL’s Instagram account.
    Jared Andreychuk was selected at quarterback garnering  54 per cent of the fan votes, which were the most for that position. Andreychuk played for the Hilltops from 2012 to 2016.
Kirk Simonsen, middle, pass protects for the Hilltops in 2017.
    He was a backup signal caller during the Hilltops 2012 CJFL championship campaign and was the starting quarterback for three straight Canadian Bowls from 2014 to 2016. Andreychuk posted a perfect 9-0 record in his CJFL post-season career and was a classic composed “this is how things are going to get done” leader.
    At running back, the Hilltops took two out of three selections with Logan Fischer and Andre Lalonde finding their way on to the all-decade team. Fischer collected 48 per cent of the fan votes, and Lalonde had 41 per cent of the fan votes.
    Fischer played for the Hilltops from 2013 to 2017 and was a member of four straight CJFL championship teams from 2014 to 2017.
    Lalonde, who is now a Hilltops running backs coach, picked up 41 per cent of the fan votes playing for the team from 2009 to 2013. He was a member of three straight CJFL championship wins from 2010 to 2012.
Mason Ochs (#73) gets set to make a block last season.
    In 2013, Lalonde set the Hilltops record for most rushing yards in one regular season that still stands carrying the ball 182 times for 1,367 yards and seven touchdowns in eight regular season games. He was the CJFL’s offensive player of the year and a first team all-Canadian all-star that season.
    Right tackle Kirk Simonsen and left tackle Mason Ochs were the final two Hilltops members named to the CJFL’s all-decade team on the offensive side of the ball.
    Simonsen collected 36 per cent of the fans votes. He played for the Hilltops from 2014 to 2018 and was part of the first group of eight Hilltops players to win five straight CJFL titles.
    Ochs is still an active member with the Hilltops helping them win CJFL titles in each of the past four seasons. He attended training camp with the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders last year. Ochs has one year of CJFL eligibility remaining.

  • The WHL continued to list its major award winner online. On Thursday Dylan Guenther, who is a 16-year-old left-winger with the Edmonton Oil Kings, was named the rookie of the year for the Eastern Conference collected 26 goals, 33 assists and a plus-26 rating in the plus-minus department in 58 regular season games. Logan Stankoven, who is a 16-year-old centre from the Kamloops Blazers, took home honours as the Western Conference rookie of the year. Stankoven had 29 goals, 19 assists and a plus-25 rating in 59 regular season games. On Friday, overager Czech import Jiri Patera was named the Eastern Conference goaltender of the year. Patera posted a 24-12-4 record, a 2.55 goals against average, a .921 save percentage and five shutouts playing 41 games with the Brandon Wheat Kings. Dustin Wolf of the Everett Silvertips was named the Western Conference’s goaltender of the year. As an 18-year-old last season, Wolf posted a 34-10-2 record, a 1.88 goals against average, a .935 save percentage and nine shutouts.
  • The Prince Albert Raiders continued to roll out their team awards this week. The Lionel Diehl Memorial Award as the hardest working player went to 18-year-old centre Matthew Culling on Thursday. Also on Thursday, the Best Conditioned Raider award went to 17-year-old left-winger Evan Herman. On Friday, the Ches Leach Award as the most improved player went to 19-year-old centre Spencer Moe and the Best Defensive Forward award went to co-winners in overage right-winger Brayden Watts and 18-year-old right-winger Reese Vitelli. On Saturday, the George Cowie Award as rookie of the year was handed out to 18-year-old centre Ilya Usau, and the Jim Neilson Award as most valuable defenceman went to co-winners in overage captain Zack Hayes and 17-year-old sophomore Kaiden Guhle.
  • On Thursday, Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan announced its 2020 program has been postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan Festival was slated to start in the middle of June and run through to the end of August. There is hope some late in the season programming could be held.
  • On Friday, the organizers of the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival said this year’s event has been postponed until further notice due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Saskatchewan Jazz Festival is held annually in Saskatoon and was slated to be held July 3 to 12 this year in “The Bridge City.” Organizers are hoping to hold a music festival later in the year.
  • On Thursday, the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reported Saskatoon Minor Football cancelled all of its spring programming due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A City of Saskatoon order has suspended all sports field rentals and won’t approve any outdoor special events up to June 30.
  • On Thursday, Softball Canada announced it was extending the suspension of all its activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic until May 31. Softball Canada started its suspension of activities on March 16. On Thursday, Softball Saskatchewan extended the suspension of all its sanction activities until May 15. Softball Saskatchewan posted a question and answer sheet online that can be found right here.
  • As shutdown measures have been instituted in Canada and North American since March 11, it appears and emerging theme in the COVID-19 pandemic crisis appears to see the health officials finding themselves at odds with the economists. The health officials want to save as many live as possible and want shutdown to go on foreseeably into September of 2021. For the economists, a shutdown to September of 2021 can’t realistically happen noting there will be massive closures of businesses and massive amounts of people heading to poverty long before getting to September of 2021 adding things can become dire in three to five months time. On the health front, that scenario will likely lead to an increase of suicides and domestic violence. Right now, officials are trying to find the route that is the least bad one, but there will be “bad” with any route that is taken.
  • On Saturday, the Saskatoon Contacts announced Dale Lambert has been hired as the team’s new head coach. Lambert, who is 60-years-old, had a lengthy playing career in England. He replaces long time Contacts head coach March Chartier.
    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.
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