Saturday, March 23, 2013

Lloydminster Hockey Staff Hirings Highlighted by Return of Kyle Tapp

Press Release

With spring camp just over two weeks away, Lloydminster head coach and general manager Garry VanHereweghe announced his hockey staff for the upcoming Jr. ‘A’ Bobcats 2013-14 season on Thursday afternoon.

The biggest news of the day was the announcement that Kyle Tapp would once again be returning to the team as assistant coach and assistant general manager. Kyle has been an assistant coach with the Bobcats for the past two seasons, and stepped in as interim coach for the last 20 regular season games of the 2012-13 season after the team let go of head coach Ryan Parent.

“The Bobcats organization takes another strong step forward by securing Kyle Tapp to our coaching staff,” said Garry. “Not only does Kyle maintain continuity within the coaching staff, he is also a proven leader in the development of young players to help them reach their goals in both hockey and life.”

Before joining the Bobcats at the beginning of the 2011-212 season, Kyle was the head coach of the Baker Hughes Midget AAA Bobcats for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons, and previously coached as an assistant coach for two years in the AJHL with the Olds Grizzlys. In 2011-12, Kyle was part of the Bobcats coaching staff that earned the AJHL Coach of the Year league award.

Kyle was an associate coach with Team Alberta at the 2012 Challenge Cup, where the team earned a silver medal, and was head coach of the Northeast zone that won the gold medal at the Alberta Cup in the same year.

Garry also announced that former captain Kris Wiebe, who helped the team throughout the 2012-13 season in an assistant coaching role, will remain with the organization as an assistant coach. Kris, who was born and raised in Lloydminster, played for the Bobcats from 1997-2001 before going on to play for the Niagara Knights (Div. I) and is second in the Bobcats’ all-time games played record books. After finishing university, Kris spent four years playing semi-professional hockey in the Central Hockey League.

 (Nathan can be reached at nathanfournier@mainehockeyjournal.com)

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