SJHL COACH OF YEAR FINALISTS

Press Release

The SJHL media will choose the Coach Of The Year Award. Finalists were nominated by the coaches themselves.

SJHL COACH OF THE YEAR CANDIDATES

Kevin Hasselberg, Battlefords North Stars
Hasselberg is in his first season as an SJHL head coach, getting hired late in the offseason to succeed Ken Pearson. Despite not having a lot of time to put his stamp on the Stars, Hasselberg was able to get his club off to a good start and then maintain their fine play throughout the entire schedule. He has tinkered with the roster beautifully, adding help without disrupting the chemistry. Hasselberg’s Stars hit the 40 win plateau and finished with the second best record in the SJHL during the regular season.

Keith Cassidy, Estevan Bruins
While Cassidy is a first year SJHL bench boss like Hasselberg; he was hired earlier in the offseason and had an opportunity to put his own footprint on the organization. Cassidy’s focus has been to find great character first and foremost; but he has also combined that with some excellent young talent that contended ahead of schedule in the Sherwood Conference. Cassidy has utilized this young talent to the point where the Bruins have a feared powerplay and a very impressive penalty killing unit; two parts of the game that are crucial to success.

Dean Brockman, Humboldt Broncos
Brockman, an SJHL veteran behind the bench, was tasked with not only assembling a club that could challenge for an RBC Cup; but also coach them into a cohesive unit. While we won’t know for some time if this is mission accomplished; Brockman is clearly on the right path as the Broncos lost just eleven regulation time games all season long and ended up posting the best winning percentage in the league during the regular schedule.

Doug Johnson, Nipawin Hawks
Johnson is a fantastic developer of talent. In his two seasons behind the bench with the Hawks, he has transformed the team into one of the hardest working units in the league. Not afraid to make big trades in the name of player development; Johnson manages to get maximum production from his roster and he did a fine job steering the ship after it lost course at midseason. A Hawk team that got out of the gate quickly only to fade during a 25 game stretch is once again a bonafide contender for the Canalta Cup.

(Nathan can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)